Mega Moolah Slot
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Hardly any ordinary person on this planet has not dreamed of becoming a millionaire at some point. In fact, this ambition is shared by many reel spinners, especially those who play Mega Moolah. The game was developed by the software supplier Microgaming and is easily one of the most popular titles in the realm of online gambling. It provides players with an opportunity they do not want to miss, namely, to lock up an enormous progressive jackpot.
Mega Moolah is an Africa-themed slot that allows you to score winning combinations on 5 reels and 3 rows, with a total of 25 adjustable paylines. The game was released in December 2006 across Microgaming-powered online casinos. More than ten years later, the game’s popularity has not waned, and it continues to be one of the most played online slots to this day. Mega Moolah contains not one but four progressive jackpots, along with a healthy range of special symbols and extra features to make any spinning session even more lucrative.
Theme
The theme of Mega Moolah revolves around a lively safari adventure in the scorching savannah of Africa. As you spin the five reels, you will be joined by a crowd of lovable beasts native to the Dark Continent. The Microgaming software specialists have wisely opted to use animal symbols for the high-paying winning combinations.
Players can win big by aligning identical symbols depicting elephants, monkeys, giraffes, African buffaloes, zebras, and roan antelopes. Of course, no Africa-themed slot is complete without the King of All Beasts, so it is only fitting that the developers have chosen the lion for the highest-paying combination in the game.
Smaller prizes are awarded, as usual, for matching symbols featuring the high-playing cards 10, J, Q, K, and A. These are all colored in different hues, which makes it easier to distinguish them from one another.
Warm orange, earthy brown, and yellowish hues dominate the design of the slot. The reels themselves are set against a leafy backdrop featuring the African savannah. The design of the symbols may seem a bit outdated and cartoonish, but this is hardly a drawback, especially for a game with such an immense jackpot. Moreover, animations enliven the action; when you land a winning combination, the African beasts come to life on the reels—the lion roars, the buffalo shakes his head, and so on.
Symbols
The high-value symbols in Mega Moolah all feature friendly African beasts, as befits a safari-themed slot. The highest payers, in ascending order of value, are the slender gnu, the striped zebra, the languid giraffe, the placid buffalo, the wise elephant, and, of course, the mighty lion. The top payer is naturally the King of the Beasts, with five lion symbols on a payline resulting in a win of 15,000 credits. The other animal symbols can earn you between 10 and 750 credits, depending on the creature and the number of matches.
An interesting aspect of the buffalo, elephant, and lion is that these three symbols pay out for only two matches, which makes them especially profitable for players. By contrast, the zebra, gnu, and giraffe require at least three matching symbols on a payline. You can also secure smaller prizes by hitting matching low-value symbols featuring the playing cards—there are five of these (10, J, Q, K, and A). They form winning combinations rather frequently, ensuring a steady flow of coins into your balance. These card symbols can earn you anywhere between 2 and 150 credits, which is not too shabby for low payers.
There are two special symbols to watch out for. The first is the lion, which acts as the wild (excuse the pun) and can replace any other icon, helping players land additional wins. Not only does the wild lion substitute, but it also doubles all wins it helps create with a multiplier, further increasing its value.
The only symbol the King of the Beasts cannot substitute for is the scattered monkey. This scatter pays out 100 coins for five matches. More importantly, it triggers a round of free spins whenever it lands on reels 3, 4, and 5 at the same time.
Combinations and Jackpots
Mega Moolah gives players the chance to collect extra payouts in a risk-free manner. The game awards a round of 15 free spins, unlocked when three scattered monkeys land on the third, fourth, and fifth reels simultaneously. During free spins, all wins are tripled. You can also retrigger the feature by landing the same combination again.
Yet the progressive jackpot is arguably the main attraction. Mega Moolah offers a four-tier progressive pot that, figuratively speaking, grows at the speed of light because the game is linked to the Microgaming jackpot network, which spans all casinos using the developer’s software. Each time someone around the world places a real-money bet on this slot and hits the spin button, the pot grows, reaching mind-blowing amounts. When the prize is won, the jackpot is reset but seeds from £1 million.
So, the game offers four different pots: the Mega, Major, Minor, and Mini prizes. The jackpots are triggered at random during the base game, but the higher your stake, the greater your chances of accessing the jackpot wheel. The wheel is divided into colored sectors, each corresponding to one of the four pots. The number of red sectors for the Mini prize is the highest, whereas there is only one white sector reserved for the Mega jackpot. The bottom line is that you are guaranteed to win one of the four prizes whenever you trigger the wheel game.
Mega Moolah is one of those games every slot fan should try at least once in their lifetime. It never gets old, no matter how dated its graphics may appear compared with newer Microgaming releases. The jackpot is won roughly every couple of months, so do not hesitate to give the “Millionaire Maker” a spin or two the next time you visit your favorite Microgaming casino.