The slot machine industry has come a long way from the classic 3-reel slots of old to the modern 5-reel video slots with 3D graphics and hundreds of paylines that are popular in casinos today. One innovation that has shaped modern slots on such sites as LeoVegas is the introduction of multiway paylines.
What Are Multiway Paylines?
Multiway paylines refer to slots that pay out wins not just on paylines from left to right but also on paylines that pay both ways – from left to right AND right to left. Games with multiway paylines opened up more winning possibilities compared to classic slots that only paid left to right on a single payline.
On a typical 5-reel slot with 3 symbols on each reel, there are 243 possible winning combinations on the screen. Multiway slots make use of this by enabling all 243 ways you can make winning combinations and paylines that pay both left to right AND right to left.
So multiway doesn’t refer to the number of paylines but the number of possible winning combinations across the reels. While a regular 20-line slot has 20 left to right paylines, a multiway slot takes all the possible payline combinations and enables them.
How Multiway Payline Slots Work
While playing a multiway slot may seem complicated, the way they work is actually quite straightforward.
Instead of paying just left to right on paylines, multiway slots pay when you make a winning combination starting from the leftmost reel as long as the symbols appear on adjacent reels. The symbols can show up from either left to right OR right to left.
So in a game with 243 ways, every single possible 5-symbol combination from left to right OR right to left would pay out as long as the symbols show up on adjacent reels.
The number of ways is determined by the formula:
Ways = R^N Where
- R = Number of rows
- N = Number of reels
So on a typical 5-reel slot with 3 rows, the number of ways the slot pays is:
3^5 = 243 ways
Making it a 243-way slot. This means there are 243 possible paying combinations.
Multiway Slot Examples
To illustrate how multiway slots work in actual games, here are some examples:
Starburst
The classic Starburst slot is a simple 5-reel, 3-row video slot featuring 10 fixed paylines that pay both ways – left to right and right to left. So while there appear to only be 10 lines, each line pays both ways, totaling 20 directions you can win.
Siberian Storm
IGT’s Siberian Storm slot is 720 Ways to Win game.
It features 5 reels and 4 rows, enabling more symbol positions and more ways you can win. The formula here is:
4^5 = 1024 ways
But IGT has set it to pay 720 ways, so not all possible combinations pay, but there are still plenty of multiways you can make winning spins.
Bonanza
Bonanza by Big Time Gaming sets the new standard for multiway slots in 2025. This 6-reel slot features an incredible 117,649 ways you can win!
With its 6 reels and 5 rows, the number of possible symbol combinations is:
5^6 = 117,649 ways
And Bonanza enables pays along all those 117k+ winning combinations across its 6 reels whenever you land 5 or more matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from reel 1.
Benefits of Multiway Slots
There are several advantages to playing multiway slots compared to regular payline slots:
- More chances to win – With wins paying both left AND right as well as on multiple lines, you mathematically have more chances to hit winning combinations.
- Bigger wins – More paylines combined with pays both ways means you can hit multiple line wins on a single spin. This allows bigger total wins.
- Fun and exciting gameplay – Having wins trigger from so many directions makes slots more exciting and unpredictable. Every spin has a chance for multiple wins.
Bottom Line
Multiway payline slots have revolutionized slot play over the past decade. Their ability to pay on multiple winning combinations and in multiple directions gives players more chances to win compared to fixed payline slots.
And slot makers continue to innovate multiway slots to increase excitement – from 243 Ways to Win to 117,649 Ways games today, we can expect even more new multiway formats that offer bigger wins in more ways in the future!
