Big Time Gaming Pty Ltd

About the Company

Big Time Gaming is a casino games developer founded by Nik Robinson in 2011. The company is located in Surry Hills NSW, Australia, an upscale inner-city suburb of Sydney. Its first big splash in the online gaming scene came with the release of Bonanza in 2016. The company rose so fast in prominence that it was acquired by Evolution in 2021.

Other notable Evolution acquisitions include NetEnt, Red Tiger Gaming, and NoLimit City among others.

CEO Robinson founded NT Media in 1996 and offloaded it to News International in 2005. He stayed on at Openbet from 2005 until launching BTG. For some clarity, NT Media (purchased by News Corp) merged with Orbis Technology. Nik’s NT Media was the first company to ever take cash bets through a Flash front end.

Flash is no longer a supported instant play format thanks to the advent of the HTML5 framework, the “future-proof” web browser markup language that all instant play online casino games run on today.

CTO, Huw McIntosh also worked in the industry at both NT Media and Openbet for more than a decade before coming to Big Time Gaming.

Creative Director, Ian Schmidt joined the team after working as an artist on a variety of AAA games such as RockStar Games titles.

While BTG already had an impressive list of placements and aggregation platform deals, the company’s game engines are now found at virtually every regulated online casino in the world through licensing deals.

The premiere game mechanic was Megaways - a new way to spin slots that was arguably the most important game-changer in online slots history. The games with up to 117,649 virtual paylines were so popular that nearly every other major developer and studio clamored to license the tech and add the feature to their own games.

When we know that Robinson invented the world's first real money grid slot, Chain Reactors, it isn’t much of a surprise that another BTG original is the MegaClusters series, melding the excitement of Megaways and cluster pays - more on that later.

The other exciting BTG original is MegaPays. It was initially released only to Relax Gaming aggregation partners and provides a random jackpot chance on every spin. Using the company’s term, the jackpot is “de-risked” meaning a 0.20 bet has just as much chance to trigger it as a 30.00 spin.

Not long after the mechanic was released on Who Wants to be a Millionaire (MegaPays) a lucky player won the Mega Jackpot worth over a million dollars (855,000 GBP) on a 60 pence stake (72c).

While nearly every slot developer from Blueprint to iSoftbet has licensed the Megaways mechanic for use in its games, the Evolution acquisitions also make good use of it. In one case, Red Tiger Gaming released NetEnt’s Gonzo’s Quest using the BTG engine with Gonzo’s Quest Megaways. It was a sea change moment in online gaming - more subtle and perhaps less enduring than the first Flash plugin game or the first chain reactor game, but a significant moment in defining a new level of cooperation with win/win/wins dynamics for inventors, developers, and players alike.

We’ll take a look at each of the game engines/mechanics in the following section through the lens of a single game using each. There are some variations in each innovation such as the maximum number of ways to win on a Megaways slot - but all Megaways games have certain elements in common as do all MegaClusters and MegaPays titles.

While far from an overnight success sensation, the star bound trajectory of Big Time Gaming in just a decade from inception is truly remarkable.

Software and Games

Along with being the first to deploy Flash games, and inventing game-changing mechanics like Megaways, the top tier at BTG is well aware of what is now known as game aggregation. “Back in the day” all casinos ran on a single software platform.

Prior to Flash, every game had to be downloaded to a PC hard drive, either separately or in a complete bundle. If you played Playtech, you got every single game or you didn’t play at all. If you wanted Microgaming, you downloaded the complete Viper client every single time there was a new game or a game update.

Orbis/Openbet/Electracade was also the first game “aggregators” in a sense. While not as sophisticated as the as not yet seen Microgaming Quickfire system with games from dozens of developers, it did have “game packages” from a few different providers. In my mind, I’ve always credited Robinson with the first aggregated bundles of online casino games delivered via a proprietary remote game server. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch.

The transition from Flash to HTML5 delivery was not easy and it caught nearly every major developer and provider “off-guard” as if they were in denial and expecting some sort of workaround and reprieve. As revolutionary as real money transactions through Adobe Flash were, the system required a browser plug-in and taxed not only computer and cell phone memory but by extension, battery and actual cellphone life.

Flash was not absolutely secure as HTML5 is, but there are no casino banking breaches in archived history we’ve been able to find. And while Robinson cannot be credited with the creation of HTML5, it might be safe to say that online gambling would still be catching up to where it is now if players had not experienced instant play with a chance to choose among several different providers' slots - and insisted on keeping instant play aggregation the way of the world.

Megaways

Since it was the game that started it all and is still a huge fan favorite around the world, we’ll look at Bonanza. Sure, my preference would be for something a little more avant-garde but the Megaways mechanic can be a bit complicated so starting at the beginning is the best way to go.

