Mega Moolah powers many slots: Here is our comparison

September has been a big month for progressive jackpot games at Microgaming. Not only have we seen the next two games in the Wowpot progressive series released in the form of Book of Atem Wowpot and Sisters of Oz Wowpot, but earlier this week we have seen another exciting new addition to the expanding universe of Mega Moolah progressive jackpot gaming.

This latest game, Fortunium Gold Mega Moolah slot, is doubly exciting because not only is the game a sequel to the smash hit slot game Fortunium, which was released back in 2018, but it also another slot that offers you a bona fide chance to win the Mega Moolah progressive jackpot prize, which one lucky player managed to do just a week or so ago for a 3 million jackpot prize!

However, while both of those facts are enough to get players excited for the new game, it is the fact that Fortunium Gold offers a number of different features that are all available for the first time in a Mega Moolah slot that has got a lot of players excited. Combine that with the release of Absolootly Mad and Atlantean Treasures back in February 2020, both of which have their own unique features and not only is the number of games you can play to try and win the Mega Moolah jackpot expanding, but the number of ways you can play for that jackpot prize is also increasing too.

So what options does a player have now if they want to try and win one of the four Mega Moolah progressive jackpot prizes? Is there a difference between which games are, say the cheapest to play as a minimum bet, and those which offer much higher bet amounts for higher rollers?

Also will the different features available on each of these games mean that players are drawn to one game more so than another?

So what we have done is produce a comparative table which highlights the main features of each slot, how the game is set up, the maximum and minimum bet sizes you can make, whether the game has Free Spins or other bonus features.

Mega Moolah slots comparison table

Let's now focus in on some of the key differences between the games and pay particular attention to where the new Fortunium Gold slot sits in among the other Mega Moolah slots listed here.

Theme, Reels and Pay Lines/Ways to Win

You can see that there is a somewhat eclectic mix of different themes for the five Mega Moolah slots listed which range from simple African Safari themes, right up to more specific themes such as the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and Steampunk. A broad canvas of themes means that usually players can find a slot game that appeals to them.

All Mega Moolah games operate with five reels with most electing for a 5x3 reel set up. Fortunium Gold however breaks that mould by going with a 5x5 reel set up, which also has a knock-on effect in the number of lines in play.

Speaking of lines, the number of lines does differ markedly from game to game. In Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire, 25 lines is the order of the day, but in Atlantean Treasures it drops to ten, although in this game you can win both ways across the reels. Then in Absolootly Mad, we have a totally different approach with 243 Ways to Win instead of pay lines.

Fortunium Gold once again takes a unique approach offering 40 pay lines, but what is notable here is that you only have to pay 0.10 per spin to play the game, which for a 40-pay line slot is great value for money.

Bet amounts

In terms of the minimum bet amounts, Fortunium Gold, along with Atlantean Treasures is the cheapest Mega Moolah slot to play per spin at 0.10 for a minimum bet. That is half the cost of the Absolootly Mad slot (0.20) and less than half the cost of both the original Mega Moolah slot and the Casino Rewards Exclusive game Mega Vault Millionaire (both 0.25).

In terms of maximum bet, Fortunium Gold comes right in the middle of the games with the original Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire offering maximum bets of just 6.25. Fortunium Gold is next with 15.00, followed by Absolootly Mad at 50.00 and higher rollers are probably more attracted to the Atlantean Treasures game with its maximum bet of 500.00 available.

One small thing to note is that if you activate the Win Booster feature on the Fortunium Gold slot then the price of the minimum and maximum bet increases by 50% (which means a range from 0.15 up to 22.50). No other Mega Moolah slot has this option available in the game.

Wilds, Free Spins and other bonuses

Unsurprisingly given how popular and important they are in slot games, all Mega Moolah slots have their own Wilds in the game, although how they are used can differ from game to game. In Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire, the Wilds offer a 3x multiplier on any wins they are part of, in Atlantean Treasures they only occur on the middle three reels and are Expanding Wilds which grant the player a free respin of the other reels while holding the Wild in place.

In Absolootly Mad, the Wild is standard but each Wild you land will give you a Mad Hatter Coin and a chance to trigger the Jackpot Bonus Game with each one you collect. Fortunium Gold once again though goes a slightly different way and it has double-stacked Wild symbols in the base game, which can also appear as 5-symbol high stacks when they appear as the Mystery Symbol.

