Big Time Gaming Slots

Big Time Gaming was founded by Nik Robinson in 2011. Originally from Yorkshire, UK, he moved to Sydney, Australia to pursue his start-up vision. This is where the privately held game studio is currently headquartered with a team of the size of a football team: that’s only a fraction compared to big developers like NetEnt or Microgaming.

Big Time Gaming Games

Based on the portfolio of 20 games released until 2020, BTG video slots stand out not so much with their graphics but with math (unique game engine) and uncommon approaches to slots development in general. Occasionally, they also release branded content like the Who Wants to be a Millionaire series, Monopoly MegaWays, as well as music slots like Gold (Spandau Ballet – Gold), Lil Devil (The Cult) and The Final Countdown (Europe – The Final Countdown).

All of their games are original and offer anywhere from 20 to a whopping 586,971 ways to win! It was the introduction of trademarked MegaWays feature that made it possible to surpass the 243- and 4,096-ways boundary to completely new heights the iGaming community has ever seen. Or as Nik Robinson, the CEO at Big Time Gaming put it in an interview with iGamingBusiness.com:

We had almost nine decades of three-line slots before they evolved to single-line five-reel AWP club slots in the 1970s to eventual 20-line five-reel video slots in the late nineties, to 3x5 243 ways and eventually up to 4,096 ways in the noughties and then nothing else significant happened.

Nik Robinson

MegaWays Feature

The very first MegaWays slot to land on Earth, which you can still play today, is Dragon Born which came out in 2016. With only 6 reels and up to 117,649 ways to win, the game achieved something that no other before it, in a smooth, uninterrupted gameplay thanks to BTG’s bespoke and in-house MegaWays engine.

How does MegaWays work?

In a nutshell, MegaWays generates a random number of pay-lines and a random number of symbols per reel (within seconds). There can be up to 7 icons per reel on each spin (7x7x7x7x7x7 = 117,695 ways to win). Regardless of how many lines you have, wins are awarded on left to right for adjacent symbols regardless of size – this makes it easier to follow than it sounds! Besides, bets start from as low as £/€0.10 – £/€0.20 per spin, which is good news for most casual players looking to maximise their playtime.

However, this novel approach to making slots didn’t take off until the introduction of Bonanza in late 2016, which in addition to MegaWays also featured cascading symbols (aka symbol reactions) and an Unlimited Multiplier in the Free Spins bonus. This turned out to be an instant success that got BTG a massive fan base and popularity across online casinos and streamers worldwide.

Reassured by the accomplishment, Nik and his company started to license MegaWays to other game developers, who can tweak it to some extent to their liking. Today you’ll find games with this engine from providers like WMS, Red Tiger (NetEnt), Blueprint Gaming, Fantasma, iSoftBet, Stakelogic, Relax, NextGen Gaming and more. Many of them have implemented the feature in new and sometimes even better ways, so they’re well worth checking out!

💡 Did you know? — MegaWays is available in the US at the Golden Nugget Online Casino since August 2019. What’s more, the actual land-based slot machine cabinets will be installed in Vegas casinos in the near future!

Conclusion

Big Time Gaming is one of the hottest online slot developers today. A lot of the company’s success is due to the management, which has over 30 years of experience, as well as Nik’s intuition and openness to players’ feedback. While their games aren’t made for everyone due to their extreme risk/reward ratio, the company has built something that will have an impact on the industry for a decade to come. Hope my reviews prove useful in finding your next favourite.
Good luck!

Big Time Gaming FAQ

Here are some good-to-know facts about this Australian developer.