Buffalo might be the name of this slot machine, but Aristocrat built it around all creatures that inhabit the North American planes and forests. They’ve selected a number of such wild creatures, some of the more majestic and representative for the region. The game does well enough graphically, plus it has all the right features, so it should be a decent title.
Buffalo has ways to win to offer players, on 5 reels which have four symbols each. Besides the Xtra Reel Power system, there are wild symbols on some of the reels, scatters and free spins with random multipliers for their wilds. A top prize of only $750 is offered.
Features of Buffalo
The Xtra Reel Power feature with its ways to win is one important aspect of Buffalo, while the free spins, the scatters and wilds make up the rest.
Depending on the wager you make, you will have between one and five reels active. The others will have only one position active on them, out of the four. The wager uses between 1 and 40 lines, but you get ways to win from it.
You only get the wild symbol on three reels, meaning the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. When it appears on those reels, the wild Sunset icon will try and substitute for other symbols. The requirement is for the other positions of the payline to be occupied by matching regular icons. You need the combo to be formed out of wilds and regular icons, going from left to right. Wilds don’t give away their own prizes, but they’re still very useful.
The other major symbol of Buffalo is the one with the Gold Coin. Depending on how many Gold Coins are present on the five reels, you will get a prize that is worth between 2x and 20x the triggering bet.
Free Games Feature
3 to 5 scattered Coins will be the trigger for the free spins of Buffalo. The exact number depends on how many triggering symbols were on the reels, so for 3, 4 or 5 Coins you get 8, 15 or 20 free spins, respectively. Wins from these spins can be multiplied by up to 27x.
Wilds that make appearances at this point will have a random multiplier of 3x or 2x. Since you can have up to three wilds present on a line, each one with up to 3x, the total multiplier can be 27x if you’re very lucky.
Get two scatter symbols at this point, and you will retrigger the feature with an additional 5 free spins.
Betting options and jackpots
With the ways to win being the chosen system, you will still have to use paylines for wagering purposes. The 5×4 layout with 20 symbols will have between 1 and 5 fully active reels, using 1 to 40 coins for this purpose. These coins start at $0.01 and reach a value of $2.50 when they’re at their maximum. The top wager is $100.
The game doesn’t have big rewards, but that’s to be expected from a title with so many ways to win and chances to get paid each round. You will get up to 300 times the line bet, which means $750 in this case. Keep in mind the free spins as well though, as there is a chance that multipliers as high as 27x could be applied if enough wilds get involved in a combo.
Design and symbols
A rather abstract view of the prairie is visible behind the game area, with a purple overlay being placed on top of the image. You see the sunset further away, while on the reels there is a mix of playing cards and prairie wildlife. Most of them are well themed and representative, but there is one symbol that doesn’t seem to belong, and it’s the Gold Coin which acts as the scatter.
Symbols: Sunset (wild), Gold Coin (20x the bet, scatter), Buffalo (300 coins), Eagle (150 coins), Wild Cat (150 coins), Wolf (120 coins), Deer (120 coins), Ace (100 coins), King (100 coins), Queen (100 coins), Jack (100 coins), 10 (100 coins) and 9 (100 coins).
Is It Worth Playing?
There are a couple of very good reasons to give Buffalo a try, including the ways to win system and the huge multipliers which the wilds can bring with them during the free spins.
The Buffalo slot machine is offered through the Aristocrat platform, so if you want to play it for real or just to practice, look out for casinos that use it.
