Power of Merlin Megaways Demo & review

Every tumble in the free spins of Power of Merlin Megaways raises a multiplier that stays until the round is over, and a Lightning Bolt on the top row can turn every copy of one symbol into a WILD. Pragmatic Play released it in July 2023 as a High-volatility sister to Power of Thor Megaways, with a far higher cap. It suits bonus chasers who will sit through a quiet base game for a round that gets stronger as it goes.

How Power of Merlin Megaways works

A symbol pays when it appears on reel 1 and on each neighbouring reel after it, and the number of ways changes on every spin. Reels 1 and 6 show up to seven symbols. Reels 2 to 5 show up to six, plus one more on a horizontal top row that spins right to left. Winning symbols disappear, new ones fall in, and the tumbles continue until nothing new pays.

The ways count is the reel heights multiplied together. Before our first spin every reel stood at full height, seven symbols on each counting the top row, and seven multiplied by itself six times gives the 117,649 on the counter.

Every reel at full height before our first spin, so the counter shows the maximum number of ways. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

The WILD can appear on any reel except the first, and it substitutes for all symbols but the SCATTER and the Lightning Bolt. Each way pays its highest win only, and wins on different ways are added together. The base game has no multiplier, so its big moments depend on how many WILDs the bolt and the reels supply.

How the Lightning Bolt works

The Lightning Bolt lands only on the top row and pays nothing itself. When it hits, the game picks one random paying symbol, and every copy of it on reels 2 to 5 turns WILD. Reels 1 and 6 are left alone, so the converted symbols work as bridges between whatever lands on the outer reels.

It also fires after tumbles. If a tumble moves the bolt to a new spot on the top row, another random symbol on reels 2 to 5 is converted. By the rules, if the bolt picks the owl while an owl sits on each of reels 2 to 5, every middle reel now holds a WILD, so a symbol that lands on both reel 1 and reel 6 has a path across the whole grid.

Rules page 2 in our session: how tumbles and the Lightning Bolt work. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

For us the bolt is the base game's only real swing, and the free spins multiplier is what carries the game.

Free spins: how they trigger

Four or more SCATTERs anywhere start free spins, and each extra SCATTER adds four spins:

Inside the round, the multiplier goes up by 1x on every tumble and holds until the round ends, and the round's wins are multiplied by it. The Lightning Bolt stays active, so a converted symbol can set off a chain that pushes the multiplier up several steps in one spin. Three SCATTERs during the round add four more spins.

So length is what you are playing for: the final spins of a round run at the highest multiplier it has reached.

The gamble for more spins

Before the first free spin, a wheel offers to gamble the award for four more spins at a time, up a ladder of five steps. A win moves you up and lets you go again. A loss ends the bonus with no spins at all, so the choice is between a safe start and a longer round at a higher multiplier.

The gamble offer after our natural trigger. We collected the 10 spins rather than risk them. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

Can you buy the bonus?

Yes. The buy costs 150x the bet and lands four to seven SCATTERs at random, which by the table above means 10 to 22 free spins, with the same gamble offered afterwards. Its RTP sits a hundredth of a point below the base game's, so in theory buying costs you almost nothing extra. There is no ante bet.

Rules page 4 in our session: the max win and the buy. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

RTP, volatility and max win

The game runs at 96.09%, and 96.08% when you buy the bonus. Those are the only versions in the build we played. Casinos can choose lower settings for some games, so check the game information at your casino before you play.

Pragmatic labels it High volatility on the intro screen and in the rules. A round is capped at 40,000x the bet: the moment its total gets there, the round ends, the win is paid and any spins left are forfeited. With no multiplier outside free spins, a long round at a climbing multiplier is the realistic route toward that figure.

Our Power of Merlin Megaways demo test

One natural bonus made our session. Four SCATTERs on spin 58 gave 10 free spins, we collected them without gambling, and the round paid $334.10. With two spins left the meter read 7x and an 8x was landing, so the closing spins ran at the highest multiplier of the round.

Late in our natural round, with two spins to go and the multiplier climbing past 7x. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

Everything around it was small. The other 99 base spins returned $46.35 between them, and the best of those paid $16.80 on spin 65. Only 22 spins paid at all, and no win came in the 11 base spins after spin 65.

The bought round gave 14 free spins and paid back a little more than its price, as the card shows. A retrigger, the gamble wheel in use and a captured Lightning Bolt strike are missing from our record, so those parts are described from the rules. A hundred base spins and one buy cannot tell you what the game returns.

The natural round's result screen: $334.10 from 10 free spins, triggered on spin 58. FluxPlays demo test, 2 November 2026.

Is Power of Merlin Megaways worth playing?

For a bonus chaser, yes. For a short-session player who wants something to happen often, no. The multiplier that never steps back down makes every free spins round worth watching to the end, and the gamble adds a real decision before it starts. The base game gives little back while you wait, and the bolt is its only swing.

Pick Power of Thor Megaways if you want the same climbing multiplier at Medium volatility, with a cheaper 100x buy, a 5,000x cap and a hammer that turns two whole reels wild. Pick Power of Merlin Megaways if you accept a harsher base game for a cap eight times higher.

In the demo, take the gamble at least once. It is the one choice this game hands you, and watching the wheel decide a whole bonus shows you quickly whether you would ever press it outside the demo.