Pragmatic Play · 2022 · tested 2026-09-27
Wild West Gold Megaways
Natural free spins bonuses of 621.8x and 683.7x pulled the first Wild West Gold Megaways demo run upward, while that run's 50 bonus buys came back at 0.62x their price.
- RTP measured / declared 97.2% 96.44%
- Hit frequency 22%
- Max win · no bonus 363x
- Bonus buy · mean result 100x · 0.78x
- Free spins, natural 60 / 20,000
- Bonus frequency 3.0 bHz
In numbers: measured RTP 97.2% against 96.44% declared over 20,000 logged rounds in 2 runs; 21.8% of rounds paid; a natural bonus landed once per 333 rounds (60 in total) and a bonus round paid a median 43.6x the stake, mean 94.7x, trigger spin included; 100 bonus buys at 100x returned 0.78x of their price on average, 80% of them below the price; the biggest round paid 683.7x; the longest dry run was 30 spins.
Test card
20,000 spins · USD 2.00 bet · every request logged| Spins | 20,000 · 2 runs |
| Bet | USD 2.00 |
| RTP declared | 96.44% |
| RTP measured | 97.23% (approximate 95% CI 83.1–111.4) |
| Hit frequency | 22% · every 4.58 |
| Dead streak max / avg | 30 / 4.55 |
| Median hit | 1.00x |
| Max win (no bonus round) | 362.5x · run 1, round 6823 |
| Free spins, natural | 60 · 3.0 bHz · every 333.3 spins · mean bonus round payout 94.7x stake |
| Balance start → end | 100,000 → 98,891 |
- 012026-09-0710,000 rounds · 50 buysfiles & checksums ↓94.94%RTP5 files · SHA-256 ↓
- 022026-09-2710,000 rounds · 50 buysfiles & checksums ↓99.52%RTP5 files · SHA-256 ↓
each run keeps its own spin log, CSV and raw server journal with checksums; the figures on this card combine all runs
Play Wild West Gold Megaways demo
PRAGMATIC PLAY · official demo · same math as real play
United States
Wild West Gold Megaways available at Cafe Casino
Same reels, real payouts
Cafe Casino runs the same Wild West Gold Megaways with the same math and adds a welcome bonus for players from the United States:
300% up to $2,000 + 150 FS 18+ · T&Cs apply · the demo stays free
Bonus buy lab
100 buys × 100x · USD 200 eachmean 0.78x · median 0.448× price (USD 89.55) · 80 of 100 below price · best 5.97x · worst 0.04x
| Spins per bonus (avg / min–max) | 7.6 / 7–10 |
| Retriggered | 27% |
| Bonuses that paid nothing | 1% |
Sheriff badge overlays add two to six spins during the feature; a round is counted as extended once a badge award takes it past the seven-spin start.
- Spent
- USD 20,000100 × USD 200
- Returned
- USD 15,530.9077.65% · approximate 95% CI 59–96%
- Net
- −USD 4,469.10−22.3 buys
- Break-even or better
- 20 / 10020%
- Paid 2× price or more
- 8 / 1008%
- Price in base spins
- 100natural trigger every ~333 spins
One ticket equals 100 ordinary stakes. Natural bonuses occurred once per 333 ordinary rounds in this sample. Stakes multiplied by this interval measure gross wagering, not the net cost of obtaining a bonus. Purchase returns above include the complete purchased round and are divided by the ticket price.
Risk profile
how much bankroll the 2 runs in sequence needed| 50 bets | bust at spin 140 |
| 100 bets | bust at spin 246 |
| 200 bets | bust at spin 455 |
The runs are played back to back as one series, one bet size. A different session can bust earlier or never; treat this as a measured example, not a rule.
How it plays
7 rules screens from the game
Six reels that show two to seven symbols each, up to 117,649 ways, wins for matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left. The sheriff is the top symbol and pays 1x the bet for six, so nothing on the paytable is large by itself; the size comes from the wilds. Wilds appear on the four middle reels only and arrive with x2, x3 or x5 attached, and when several wilds sit in the same way their multipliers are multiplied together: two x5 wilds turn a 0.3x line into 7.5x. Round 6823, the largest base spin of the first run at 362.5x, was one evaluation with no feature.
