About 5 Lions Megaways
5 Lions Megaways was released on 14 June 2021 as an exclusive and on 24 June in wide distribution, according to SlotCatalog — not in 2019, as our entry claimed before this check. It is the fourth instalment of the series 5 Lions started in 2018, after 5 Lions Gold and 5 Lions Dance, and the first to run under a Big Time Gaming Megaways licence.
The grid has six reels whose height changes on every spin. The two outer reels reach seven symbols, the four middle reels reach eight, which pushes the maximum to 200,704 ways to win — noticeably above the 117,649 of a classic Megaways, where every reel caps at seven. Our database listed exactly 117,649: the figure has been corrected.
Every paying combination triggers a tumble: winning symbols disappear, the next ones drop in, and the chain continues as long as a new combination forms. That is the game's normal rhythm, not a rare feature.
The golden dragon wild appears on the middle reels and carries a multiplier ranging from x2 to x40. It applies to any combination it completes, in the base game as well as during free spins — that is where the wide swings between spins come from.
Three or more yin-yang scatter symbols, anywhere on the grid, open the free spins, and the game then offers a choice between seven packages: 25 spins with x2, x3 or x5 wilds; 20 spins with x3, x5 or x8; 15 spins with x5, x8 or x10; 13 spins with x8, x10 or x15; 10 spins with x10, x15 or x30; 6 spins with x15, x30 or x40; and a seventh mystery option that draws the length-multiplier pairing at random.
The choice is not trivial. The 25 spins with small multipliers look for regularity and count on tumbles to stack mid-sized wins; the 6 spins at x40 bet everything on two or three screens. The theoretical return stays the same, the shape of the distribution does not — and over a short session, that difference shows.
The standard RTP is 96.50%, meaning €3.50 of theoretical margin per €100 staked. It is the Pragmatic Play house figure, carried identically by 476 of the studio's 634 titles in our database. Two lowered versions circulate, at 95.52% and 94.54%: on the lowest one, the margin climbs to €5.46 per €100 staked, for a game that is strictly identical on screen.
Stakes run from €0.20 to €125 per spin. The maximum win is capped at 5,000x, meaning €1,000 at the minimum stake and €625,000 at the maximum. SlotCatalog puts the probability of reaching it at 1 in 907,552 spins.
Two paid options complete the picture. Bet Double doubles the stake committed and, in exchange, doubles how often scatters appear. The bonus buy at 100x opens the free spins menu directly: €20 at the minimum stake, €100 for a €1 stake. It is banned in the United Kingdom, where the Gambling Commission treats feature buys as loss accelerators.
