Pirates Plenty Megaways Slot Review
Most Megaways games give you everything on spin one and never change again. Red Tiger‘s Pirates Plenty Megaways does the opposite: the reels you’re handed at the start are deliberately the worst version of the game, and the parchment map above them, with a little galleon waiting to sail, is how you earn the rest.
Six reels carry up to seven symbols apiece, 117,649 ways to start, an RTP of 95.76%, stakes from 0.10 to 50 per spin, and a 10,497x ceiling at the far end of the voyage. It’s the Megaways take on a pirate series we’ve been aboard since 2019, and it sits alongside Dragons Fire Megaways and Mystery Reels Megaways in the studio’s catalogue. The map is what makes it interesting: the reels you start with aren’t the reels you finish with.
Symbols and Pays
Wins land left to right from the leftmost reel, and symbol size doesn’t matter – a half-height symbol counts the same as a full one. The number of ways shifts on every spin with how many symbols each reel carries, which is the Megaways engine doing its usual work.
The paytable splits into five premium pirate symbols and four card suits, with all values shown as multiples of the total bet. It’s modest at the top and flat at the bottom.
- Skull (Pirate): 0.7x for three, 1.2x for four, 2x for five, 3.5x for six
- Jewellery/Hat (Gold): 0.5x, 0.7x, 1.2x, 1.4x
- Cannon: 0.4x, 0.6x, 1x, 1.2x
- Pistols: 0.3x, 0.5x, 0.8x, 1x
- Bottle: 0.2x, 0.4x, 0.6x, 0.8x
- Spade: 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.5x, 0.7x
- Heart: 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.4x, 0.6x
- Diamond: 0.1x, 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.5x
- Club: 0.1x, 0.2x, 0.3x, 0.4x
Even a six-of-a-kind of the top symbol returns just 3.5x the bet, so the base paytable alone isn’t where this game’s money lives. The gaps tell the same story: from three to six skulls, the payout doesn’t even quadruple.
Below the skull, the premiums bunch tightly. The gold jewellery, the cannon and the pistols all pay between 1x and 1.4x for a full line, and the bottle drops under 1x even at its best. The suits are pocket change across the board.
The ways count is the other half of the arithmetic. Full reels of seven symbols across all six reels give the 117,649 maximum, and the counter can land far lower on any given spin – the difference between a ceiling and an average is the whole Megaways pitch. More ways also stretch the wins: the top pay goes to six-of-a-kind, and the bigger the grid, the more room a chain of premium symbols has to land.
Wild Ways: Sailing the Map
The parchment banner above the reels isn’t decoration. Every map symbol that lands moves the pirate ship one step further along it, and the ship keeps its position between spins – this is a game that remembers where you left off.
Reach the far side and the Wild Ways unlock, which is the real prize of the voyage. An extra symbol position opens on each of the four middle reels, lifting the ways from 117,649 to a maximum of 200,704.
The unlock also brings in the Lady Anne Wild. When she lands, she expands to cover her reel and applies a multiplier worth up to 8x to any win she helps complete.
There are limits on where she appears: only the top positions of the middle four reels, and only once the Wild Ways are open. She’s the reward at the end of the map rather than a base game fixture.
That 8x multiplier is the biggest single boost in the game. On a full grid with 200,704 ways in play, an expanded wild with that kind of multiplier sitting across the middle reels is where the headline 10,497x becomes something more than a number on a spec sheet.
The Wild Monkey
The Wild Monkey can appear on the reels at any time, in either state of the map. It stands in for all paying symbols and does something rarer: it sweeps every low-paying symbol off the reels for the spin it arrives on.
It then stays put as a sticky wild for any respins that follow. With the suits cleared away, only the premium symbols and the wilds remain in play for those spins.
The effect on the odds is worth spelling out. Four of the nine paying symbols are suits, and they occupy the bottom of the paytable, so clearing them concentrates the reels on the five pirate symbols that actually pay. A respin with a sticky wild and no suits is a far better spin than the one before it.
It’s the one feature that pays out mid-voyage rather than waiting for the far side of the map. A monkey robbing the paytable of its cheapest symbols is a strange sentence, and it’s an accurate one.
Free Spins
There’s also a free spins round, triggered by the game’s free spins symbols, and it runs on its own symbol wins table. Beyond that it’s a plain offering: no separate multiplier ladder, no pick mechanics, nothing that changes the map’s progress.
That last point matters more than it sounds. The free spins don’t unlock anything the map hasn’t already got waiting, and the map doesn’t pause while they run – the two systems sit side by side rather than feeding each other.
It’s the quietest corner of the package. The map and the monkey do the interesting work here, and the free spins round is closer to a change of scenery than a change of game.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Playing this is a long walk along a treasure map, and the walk itself is the reason to pick it. Even a run of nothing moves the galleon forward, so a session rarely feels wasted, and the game keeps its promise at the far shore.
The unlock is the strongest thing here, because it pays in structure: four reels growing by a symbol each changes every spin that follows, not one round. The front half is the problem. A paytable capped at 3.5x for six skulls means the early game pays fractions, and the free spins round barely earns its own heading.
This is one for players who enjoy a slow build with a destination, the crew who sailed the earlier Pirates Plenty games especially. It won’t reward anyone counting on regular hits from spin one. Worth the trip for the patient; thin water for everyone else.
Pirates Plenty Megaways FAQs
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What is the RTP of Pirates Plenty Megaways?
The RTP is 95.76%. -
How do you unlock the Wild Ways in Pirates Plenty Megaways?
Each map symbol that lands moves the pirate ship one step along the map above the reels. Getting the ship to the far side unlocks the Wild Ways, which add an extra symbol position to each of the four middle reels for up to 200,704 ways to win, and bring in the Lady Anne Wild. -
What does the Lady Anne Wild do?
She’s an expanding wild with a multiplier of up to 8x, standing in for all paying symbols. She only appears in the top positions of the middle four reels, and only once the Wild Ways have been unlocked. -
What does the Wild Monkey do in Pirates Plenty Megaways?
It’s a wild that can appear at any time. On the spin it lands, it sweeps every low-paying symbol off the reels, then remains in place as a sticky wild for any respins that follow, leaving only the premium symbols in play. -
What is the hit frequency of Pirates Plenty Megaways?
The hit frequency is 16.69%, so roughly one spin in six produces a win of some size. -
What is the grid size of Pirates Plenty Megaways?
It’s a six-reel Megaways game with variable rows, holding up to seven symbols per reel for up to 117,649 ways to win, rising to 200,704 once the Wild Ways are unlocked. -
What is the minimum and maximum bet on Pirates Plenty Megaways?
Stakes run from 0.10 to 50 per spin. -
What is the maximum win on Pirates Plenty Megaways?
The maximum win is 10,497x the bet.
