Mahjong Ways slot by PG Soft review

This is another incredible Asian-themed online video slot from Pocket Games Soft. Mahjong Ways is rife with player-engaging features like the cascading mechanic in the base game that comes with multipliers of up to 5x. Also, the Mahjong Ways slot has gold-plated symbols that transform into wilds to offer players more winning combinations. The highlight of the online slot is the free spins feature, where you can receive multipliers of up to 10x in successive cascading wins. This review covers all the slot's features and recommends a top list of online casinos with Mahjong Ways.

Mahjong Ways slot: General info

Pocket Games Soft launched the Mahjong Ways slot in 2019. The slot draws inspiration from the Chinese game known as Mahjong. However, don’t be scared, as the video slot version doesn’t require any special skills or mastery to enjoy or even win. Mahjong Ways is compatible with both mobile (iOS and Android) and desktop (macOS and Windows) devices.

Despite that, some players will not fully enjoy the gameplay experience on desktops since the game was designed with a mobile-first approach. The Mahjong Ways slot has a 5×4 layout (5 reels, 4 rows). Also, it has the 1024 ways to win feature that eliminates the traditional paylines mechanic. In this online slot, players will have 1024 ways to create winning combinations, which somewhat means increased chances of landing a win on a spin.

Winning combinations in Mahjong Ways are formed when players acquire three or more uniform characters on adjacent reels. The position of these characters on the reels doesn’t matter. However, identical symbols that form a winning combo must start from the leftmost reel heading to the right. Players will find wilds, scatters, transforming wilds, multipliers, and a free spin feature when they play Mahjong Ways for real money.

Mahjong Ways slot theme and graphics

As mentioned, the Mahjong Ways online slot is based on the Chinese tile game invented during the Qing Dynasty. PG Soft offers a scaled-down version of the title, which is more entertaining and elementary to play. The graphical designs and representation of the Chinese characters on the tiles in Mahjong Ways are magnificent.

The game itself has a simple design, nothing too flashy or over-the-top, but still captivating. The animations are smooth and delightful. We particularly liked the in-game sound/music in Mahjong Ways. Since groups of 3-4 players play the real-life table game, you can hear player chatter (speaking Chinese) in the background of the befitting Asian-themed soundtrack. This adds excitement to the gameplay. Still, players can turn the in-game sound off or on at their will.

Mahjong Ways slot game interface

The game features a pretty intuitive interface. Your betting area is at the base of the slot, where you can toggle Turbo mode, change your bet sizes, and view your balance. Autoplay is also available, offering up to 100 automatic rounds. Your game history, paytable, sound, and rules are under the settings menu.

Mahjong Ways slot RTP, volatility, max win

This video slot has one of the highest RTPs among PG Soft slots. The published return-to-player percentage of Mahjong Ways is 96.92%. However, this value is theoretical and will only guide players on the video slots that offer a decent return in the long haul.

As a medium-volatility slot, Mahjong Ways will offer players some fairly regular wins with moderate payouts. The online slot has a maximum multiplier of 25,000x and a maximum cash win of $62,500.

Bet sizes in Mahjong Ways

The bet levels in the game range from 1 to 10, and the spin size coin values are $0.01, $0.05, and $0.25. So, the higher your spin size coin values and bet level, the higher your total bet size. To be precise, when playing Mahjong Ways for real money, your total bet sizes will range from $0.20 to $50 per spin.

However, the minimum and maximum total bet sizes may vary across Mahjong Ways online casinos. Also, players may experience varying bet limits depending on their playing currency, especially for crypto gamblers who use tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, etc.

You can adjust your bet amounts in Mahjong Ways by clicking the bet option icon (between your balance and win amount per round) and tweaking the available parameters. Moreover, if you wish to play with the maximum bet size, simply click the ‘Max Bet’ button and hit ‘Confirm.’ The game’s minimum limits are ideal for players on a budget.

Normal symbols and payouts

Payouts in Mahjong Ways are made according to the paytable. You can access this paytable since it’s embedded in the game. It is essential to know that winning combos are formed if 3+ identical symbols appear in succession in adjacent reels. In case there are simultaneous wins on different bet ways, these wins are added. Below are the symbol payouts for getting 3, 4, or 5 of the same type on the reels:

• Green Chinese symbol: 15x, 60x, 100x
• Red Chinese symbol: 10x, 40x, 80x
• Purple card: 8x, 20x, 60x
• Red and blue Chinese symbol: 6x, 15x, 40x
• 5-circled tile: 4x, 10x, 20x
• 5-lined tile: 4x, 10x, 20x
• 2-circled tile: 2x, 5x, 10x
• 2-lined tile: 2x, 5x, 10x

Bonus symbols and payouts

Mahjong Ways has one additional symbol besides the scatter and wild characters. Although these symbols don’t offer a payout, they trigger a feature that helps you boost your winnings. Therefore, these are the bonus symbols in the Mahjong Ways slot:

• Wild: The ancient Chinese golden ingot is the wild symbol. This symbol takes the place of all other characters except for scatters. Wilds can substitute other characters to form and complete winning combinations.
• Scatter: The red Chinese character is the scatter symbol on a shiny gold background. When you get 3+ of these symbols anywhere on the reels, you’ll trigger the free spins round.
• Gold-Plated Symbols: This is the symbol responsible for transforming regular symbols into wilds. During any spin, some symbols (except scatters and wilds) appear in gold. These gold-plated symbols will only land on reels 2, 3, and 4. As such, at every new round, after new characters have cascaded down, any gold-plated symbols involved in a win in the previous round will be transformed into wilds, allowing you to form more winning combinations and boost your winnings.

Bonus features in Mahjong Ways

Mahjong Ways is one of the best PG Soft slots due to the several bonus features it offers players. These features are covered below.

Win multipliers and Cascading reels

The Cascading reel feature is active by default in the game and starts after a win. Also, it’s tied to the win multiplier feature in the base game. Therefore, if you win, the symbols involved in the win will explode, allowing other symbols to drop down (cascade) into the now-empty spaces.

The game gets more interesting if the new symbols are also involved in a win. You’ll notice a multiplier bar on top of the reels with 1x, 2x, 3x, and 5x. So, if you win in the first spin, your wins will be multiplied by 1x (no bonus boost). If you get another win after the cascading feature, your winnings will be multiplied by 2x. This will continue up to a maximum of 5x as long as you get wins after each cascade.

Free Spin feature

Prepare for a jaw-dropping experience during the free spin round since the multipliers on top of the reels are doubled (2x, 4x, 6x, and 10x), meaning your payouts can be boosted immensely. So, if you land three scatters on the reels, you’ll trigger this feature and receive 12 free spins.

Notably, every additional scatter awards you 2 more free spins (16 in total if you get five scatters). The cascading mechanic and the transforming wilds are also involved in this feature but with increased multipliers of up to 10x. Free spins can be retriggered.

Play Mahjong Ways slot for free in demo mode

Conclusion

An intuitive design, smooth graphics and animations, and a realistic Chinese-based soundtrack compatible with the Mahjong theme are some of the reasons why this is a top PG Soft slot. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg because the Mahjong Ways slot is stacked with other immersive features. These include a cascading reel mechanic, gold-plated transforming wilds, a win multiplier feature (up to 5x), and a free spin feature, offering 12 FS and multipliers of up to 10x.