The scatter pays on its own, 4x for three up to 500x for six, and three or more start seven free spins. Inside the feature every wild that lands becomes sticky, keeps its multiplier and stays on its reel until the round ends; a reel holding sticky wilds is never dealt shorter than the number of wilds on it. Extra spins come from the sheriff badge, an overlay that can appear on any symbol during the feature: two badges on one spin add two spins, three add three, up to six for six. Among the first run's 26 natural rounds, 16 ended at seven spins, nine reached nine and one, round 2983, reached eleven.
Paying 100x the bet starts the feature with three to six scatters on the triggering spin; the scatter payout itself is part of the bought round. Switching the ante on prices a spin at 25 units instead of 20, puts more scatters on the reels and switches the buy off. Declared returns are 96.44% for regular play, 96.41% with the ante and 96.45% for purchases; stakes run from 0.20 to 300 and the win cap is 5,000x. The lab measured regular play and the purchase.
Megaways
Wild symbol
Multiplier
Sticky symbol
Free spins
Retrigger
Scatter symbol
Bonus buy
Extra bet
Bet range USD 0.20 – 300 per spin · payouts read from the game's paytable at bet USD 2.00
Gallery
10 frames from the demo session
Verdict
Sticky wilds, cheap ticketsThe two sessions returned 94.94% and 99.52%, 97.23% pooled over 20,000 rounds, approximate 95% CI 83.08 to 111.37%, so the pooled figure now sits within a point of the printed 96.44%, though both sessions closed in the red, 507 and 48 stakes down. The reels themselves were unchanged: a hit on 21.4% and 22.24% of spins, 78.2% of rounds paying nothing, 39 dry stretches of at least 20 spins across the two runs and two of exactly 30.
Sixty natural features over the two runs, one per 333 spins, 3.0 bHz, and all sixty began at seven spins; 21 of them gained badge spins, 20 to nine spins and one each to ten and eleven. Counted from the trigger spin, they averaged 94.69x with a 43.6x median, USD 87.20, and made 29.2% of the return: 16 cleared 100x, 16 stayed under 20x and four under 10x, which is the shape of the sticky-wild feature, a screen that fills with multiplier wilds pays hundreds and a screen that does not pays pocket change. The three largest rounds are all features, 683.7x on round 2711 and 621.8x on round 934 of the first run, 564.1x on round 7468 of the second; take round 2711 out and the other 19,999 spins returned 93.81%, and the largest plain spin remains 362.5x on round 6823 of the first run, one of seven ordinary rounds above 100x.
The 100 tickets, USD 200 each, returned 0.7765x of price, 77.65%, USD 15,530.90 for USD 20,000, 0.6201x in the first run and 0.933x in the second; the median ticket paid 0.44775x, USD 89.55, 80 of 100 lost money, 58 returned under half, only 20 covered their price, and the two tickets above 5x both belong to the second run, buy 25 at 5.97x and buy 18 at 5.245x. Twenty-seven tickets extended past seven spins, and once the best ticket is removed the other 99 averaged 0.7241x. The pooled balance closed 555 stakes down, its deepest point 2,180 stakes under the first run's peak at spin 4678 of the second: a game that pays its features in bursts and has yet to pay for its tickets.
- 97.23% pooled over two runs, with the second session at 99.52%, three points above the printed 96.44%
- Three sticky-wild features above 560x in 20,000 spins: 683.7x, 621.8x and 564.1x
- Twenty-one of 60 natural features earned badge spins beyond the basic seven
- Two runs, 20,000 rounds and 100 tickets in the logs, checksums included
- Fifty-eight of the 100 tickets returned less than half of their USD 200 price
- Sixteen of 60 features paid under 20x and four under 10x, the lowest 4.25x the stake
- Nothing on 78.2% of spins, with 39 dry stretches of at least 20 spins and two of 30
- Across both runs the balance closed 555 stakes down, 2,180 below the first run's peak at its worst
Run 01·2026-09-07·94.94%
Read the balance curve as three acts. Act one, spins 1 to 933: a steady loss to 364 bets down. Act two, rounds 934 and 2711: two bonuses of 621.8x and 683.7x that put the account 657 bets up and carried it to a peak of 831 bets at spin 3308. Act three, the remaining 6,700 spins: a slow return to earth, 170 up at 6,000, level at 8,000, a low of 599 down at spin 9806 and a close at 98,987, 506 bets under the start. The 362.5x base spin on round 6823 and the 202.1x bonus on round 9807 only slowed the descent.