Hint: If you have never played these games it might be a good idea to play a few rounds in demo mode or go ahead and play for real money at the lowest stake possible. They are, by their very nature, highly volatile games, and even with a decent RTP of 96.4% you can still burn through hundreds of spins before making your money back or start spinning at a profit. As well, the volatility can present a massive profit on the first spin as well as the 300th or never pay at all.

If you are going to try them in practice mode, do a bonus buy again and again to get a feel for the overall volatility.

How does it work?

The first thing you’ll notice is six reels but no set number of how many symbols can appear on a reel - each reel can hold anywhere from 2 to 7 symbols when the reels stop spinning.

As with any traditional slot, wins are formed from leftmost to right starting on the first reel.

Unlike the “pay anyway” or 243 ways to win configurations, the maths change on each spin based on how many symbols appear on any given reel that’s in play as well as the symbols that match. Each spin will offer a minimum of 64 ways to win (2 symbols on each reel) to 117,649 ways to win with 7 symbols on each reel.

Some slots also have a single horizontal reel above the 6 reels with four positions but it doesn’t change the math of 64-117,649 ways to win unless there are matching symbols which would make the possibility of 324 ways to win.

Some slots have fewer ways to win than Bonanza does but all of them have huge win potential.

While seeing the display show 117,649 Megaways and seeing 42 symbols appear on the reel set is always exciting, it still takes three matching symbols or a wild and two on the first three reels to form a win of any sort. Perhaps more exciting is the bonus rounds where an ever-increasing multiplier level sets the stage for crushing wins - the higher your starting multiplier or the total number of free spins awarded - or gambled and won is another element. And that is the only reason a player might trigger the bonus round and gamble five free games for a chance at 7 spins knowing there’s a 50/50 chance they won’t get either if they lose the gamble. It can also explain gambling those 7 for 10 knowing they might lose all the progress.

But how could that be worth it?

If you start with 10 spins and the first spin is worth 10x, the next subsequent respin will be worth more. We’ve reached 33x very quickly and the multiplier is not reset between free spins. It increases with every win or with every wild or other multiplier symbol and doesn’t drop until all free spins are over.

Achieving 33x multiplier or better and lucking into a 117,649 Megaways spin with matching symbols, especially high-paying icons is something sure to tickle the thrill button for any player - and to see the win celebration and subsequent Mega-payout is sure to change anyone’s perception of online slots.

MegaClusters

These games are very similar to other cluster pay games from the starting spin. However, the unique BTG mechanic is different. Rather than simply blowing up the winning symbols and replacing them for another chance to win on the same spin, each participating symbol receives an avalanche of 4 new, smaller symbols.

A game that starts with a 4x4 grid showing 16 positions can become a 16x16 grid with 256 positions which presents far more winning possibilities.

The first of these games was released in June 2020, Star Clusters.

Whereas any of the more than 200 Megaways games on the market now show their potential at first glance - that’s not the case with MegaCluster games. A stark looking 4x4 grid looks benign and the potentiality doesn’t begin to show until the first win. Players can see what's possible next and the game holds your hand step by step.

MegaPays

This mechanic simply offers a random chance to play a jackpot game. Once triggered a single position reel is spun and the symbol appearing when it’s done spinning is the one you’ll look for in the bonus game.

The reels are dimmed and any incidence of the symbol appearing is highlighted. They drop to the bottom of the reels like blocks and another respin is awarded. Along the way, you can pick up one or all of the jackpots, but winning one moot the lower-valued one already won. It’s entirely possible to trigger the bonus round and win even the lowest-tier prize.

The best news is that the four progressive jackpots are “community de-risked” meaning a 0.10 bet has just as much chance to trigger the bonus round and win a jackpot as a 30.00 bet. Or, as the company literature states, “...with our unique patented MEGAPAYS™ system that gives each spin the potential of hitting a municipal de-risked jackpot that can pay x3000000 plus with a 10p stake.”

The Final Analysis

While we didn’t delve into individual games nor cover all of the innovations, evolution, and iterations of Megaways Big Time Gaming has experimented with we present a basic overview of industry-changing mechanics invented at BTG. Some titles that are inimitable include White Rabbit, Danger High Voltage, Extra Chilli, and Book of Gods to name a few.

One artistic element that runs through many of the games regardless of the primary mechanic is the use of gems for symbols. However, it’s not just precious stones, the gems always represent something else thematic to the title whether it’s water, soda, or peppers - they could be anything.

Another element that runs through all the games is fun. Even while most titles are very high volatility on the index, there’s always enough going on to keep players entertained even when they’re not hitting the big jackpots. The games are easy enough to suss out at low stakes or in practice mode and even though it is possible to bet large, most players are happy to low-roll the games in hopes of landing a big win from a small stake. Of course, why not bet big now and then instead of buying the feature - you could trigger one at random and end up with a life-changing payout - however far the odds are.

There’s absolutely no sense in putting a predictive spin or divining a prognostication for Big Time Gaming’s future. It’s already here. This is a true industry success story and a company that has left its mark on the game forever.