Cash Lab Megaways

Cash Lab Megaways: Slot Overview

Imagine a lab which can literally cook up cash, legally, of course; wouldn't that be handy? Or would life lose some of its thrill, its meaning, its challenge if we could buy anything our heart desired without putting in any effort to acquire it? Probably not a question too many people are ever going to be in a position to answer. Shoot, even billionaires have limits on what they can buy. Anyway, dreams are free, so in the spirit of make-believe, we enter the world of Cash Lab Megaways from software provider iSoftBet. It's not exactly a lab that churns out cash like a busted ATM machine but hit it on a day when its outsized grid is working in tandem with Wild Link/Gold Link features, free spins with a rising multiplier, and cascades, decent returns are a theoretical possibility.

The eccentric scientist is a popular trope in online slots, but the amiable chap in Cash Lab Megaways looks more like a friendly lab tech than a wild experimenter camped out on the fringes of reality, piercing the veil between what's real and what had only been possible in dreams until then. The rest of the view is pretty restrained for the out-of-control science theme. There are bubbling glass instruments, pipes, and so on, plus the soundtrack makes an ideal accompaniment, so after a few spins, Cash Lab Megaways managed to get its hooks in.

One of the game's intrigues is its game grid. It possesses 6 vertically spinning reels and not one but 2 tracker reels which spin horizontally on the top and bottom of the main section. All these extra symbols tacked on means Cash Lab Megaways can produce up to 200,704 ways to win rather than the usual 117,649 typically associated with the Megaways trademark. Not the biggest number of ways possible, yet the setup caused a slight extra arching of the eyebrows at first glance. Cash Lab Megaways has some substantial winning numbers and a highly volatile math model to match, generating a return to player value of 96%. Players get the usual iSoftBet stake levels of 20 p/c to $/€20 per spin, and being a modern game, it may be loaded up on any device.

Cash Lab Megaways' pay system means winning symbols can land in any row as long as a combo starts on the leftmost column and falls across consecutive reels. Managing to hit a six-of-a-kind win results in a payout of 0.4 to 0.75 times the bet for the 9-A royals or 1 to 5 times the bet for the purple, green, blue, or red high-pay gemstones. Two more symbol types appearing in Cash Lab Megaways are the Gold wild and the regular rainbow wild – both substitute for any symbol except the scatter, and each links to a feature.

Cash Lab Megaways: Slot Features

As well as the wild features, Cash Lab Megaways ships with a cascade system, Max Megaways, and free spins. Max Megaways triggers randomly on a spin, pushing full symbols on each main reel causing 200,704 ways to win to be in play. The cascade system is a classic Megaways addition, removing winning symbols from the reels and replacing them with symbols from above or from the side, depending on the reel. Cascade sequences end when no new win is created after the symbols have been replaced.

Wild Link and Gold Link Feature

If 2 wild symbols land opposite each other on the two tracker reels, the symbols between them are transformed into wild symbols by the Wild Link feature. If a triggering wild is a Gold wild, the reel can be upgraded with a random multiplier by the Gold Link feature. The multiplier will always be higher than the number of symbols on the reel.

Free Spins

Hitting 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols in the base game awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins, respectively. Free spins start with one Sticky wild on the top tracker reel and a win multiplier of x1. Following each cascade, the win multiplier increases by +1. When Sticky wilds are used in a win, they are cascaded off the reels, but they return for the following spin. In free spins, L, I, N, and K symbols may land and are collected when they do. Collecting LINK awards an extra Sticky wild on the opposite tracker to the initial Sticky wild and +2 free spins. Then, the collection sequence is reset and starts again.

Lastly, players who don't care about waiting for the bonus to drop organically can buy their way to the free spins feature for the cost of 100 times the bet.

Cash Lab Megaways: Slot Verdict

In Cash Lab Megaways, iSoftBet has brought together rock-solid, if stock Megaways gaming elements with something new to give the game desirability. Cascades, a big number of ways, a progressive free spins win multiplier, all are classic features that have graced numerous Megaways slots until now, and it's a pretty safe bet they'll appear in a fair share of more slots in the future, too. Not the worst thing in the world, as this particular feature combo has proven its worth time and time again ever since games like Bonanza changed the online slot landscape.

It's not so exciting when a game relies solely on standard features, but fortunately, Cash Lab Megaways isn't like that. It's Wild Link/Gold Link extras; creating wild reels when two wilds land opposite each other on tracker reels provides a dash of intrigue to make Cash Lab Megaways interesting. The feature did bring back memories of The Hammer Feature in Pragmatic Play's Power of Thor Megaways. They two are far from being the same, though, as in Cash Lab Megaways wilds have a stickiness to them in free spins that can lead to guaranteed full reel wilds which is something positive to look forward to. Also, where Power of Thor Megaways' win cap meant it bowed out if reaching 5,000x the bet, Cash Lab Megaways pushes its max payout figure all the way up to 20,000x the bet (which actually happened during our test session).

The 20kx max win potential is a substantial figure and one that cements Cash Lab Megaways' status as a potentially high-performing online slot. Maybe not an audacious paradigm shift, yet things like the Wild Link or Gold Link and dual trackers help make Cash Lab Megaways one for Megaways enthusiasts to look out for.