However, Fortunium Gold also uses the Jackpot Wild when revealed as a Mystery Symbol to trigger the Jackpot Bonus Game, as well as serving as a standard Wild in the result of the triggering spin (which can lead to some nice payouts even before you get to spin the progressive jackpot wheel to see which of the four jackpots you will win).

In terms of Free Spins, Atlantean Treasures, with its Respin bonus feature does not have a dedicated Free Spin game, but all other Mega Moolah slots do. The most Free Spins available are in the Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire games, with 15 granted on each trigger, along with a 3x multiplier and a chance to retrigger more Free Spins if you land three or more Scatters in the bonus round.

You can also re-trigger more Free Spins in the Absolootly Mad Free Spins bonus round which sees you granted 8 Free Spins but with the Multiplier Trail values increased by 3x the standard amount from the base game. This makes Rolling Reels wins in the Free Spins bonus round much more lucrative as wins of up to 15x the standard amount are possible if you can string together these wins.

Once again Fortunium Gold does its own thing with its Free Spins bonus round. Depending on whether you trigger the bonus round with 3, 4 or 5 Scatter symbols, you will begin the bonus with one, two or three Mystery Reels in play respectively on the middle reels. These Mystery symbols all change to the same single symbol after a spin is completed and if they match up with other symbols, Wilds, or turn into Wilds themselves, they can produce some big value wins.

Standard jackpot sizes

Mega Moolah remains the top jackpot game with 225,000 coin wins equating to a prize of 9,000x your total bet. Next is Absolootly Mad with a 2,343x jackpot prize followed by Mega Vault Millionaire with a possible 1,800x prize. Fortunium Gold's 800x jackpot comes next followed by Atlantean Treasures 500x jackpot.

However it should be noted that given you can bet more on slots like Absolootly Mad and Atlantean Treasures, the theoretical maximum cash amounts you can win on each game is more than other slots. Fortunium Gold's maximum jackpot win of £12,000 puts it fourth on the list of games ahead of Mega Vault Millionaire.

Triggering the progressive jackpot game

There are now essentially three different ways you can trigger a shot at each games own Jackpot Bonus Wheel and a chance to win one of the four progressive jackpot prizes.

On Mega Moolah and Mega Vault Millionaire, the jackpot can be triggered on any spin of the reels and the process that decides this is entirely random.

On Atlantean Treasures and Absolootly Mad, players spins do not automatically grant them a shot at the Jackpot Bonus Game. Instead, players have to collect tokens in each game and each token they collect offers them a chance to trigger the jackpot bonus game. The more of each tokens you collect, the more chance you have of triggering the jackpot bonus.

The new Fortunium Gold slot though takes a completely different approach by using the Mystery Symbols feature, meaning when you land Mystery symbols and they turn into the special Jackpot Wild symbol, you will be granted a chance to spin the Jackpot Bonus Wheel. Furthermore, Fortunium Gold is the only one of the Mega Moolah slot games that allows players a chance to trigger the Jackpot Bonus Game in both the base game and Free Spins. In other games with Free Spins, the Jackpot Bonus Game cannot be triggered when the Free Spins bonus is in play.

What is true across all Mega Moolah-linked slots is that the more you bet when you spin the reels, the more chance you have of triggering a shot at the Jackpot Bonus Game.

Availability

This is a nice easy one as most Mega Moolah games are generally available across a wide range of casinos around the world, although it should be noted that some casinos only offer selected games, not the full selection.

The only exception to this is the Mega Vault Millionaire game which is available only at the Casino Rewards casinos and not anywhere else. You can also play Mega Moolah and Atlantean Treasures on this network (Fortunium Gold was available on the day of release at Casino Rewards, but when I checked in the next day, the game had disappeared so it is unclear whether the new games is available on this network).

The thing that stands out with this selection of games that are part of the Mega Moolah network is that there has been a real drive from Microgaming to offer players a very different experience from one game to the next, Mega Vault Millionaire being the exception to that rule as it is very similar to the original Mega Moolah game in many respects.

As such, the new Fortunium Gold slot ticks all the right boxes in that it offers players a brand new way to play for the Mega Moolah progressive jackpots, as well as offering fans a chance to play a brand new Mega Moolah slot that has different features and is set up very differently to other Mega Moolah games. For that reason alone, it is sure to be a smash hit success with players at casinos over the coming months and years.

And the best thing to remember for Mega Moolah fans is that there is another new game, Juicy Jokers, on the horizon too!