The fixed bankrolls did not reach act two. The 50-bet stake ran out at spin 140, 100 bets at 246, 200 bets at 455. Between features the game behaves like its label: 79% blank spins, a median hit of one bet, twenty dead runs of 20 spins or more and one of 30 (rounds 7973 to 8002). Four base spins passed 100x without a feature, the 362.5x plus 170x on round 2963, 103.5x on 1063 and 102x on 952, all single evaluations built on multiplied wilds.
The bonuses were either large or nothing. Seven of 26 cleared 100x, two finished under 10x, and round 1136 ran its seven spins for a total of 0.50, a quarter of a bet, 4.25x with its trigger spin. Median 36.4x, mean 102.6x: the mean is worth quoting only because of the two rounds that carried it. Triggers came one per 385 spins on average, with a 1,130-spin gap from round 4866 to 5996 and two pairs under 30 spins apart.
Purchases at 200 each returned 6,201 for 10,000 spent. Forty-four of the fifty purchases lost, thirty-one returned less than half their price, five less than a tenth, and the best three were 3.06x, 2.58x and 2.27x. The sheriff badge added spins to sixteen of the fifty bought rounds. Anyone buying here is paying for a shot at the two-wild-multiplier screen; in fifty tries no ticket returned more than 3.06x its price.
Run 02·2026-09-27·99.52%
Second series, 10,000 spins at USD 2: 99.52% of stake returned, approximate 95% CI 81.78 to 117.26%, and the balance closed 48 stakes down, the closest finish to level on this page. The route was a long dip and a late repair: 842 stakes down at spin 4678, fifty and a hundred stakes gone by spins 62 and 251, two hundred by 1247, then blocks of 113.2%, 99.3% and 114.1% after the first two returned 86.1% and 84.9%, with the high of 60 stakes up arriving only at spin 9731. A hit landed on 22.24% of spins at a 1.175x median, 7,776 rounds paid nothing, and nineteen dry stretches passed 20 spins, the longest 30 from round 6931.
Thirty-four natural features, one per 294 spins, 3.4 bHz (natural features per 1,000 rounds), the first on round 324 and the longest wait 1,309 spins between rounds 5549 and 6859; every one started at seven spins and eleven picked up sheriff badges, ten to nine spins and one to ten. With their trigger spins they averaged 88.67x, median 46.625x, USD 93.25, and made 30.3% of everything paid; nine cleared 100x, seven stayed under 20x, and two paid under 10x. Round 7468 was the round of the run: seven spins with sticky multiplier wilds and their trigger spin paid USD 1,128.20, 564.1x, and lifted the balance from 777 stakes down to 214; round 9181 added 280.3x over nine spins, and without round 7468 the other 9,999 spins returned 93.89%. The ordinary reels peaked at 210x on round 5422, a single evaluation, and three plain spins cleared 100x against four in the first run.
Fifty tickets at USD 200 returned 0.933x of price, 93.30%, on a 0.48875x median, USD 97.75: 36 lost money, 27 returned under half, 14 covered their price, five doubled and two passed 5x, buy 25 at 5.97x, USD 1,194, on a ten-spin round and buy 18 at 5.245x. Eleven tickets extended past seven spins, the worst, buy 35, paid 0.085x, and without buy 25 the other 49 averaged 0.8302x.
Test record
2 runs · 20,000 rounds · 100 buys · open data · closed rigThis game has been through 2 separate test runs on the official demo server, each a fresh session of 10,000 rounds at a fixed bet. Every figure on this page combines the runs into one sample, as if they were one long session; the record below keeps each run apart, with its own numbers and its own downloadable log.
