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Buffalo Wilds Review
Buffalo Wilds plays out in the heart of the North American wilderness, where a 5x3 grid sits amidst an open plain with majestic mountains rising in the distance. The grid is framed by wooden sticks adorned with feathers, lending a subtle Native American touch to the game's aesthetic. Instead of background music, you'll be accompanied by the rhythmic sound of 3 photorealistic buffalos steadily marching beside the grid. When the top-tier buffalo symbol lands, these creatures might stampede across the reels, leaving a trail of wild symbols in their wake.
This captivating visual spectacle is amplified in the free spins round. As a classic Western-inspired soundtrack kicks in, the buffalos shift into a gallop, guaranteeing a wild stampede with every buffalo symbol appearance. The unique Feature Respin feature adds an element of strategy. Triggered once after the bonus round, it gives you the chance to spend your winnings to retrigger the free spins, potentially leading to bigger rewards.
Buffalo Wilds offers 2 distinct game modes to cater to different playing styles. In Spectacular Link mode, you can trigger a Hold and Win bonus round filled with cash prizes and jackpots reaching up to 250x your stake. This feature includes special upgrades that can boost your winnings, and filling the entire grid awards the Grand Jackpot of 500x. Alternatively, you can opt for the Spectacular Link Frenzy mode. Here, the Hold and Win feature is disabled, but instead, cash and jackpot collection symbols can appear in the base game, gathering all prizes in view.
With 243 ways to win, the game boasts a variety of symbols, including premium animal symbols like the buffalo, eagle, moose, wolf, and cougar, which pay 1x to 4x your stake for 5-of-a-kind wins. Lower-value gem symbols offer payouts of 0.8x for the same. Buffalo Wilds caters to all players with a betting range from €0.1 to €160 per spin. While the medium-high volatility promises exciting gameplay, the RTP of 93.2 % is significantly below the industry average of 95-96 %. The max win remains undisclosed, but the game information mentions a fairly standard maximum exposure of €250,000.
Buffalo Wilds Features
Buffalo Wilds gives you a choice between 2 game modes, namely Spectacular Link or Spectacular Link Frenzy, and this determines which of the features you can trigger. There is also a free spins bonus you get either way, so let’s explore how it all works.
Buffalo Feature
Whenever the top-tier Buffalo symbol appears on the reels there is a possibility to trigger the random Buffalo Feature. You will then see the 3 buffalos running alongside the grid make a U-turn and run across the reels. This turns random symbols into golden buffalo Wild symbols. The wilds substitute for any pay symbol to help complete or improve line wins, while paying the same as the regular buffalo symbol if you land 5 wilds on a payline.
Buffalo Wilds Free Spins
The Free Spins Bonus triggers when you land 3, 4, or 5 mountain scatter symbols anywhere in view, awarding 10, 20, or 75 free spins, respectively. Although not explicitly stated in the game info or paytable, it’s our experience that the Buffalo Feature triggers every time a buffalo symbol appears in the bonus round.
Feature Respin
After the last free spin has played out, you can forfeit your winnings to retrigger the bonus round. This choice is only given one time, and you then get the same amount of free spins for another chance at landing bigger wins. The paytable includes the best strategy for when to use this feature. When your winnings are equal to or less than the following amounts, the best strategy is to take the respin deal:
For base game:
- 32.8x your stake when offered 10 Free Spins.
- 65.6x your stake when offered 20 Free Spins.
- 246x your stake when offered 75 Free Spins.
For the Feature Spin feature:
- 22.3x your stake when offered 10 Free Spins.
- 21.9x your stake when offered 15 Free Spins.
- 21.8x your stake when offered 20 Free Spins.
For the Bonus Buy feature:
- 30.2x stake when offered 10 Free Spins.
- 46.4x stake when offered 15 Free Spins.
- 61.8x stake when offered 20 Free Spins.
If you win more than the above amounts under the specified conditions, the best Buffalo Wilds strategy is to take your winnings.
