The Fruit Megaways: Slot Overview

The Fruit Megaways from Playson is the studio's third dalliance with Big Time Gaming's popular game engine and the first wholly original one. In this case, 'original' is a debatable term since the team has gone full-on fruit. However, their first two Megaways slots were remakes of older games, so in some ways, with The Fruit Megaways, Playson is taking a brave new step. Though after a playthrough, it wouldn't have hurt if the team had been a smidge braver.

Initially, The Fruit Megaways inspired some pretty strong ho-hum feelings when it first loaded. Playson has as much experience designing fruit slots as almost anyone, but you might not get that feeling after a glance at The Fruit Megaways. Plain was the first thought which sprang to mind, though there is a chance this is exactly what Playson was going for. By comparison, unlike slots such as Runner Runner Megaways by Stakelogic, The Fruit Megaways forgoes any trim to be a rudimentary, old-school game. If that was the play, Playson has pulled it off.

The game is set up using 6 reels, holding 2 to 7 symbols on each. The precise number of symbols changes on every spin, as do ways to win, which maxes out at 117,649. Other numbers include an RTP value of 95.85% and massive potential we'll look at below. Volatility is high as well, while stakes range from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin.

Symbols are a collection of reliable icons that have been with us since forever. Four fruits make up the low pay plums, cherries, lemons, and oranges, while watermelons and grapes are the mids. Better value comes from the Bar and Bell premium symbols worth 5-7.5x the bet for a six of a kind combination. It couldn't be fruit without a '7' in there somewhere, and in The Fruit Megaways, it is used as the wild. Sevens are worth 50x the bet for six of a kind and replace any other pay symbols.

The Fruit Megaways: Slot Features

One more symbol to keep an eye on in The Fruit Megaways is its free spins star scatter. Landing 4, 5, or 6 of them in the base game awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. When the bonus round is active, landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters awards an additional 5, 10, 15, or 20 free spins.

During free spins, a growing win multiplier comes into play. It starts at x1, and at the beginning of each new spin, it increases by +1. The multiplier has a maximum value of x200.

Since free spins are all The Fruit Megaways has going on, Playson has added a feature buy option for players who have access to these sorts of things. The cost for skipping the base game is 75x the bet to have at least 4 scatter symbols land on the next spin.

The Fruit Megaways: Slot Verdict

Some developers look at Megaways as a springboard to bigger, better things, a tool they can use to express ideas that might not be possible using more conventional methods. Others see it as a quick way of adding instant clout to things they've already done. Playson, so far, has largely fallen into the second category, failing to really set imaginations on fire with its first two releases. It's nice to see their third Megaways game isn't just a remake of an old slot, but they've hardly let their creative urges soar. A scroll through Playson's back catalogue turns up a dazzling number of fruit slots, and that latent desire for all things fruit has dragged them back to their comfort zone, despite this being an 'original' Megaways game. Then again, we didn’t have the time to cross-reference every fruit slot Playson has made so maybe they've simple reused features they've incorporated in the past.

The words fruit and genericism often intertwine in the iGaming world, which is indeed the case in The Fruit Megaways, where even the name lacks imagination. Since the base game is about as exciting as the graphics, The Fruit Megaways' is kind of pointless until free spins trigger. It doesn't take much to imagine fruit fans skipping the base game altogether via the bonus buy option to get to the good stuff. Progressive multipliers guaranteed to increase on every spin is sure to be a temptation, as is the dangling x200 max multiplier. However, to get past x10, you need to retrigger free spins by landing scatters. It begs the question; how many people have played a bonus round and triggered a total of 200 free spins? Apologies for getting all Nostradamus, but probably not many, so it remains to be seen if The Fruit Megaways ever gets so high in practice. The big potential multiplier has been paired with a massive max win figure, too, which Playson touts as 50,000x the bet. Like the x200 multiplier, seeing is believing, so the jury's out consulting their notes until it happens.

Due to the massive max win figure and enticing free spins multiplier, if Playson had dropped a game like this 10, or even 5 years ago, it might have been a smash hit. Big numbers are only part of the puzzle, and its plain looks, dull base game, plus overall genericism, prevent it from being an instant shoo-in. Will fruipies fall for the game's charms and be satiated? It'll be interesting to see the reception.