- 20,000rounds, all runs
- 22%rounds that paid
- 684xbiggest round
- 1 / 333natural bonus rate
- 0.78xmean of 100 buys
- 30longest dry streak
01run Run 012026-09-07 measured return94.94%-1.5 pts vs declared
- 95% band
- 72.9–117.0%
- rounds that paid
- 21%
- biggest round
- 684x · round 2,711
- longest dry streak
- 30
- natural bonuses
- 26 · one per 385 rounds
- bonus buys
- mean 0.62x · median 0.419x · 88% below price
- balance start → end
- 100,000 → 98,987
- deepest drawdown
- 1,430x
02run Run 022026-09-27 lab note measured return99.52%+3.1 pts vs declared
- 95% band
- 81.8–117.3%
- rounds that paid
- 22%
- biggest round
- 564x · round 7,468
- longest dry streak
- 30
- natural bonuses
- 34 · one per 294 rounds
- bonus buys
- mean 0.93x · median 0.489x · 72% below price
- balance start → end
- 100,000 → 99,904
- deepest drawdown
- 865x
Three weeks after the first series, the second came in at 99.52% against 94.94%, three points above the printed 96.44% where the first had sat below it. Natural triggers rose from 26 to 34 and paid 88.67x on average against 102.56x, trigger spins included, with no repeat of the two 600x rounds; the fifty buys recovered from 0.6201x to 0.933x of price, with two tickets above 5x where the first run had none.
2 test runs combined into one sample (2026-09-07, 2026-09-27): 20000 ordinary paid rounds, including naturally triggered features, at a fixed USD 2.0 bet; 100 bonus buys at 200.0 each (100.0x) on the official Pragmatic Play demo server (jurisdiction 99, RTP profile 96.44%); every request and response logged.
The test rig plays the official demo build over the network and records every server round: bet, win, intermediate steps (cascades, respins), free spins, collect. Screenshots and video were captured in a separate browser session and are not part of the statistical samples. The text was read against the log by an editor before publication. How we test →
FAQ
6 questions · answered from the logIs Wild West Gold Megaways paying its 96.44% in these tests?
Yes. Pooled over 20,000 spins, the two sessions' 94.94% then 99.52% make 97.23%, within a point of the declared rate, though both closed in the red, 507 and 48 stakes down. The pooled number leans on three features above 560x: 683.7x on round 2711 and 621.8x on round 934 of the first run, 564.1x on round 7468 of the second.
What carried round 7468 to 564.1x in only seven spins?
Sticky wilds with multipliers of x2, x3 or x5 that stay on their reels for the whole feature and multiply together inside a way. Round 7468 of the second run kept its wilds for the basic seven spins, no badge extension, and paid USD 1,128.20 with its trigger spin, 564.1x; it lifted that run's balance from 777 stakes down to 214 down, the largest swing of the second run.
How far past seven spins did sheriff badges stretch features?
Twenty-one of the 60 natural features over two runs extended past seven spins, 20 to nine and one each to ten and eleven, and 27 of the 100 bought rounds did the same. The extensions came from sheriff badges, since the game has no scatter retrigger; the longest natural feature, round 2983 of the first run, ran eleven spins.
Are the buys worth 100x here?
No. Bought features returned USD 15,530.90 on 100 tickets at USD 200, 0.7765x of price: 0.6201x over the first run, 0.933x over the second. Half the tickets paid 0.44775x, USD 89.55, or less; 80 lost money and 58 came back below half the price. Both tickets above 5x, buy 25 at 5.97x and buy 18 at 5.245x, belong to the second run.
Biggest plain spin so far?
Multiplier wilds with no feature gave round 6823 of the first run 362.5x in a single evaluation; the second run's best was 210x on round 5422. Seven ordinary rounds cleared 100x in 20,000 spins, split four and three between the runs, against 16 features that did the same.
Lowest point of each run?
Run one bottomed 599 stakes down at spin 9806 after a 1,430-stake fall from its peak of 831 at spin 3308; the second sat 842 down at spin 4678 and never rose more than 60 stakes above its start, closing 48 down. Fifty, a hundred and two hundred stakes lasted 140, 246 and 455 spins during the first run and 62, 251 and 1,247 during the second.
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Field notes
0 notes