Spectacular Link Feature
The Spectacular Link feature is triggered by landing 4+ coin and/or pot symbols. Coin values range from 1x to 25x your stake, while pot values include Mini (50x), Minor (100x), and Major (250x). When activated, the grid expands to a 7x5 in size, displaying only these special symbols or blanks, with the triggering symbols sticky.
During the feature, 1 to 3 reel positions are randomly selected for upgrades. Landing a symbol on a Spinner or Whistle position fills random empty positions with matching symbols. If a symbol lands on the Elimination position, the 1x coin symbols are removed from subsequent spins. You begin with 3 spins, and each new non-blank symbol resets the spin count while becoming sticky. As you progress, reaching 20 respins doubles all coin prize values, and hitting 40 respins doubles them again.
The feature concludes when you run out of spins, reach 40 respins, or fill all positions. Your payout is the sum of all coin values. If you manage to fill every position, you'll win either the Grand pot of 500x or the sum of all values, whichever is higher.
Spectacular Link Frenzy Feature
The Spectacular Link Frenzy feature activates when a Frenzy symbol appears together with coin or pot value symbols. The Frenzy symbol then collects the values from these symbols as an instant win. The coin and pot values are the same as for the Spectacular Link feature, only these are collected during the base game.
Buffalo Wilds Bonus Buy And Feature Spin (not UK)
Eligible players can purchase 10, 15, or 20 free spins for 50x, 75x, or 100x the stake, instantly triggering the bonus round without any triggering spin.
The Feature Spin is another way to get the free spins round, and you can choose between 10, 15, or 20 free spins also here. The difference is that you need to spin a 3x1 reel landing either active and/or inactive (greyscale) scatters. You pay your regular stake for each spin, and landing 3 active scatters awards the number of free spins you choose to gamble for. The odds are not specified for this feature.
Pros and Cons of Buffalo Wilds
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Choose between 2 game modes | Max win not dislocated (except €250,000 cap) |
| Random Buffalo wild feature | RTP of 93.2 % dips well into deal-breaker territory |
| FS w/ buffalo wilds per buffalo symbol that lands | |
| Hold & Win w/ jackpots and special upgrades | |
| Instant prize collection w/ jackpots up to 250x |
Our Verdict
The game has certainly crafted a unique entry into the crowded prairie slot genre with Buffalo Wilds. The 3 buffalos pacing alongside the grid are a nice touch, though I found them a bit distracting at first. However, I did get used to their presence, and it's undeniably exciting when they stampede across the screen to add wilds. That said, these stampedes rarely translated into significant wins, mainly because the symbol values are generally low. While the visual presentation is decent overall, the mix of gems and animals feels a bit disjointed, and the firework coin symbols seem particularly out of place.
In my experience, playing in Spectacular Link mode is the way to go. I spent a considerable amount of time testing the Spectacular Link Frenzy mode, but rarely encountered the collector symbol. And when I did, there were usually no cash symbols to collect, or the resulting wins were disappointingly small. The Hold and Win Spectacular Link Bonus round proved more engaging and potentially rewarding, with its special upgrades and the 500x Grand Jackpot for filling the grid. However, compared to similar features in other games, these prizes aren't particularly impressive.
The RTP of 93.2 % is a significant drawback. It's considerably lower than the industry average and a deal breaker for many players, myself included. It also strikes me as odd that the game doesn't disclose the game's max win potential. While they do provide detailed and strategic stats for the Feature Respin feature, which is helpful, these numbers also inadvertently reveal the rather underwhelming average return from the free spins round.
I appreciate the attempt to do something different with a popular theme and incorporate innovative features. However, Buffalo Wilds ultimately failed to impress after the initial novelty faded. The math model is simply too weak, the max win remains a mystery, and I simply don't see much potential for big wins here. The choice between game modes seems a bit gimmicky and pointless also, as it would’ve been better to simply include both features.
