188JILI 243 Ways Explained: How the Count Grows on Bigger Grids

A 243 ways slot has no paylines to follow: a symbol pays when it lands on neighbouring reels, starting from the leftmost one, in any row. The number 243 is plain multiplication, and once you can do the sum you can read any ways count on a paytable. It is one of the figures compared in the slot game online comparison, alongside volatility and win cap.

243 ways, worked out

Take a grid of five reels with three rows each. A winning path can use any one of the three positions on each reel, so the count of paths is 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3, which equals 243 (3 to the power of 5). Wikipedia’s slot machine article gives the same pattern, calling a 3 x 5 grid “often referred to as a 243-way game”, and notes that multi-way games pay when a symbol lands on at least three consecutive reels from left to right.

Here is a symbol example with made-up numbers. The cherry symbol shows twice on reel 1, once on reel 2 and three times on reel 3, with none on reel 4. That makes 2 x 1 x 3 = 6 different three-reel paths, and the game pays each one.

How the ways count grows on a bigger grid

Add rows or reels and the count multiplies, so it grows faster than the grid does.

Wikipedia lists 1,024 and 3,125 as the ways on 4 x 5 and 5 x 5 patterns, which matches the sums. The 46656 figure is the same sum on a six-by-six grid. Some games vary rows per reel, so the count changes, and then the game prints the count it uses instead of a fixed number.

Slot titles that print a ways count

None of the sixteen slot titles this site documents lists exactly 243 ways, but several list the same kind of count on a larger grid. The numbers below come from this site’s game data.

Each of the three 5 x 4 titles follows the 4 to the power of 5 sum. Mega Ace follows 6 to the power of 6. Golden Empire is described as a Megaways game, where the rows per reel change on each spin, so its count is a ceiling printed by the game and not a fixed grid sum.

What a bigger count does not mean

A count is a description of the grid. A game with 46656 ways is not forty-five times better than one with 1024. It checks more paths per spin, and the studio sets the long-run return and the size of each pay-out to suit. That is why Super Ace and Wild Ace share 1024 ways and a low to medium volatility label, yet list win caps of 10000x and 1000x.

So compare the count with the win cap and volatility on the same page, and treat none of them as a way to predict a spin. How to win in slots, honestly sets out what a player can and cannot control.

Check the count on a game before you play

1. Open the game’s info screen and find the line that prints ways or paylines.
2. Multiply rows per reel across the reels, as in the table, and confirm the printed number.
3. Look at the volatility label and the win cap listed beside it.
4. Use demo mode before real stakes where the game offers one, to watch how often paths land.

To find more titles with a ways count, see new JILI games on the studio’s list. Play only if you are 21 or over.