Mahjong Ways: review, 96.92% RTP and the original that started the series

Mahjong Ways is where all of this started. It launched in 2020 and effectively turned mahjong into its own sub-genre of Asian-themed slots: bamboos, circles and characters on a 5×4 grid with 1,024 ways, cascading wins and wilds carrying a multiplier. Everything that followed — PG Soft’s own sequel and the flood of imitators — was cut from this template.

Is Mahjong Ways worth playing?

It is, with one honest caveat: if you have access to both, Mahjong Ways 2 is the more complete game. More ways (2,000 against 1,024), a marginally higher default RTP (96.95% against 96.92%) and a ceiling four times as large.

What the original keeps is legibility. The 5×4 grid is a plain rectangle; you see immediately where tiles land and what’s paying. The sequel’s irregular layout takes longer to parse. And the more modest 25000× ceiling actually describes what the game does — you don’t spend the session chasing a seven-figure number you will never see.

Medium volatility, steady rhythm: this is a slot to play slowly, not to attack.

Ways and cascades on the 5×4 grid

There are no paylines. Matching tiles simply need to land on consecutive reels from left to right — 1,024 possible combinations across a grid four positions deep. When a combination pays, those tiles vanish, the ones above drop down and can form a new combination within the same spin, at no extra cost. It’s the classic cascade, and it drives almost everything worth having here.

Wilds with a multiplier

The wild substitutes for regular symbols and arrives with a multiplier attached. Across chained cascades that multiplier climbs with each new cascade inside the same spin — and it’s this ladder, and only this ladder, that makes the 25000× ceiling mathematically possible. In free spins the ladder starts from a higher rung, which is why most of the slot’s potential is concentrated there.

Mahjong Ways is not Mahjong Wins — and the difference matters

This is probably the most common mix-up in the genre, so let’s settle it.

• Mahjong Ways and Mahjong Ways 2 are PG Soft.
• The Mahjong Wins series — including Mahjong Wins 3 Black Scatter — is Pragmatic Play.

One letter apart, two entirely separate studios. And the games don’t behave the same way: Mahjong Wins 3 Black Scatter runs a 97% default RTP with high volatility, while Mahjong Ways is medium volatility. If you’re hunting for the slot a friend recommended, confirm the provider before you deposit — the name alone won’t identify the game.

Symbols and payouts

PG Soft doesn’t publish a stable official paytable outside the game itself, so we won’t invent per-symbol values. What matters is the structure:

Element	What it does
Grid	Regular 5×4
System	Ways — 1,024 ways to win, left to right
Cascades	Winning tiles vanish and are replaced within the same spin
Wild	Substitutes for regular symbols and carries a multiplier
Multiplier	Climbs with each chained cascade inside the same spin
Scatter	Triggers free spins, where the multiplier ladder starts higher
Win ceiling	25000× your bet (theoretical)

Note: 96.92% is the default RTP published by PG Soft. Casinos can license and run versions of the same game at a lower RTP — always check the number in the in-game paytable before playing for real. And don’t forget that RTP is an average measured over millions of spins: it says nothing about what happens in your session.

Mahjong Ways vs the competition

Slot	Provider	RTP	Volatility	Max win
Mahjong Ways	PG Soft	96.92%	Medium	25000×
Mahjong Ways 2	PG Soft	96.95%	Medium	100000×
Mahjong Wins 3 Black Scatter	Pragmatic Play	97%	High	100000×
Lucky Neko	PG Soft	96.73%	Medium	100000×
Treasures of Aztec	PG Soft	96.71%	Medium	100000×
Ganesha Gold	PG Soft	96.08%	Medium	100000×

On paper the original loses to its own sequel: same volatility, practically the same RTP, but half the ways and a quarter of the ceiling. If you want the more ambitious version of this idea, play Mahjong Ways 2.

Against Mahjong Wins 3 Black Scatter the difference is temperament rather than theme: the Pragmatic title carries a higher default RTP (97%) but high volatility, meaning drier stretches punctuated by bigger hits. Mahjong Ways pays more often and pays less.

Ganesha Gold is the useful counter-example: it shares the 100000× ceiling with half this list, yet its 96.08% default RTP is among the lowest in PG Soft’s catalogue. A tall ceiling is not the same as a better game.

Bankroll tips

• Count spins, not currency. Decide up front how many spins you’re prepared to spend and divide your balance by that number. If the per-spin figure looks absurdly small, the balance is too small for this game — lower the expectation, not the caution.
• Don’t raise your stake waiting for free spins. The probability is identical on every spin regardless of how many came before. Betting more only means losing faster if the bonus stays away.
• Treat 25000× as a boundary, not a plan. The realistic outcome of a good session is a decent multiplier ladder inside a cascade sequence — not the ceiling.
• Set a loss limit and a win limit. Almost everyone forgets the second one, and it’s what separates walking away ahead from handing it all back.
• Pick the right game before you deposit. If you wanted Mahjong Wins and opened Mahjong Ways (or the other way round), you’re playing different maths from the one you researched.