Beef Lightning Megaways

If there’s one thing Big Time Gaming can do well, it’s a Megaways slot. They are, after all, the studio that introduced us to the mechanic, which cemented its place firmly within the sector with the release of Bonanza Megaways. The well-known Bonanza mine is within Mount Cashmore, and at the base lies a farm. Not just any farm, though, but a very important farm, extremely capable of big wins. And thus, we have Beef Lightning Megaways, a highly volatile, 96.43% RTP slot which offers players wins of up to 56,000x – tasty!

Beef Lightning Megaways™ Base Game

Visually, Beef Lightning Megaways™ leans slightly more towards the cartoonish side than I’ve come to expect from Big Time Gaming, but is aesthetically pleasing, bright and depicts farm life on a sunny summers day, with rays of sunlight hitting the reels from the upper-righthand corner. Big Time Gaming are known to put an extra dose of thought into the sounds on their slots, and the base backing music almost seems like a remixed country tune, keeping things upbeat while we milk this slot for all it’s worth. I was hoping when I read the title that we’d be treated to a Beefy-Grease style rendition of “Go Beef Lightning”, and although not immediately noticeable, I would say the music within the bonus is a subtle homage to this well known hit. Distinctive BTG sounds still ring throughout with big win music and important moments highlighted appropriately.

Beef Lightning Megaways Base Features

Beef Lightning Megaways takes place on a 6 reel layout, with the potential to land between 2 and 7 symbols on each reel, giving a maximum of 117,649 ways to win. Winning combinations are formed by matching 3 or more adjacent symbols on at least the first 3 reels, with the exception of the highest paying symbol awarding wins for 2 or more. This upcoming release adopts the reactions mechanic, meaning winning symbols are removed, allowing for new symbols to drop down in their place, continuing until no more wins remain.

Beef Lightning Megaways™ Duplicating Wilds

The pay table is made up of 9, 10, J, Q, K and A royal symbols, and our premium symbols which, as expected are green, blue, red and purple in colour (in ascending order). These tie in with the theme well, with green horseshoes, blue BTG cow bells, a red cow, and a purple bull, awarding players with up to 20x stake for 6 of a kind. The wild symbol, depicted by a WILD branding on an auburn cow skin, and flaming when it is used in a win, substitutes for all symbols except the scatter. Wilds can land on reels 2-6 only. At random, if a wild symbol appears on a reel it can duplicate, turning all symbols on the respective reel wild, and this feature can re-occur after reactions.

Landing 3 or more MOO scatters triggers the free spins feature, awarding 12 free spins for 3 scatters, and 4 extra free spins for every additional scatter thereafter. Scatter symbols do not appear in free spins.

Beef Lightning Megaways Bonus

The bonus feature begins, and we move over to the Cow Auction, where you start with one cow, and no bids. You can keep track of your cows and bids in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Just above them, you’ll see 3 x-stake jackpot prize values: x500, x2,500 and x25,000, represented by bronze medals, silver medals and gold cups, respectively.

Beef Lightning Megaways™ Duplicating Wilds & Maximum Megaways

The free spins play out much the same as the base game, although wilds are guaranteed to duplicate and turn all other symbols on the reel wild, and maximum megaways of 117,649x. There is no incrementing multiplier during this feature, but this is somewhat irrelevant when we take a look at the features on offer.

Bonus Coins can land during the free spins, represented by gold coins, and landing one of these anywhere on the reels will reward the player with one of the following:

• A random number of cows
• A random number of bids
• 10 extra free spins
• A bronze medal, silver medal or gold trophy to contribute to the jackpot meters

Beef Lightning Megaways™ Free Spins

During the free spins, you can track the progress of your cows and bids in the bottom left corner, where you will see how many cows you have, how many bids, and the total stake value they are worth underneath, calculated by multiplying the values together. At the end of the free spins, the value is multiplied by your stake and awarded alongside your free spin winnings.

Beef Lightning Megaways™ Cow Auction Win

First Impression

Big Time Gaming have kept things interesting here with a unique take on their already famed Megaways mechanic, combining it alongside duplicating wilds and the cow auction feature. RTP is solid, volatility is high, and the wins available are huge, offering players up to 56,000x stake. New and established players alike will be able to sink their teeth into this one, with stakes as low as 0.10.

Free Spins offers 3 separate ways to hit the mark, with jackpot values, cow/bid values and regular wins available. Although there is no incrementing multiplier on offer during the free spins, retriggers are generous, jackpots seem just within reach, and the combination of Megaways and Duplicating Wilds go a long way towards giving Beef Lightning Megaways the ability to throw out some huge helpings. Alongside the already generous maximum win of 56,000x, there is a maximum win of 28,674x available in the base game – a huge hit on any stake.

So often new releases miss the mark, but Beef Lightning Megaways is definitely a fillet cut in a sector that quite often gets served rump.

*The screenshots taken of games reviewed on this site are taken from Demo Play, as reviews are often written before games are released for real play.