Piggy Riches Megaways

Piggy Riches Megaways (Red Tiger): Overview

Lady Pig and Gentleman Pig grace the reels once again with a remake of the iconic Piggy Riches slot. The filthy rich couple of piggies return for another shameless display of wealth and assets. This time around, they are brought to us via the collaboration between NetEnt and Red Tiger. If you missed that one, NetEnt recently acquired Red Tiger for a princely sum which brought a Megaways license as part of the deal. The first slot from the partnership is a porcine themed slot which has had a modern upgrade. Not only have the graphics and gameplay been expanded, but Piggy Riches also comes with the ever-popular Megaways engine attached. Obviously, we are talking about a completely different experience this time around. Let’s fire up those piggy's and watch the bacon fry.

Right off the bat, the game looks quite different. The original Piggy Riches came out at the start of the last decade so you’d really hope so. Though, in saying that, the two are still obviously related. Developed by the Red Tiger production team, the game takes place on the lawn of Piggy Manor. This is a real pile of a house dripping with fountains, statues, and wrought iron gates. The first major difference is the game grid. Thanks to Megaways, we get 6 reels with up to 7 symbols on each. At full power, that means 117,649 win ways are in play. It also means a cascading win system which clears winning symbols off the screen to let new ones fall into the blank spaces. Chains of wins are possible from a single spin and this feature comes into full effect during the free spins. Bet levels, as is common with Megaways, are on the low side relatively speaking and can be had for 10 p/c each up to $/€10.

In a nice nod to the original, each regular pay symbol is the same this time around. The low pay 10 – A symbols have the same gaudy designs to them for one. The high pays are the same too with a piggy bank, bulging purse, car keys, and gold card. These symbols need three or more to be winners. The exception is the bag of loot symbol which only needs two to pay. It is also the most valuable symbol at 20 times the stake for six of a kind. The remaining high pay symbols return 1.2x – 5x at the most, so quite a difference. Cascades and multipliers are on hand to salvage their relatively low values. The Gentleman Pig wild also contributes because they are Mega Wilds. When these wilds land they cover a whole reel and have a win multiplier of up to x7. Up to three can land at the same time, and they combine their multipliers for even better wins.

Piggy Riches Megaways runs on a medium to high variance setting, ideal for the high payouts it is capable of. As has become the new Red Tiger standard, RTP is a titch under average on 95.71%. The result is a well-balanced math model that dishes out smaller wins frequently enough to keep players engaged while waiting for the juicier feature to drop.

Piggy Riches Megaways (Red Tiger): Features

Aside from the stacked wild, the only other special feature of note is a round of Free Spins. Just as Gentleman Pig is the wild in both games, so is Lady Pig once again the scatter. Three of her anywhere in view will trigger the Free Spins round. Before the round begins, players spin the Free Spins Wheel. The wheel has two segments. The outer one is covered in numbers that represent spins, while the other segment is for multipliers. When the wheel stops spinning, whatever figures are highlighted in both segments is how the free spins begin. This means up to 22 free spins and a starting win multiplier from x1 to x10.

Every winning combination during free spins raises the win multiplier by +1. There is no technical limit to how high the multiplier can go. There's also a chance to land the multiplier wilds which, when combined with the win multipler, makes things even more interesting. Finally, any scatters that land during the round add an additional free spin to the remaining total.

Piggy Riches Megaways (Red Tiger): Verdict

Piggy Riches Megaways is a stand-up slot. It’s nice to look at, has a well-built math model, and possesses decent features and good potential of slightly over 10,000 times the stake. In short, it’s a solid game that ticks all the right boxes. And yet, knowing who is behind it, you kind of expect a bit more. Not to take anything away from the game, but it doesn’t exactly break new ground. For an early outing from the combined forces of two heavyweight developers of the slot world, it’s rather cautious. Adding Megaways to an older slot is hardly a catalyst for a gaming evolution. Still, it is a totally respectable slot nonetheless. Mr and Mrs Piggy never had it so good, and it’s a superior experience to the dated original. In saying that, the first Piggy Riches was a popular slot, and most fans will be pleased with the remake.

In the future it will be nice to see the two teams bring their considerable creative and design talents to bear. The NetEnt/Red Tiger team are off to a great start with Piggy Riches Megaways and fingers are crossed for their future endeavours. Is 2020 going to be the year we see a deluge of NetEnt Megaways remakes? Chances are good.