Buffalo Collector

Buffalo Collector : Slot Overview

If a thing exists on planet Earth, there is a chance someone, somewhere, has made a hobby out of collecting it. Collections can become an obsession, and people hoard everything from old microprocessors to nail clippings to belly button fur. In the game up for review today, we'll be collecting buffalo, or more precisely, Buffalo symbols. The slot is Buffalo Collector and is a Red Tiger production which revolves its base game around sets of 10 spins with collected symbols stampeding onto the grid for the final spin.

If the numbers of buffalo in the wild were ever in doubt in the real world, they certainly aren't in the slot world, and Buffalo Collector's background image displays a herd of them. Maybe they're two rival herds, maybe they're all chums? Let's pretend they are. The buffaloes in this game inhabit a very dry-looking land, where yellow grass gives way to soaring rock formations in the far background. The artwork has been nicely done, but buffaloes and bison have been used so many times in slots that Buffalo Collector's visuals linger around the middle of the pack in terms of ocular reaction.

As if it's residing in an old battered wooden shack in the middle of nowhere prairie is Buffalo Collector's gaming grid. It consists of 5 reels, 4 rows, and the number down the bottom indicates that it provides 1,024 ways to win. There is one way to play, which is picking a stake of 10 cents to $/€10 per game round and clicking on the spin button. A default RTP of 95.75% is attached, and a medium-high volatile math model is on hand to kick-start or stop any stampede.

Five wild animals make up Buffalo Collector's high pays, being eagles, wolves, cougars, bears, and buffaloes, paying 1.5 to 3.5 times the bet for a five-of-a-kind winning combination. The lows are J-A card royals, worth 0.5 to 1 times the stake for 5 OAK. Helping complete winning combinations is Buffalo Collector's wild symbol. Wilds substitute for all paying symbols and land on reels 2, 3, and 4.

Buffalo Collector : Slot Features

Buffalo Collection is the most prevalent feature in the game. Each base game spin is numbered 1 to 10, and the cycle progress is tracked by a counter above the reels, letting you know when the final spin is coming up. During the first 9 spins of the cycle, each Buffalo symbol that lands on the reels is collected by another counter above the reels. Buffalo symbols landing on the 10th spin are not collected.

On the 10th spin, the number of collected Buffalo symbols are placed in random positions on the grid. More than 1 Buffalo symbol may be placed in the same position. Each additional Buffalo placed in the same position adds a symbol multiplier, increasing it by +1. Symbols holding a multiplier count for as many symbols as the multiplier value displays when calculating wins.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols in a base game spin awards 8, 10, or 12 free spins, respectively. Landing 2 free spins symbols on reels 2 and 4 during the feature awards +2 free spins. Collected Buffalo symbols in the base game are not transferred over to the bonus round, so when returning to the base game, players pick up the number of Buffalo symbols they had upon entering.

Instead, free spins start with 4 collected Buffalo symbols, and the Buffalo Collection feature is triggered on each spin, so the number of collected Buffalo symbols is placed on the grid as it is in the base game. Each Buffalo symbol that lands during the bonus round is collected, increasing the number of collected Buffalo symbols placed on the reels for the remaining free spins. During the round, wilds landing on the reels receive a random symbol multiplier of x2 or x3.

Buffalo Collector : Slot Verdict

One happy thing about being a gambling buffalophile is that you don't have to wait long for the next buffalo-themed online slot to come bounding along. Of all the critters in the animal kingdom, casino game makers have homed in on buffalo, or bison in other instances, as the focus creature. Why this is so could make for an interesting psychological case study. Because buffaloes are big and strong, as well as cutely docile and wildly raging at the same time? Perhaps it's a simple case of one or two studios having a hit with a buffalo slot, raking in profit, then a ton of other developers deciding they wanted in on the action, as well.

It wouldn't appear Red Tiger has a hit on its hands with Buffalo Collector, though. That's not to say it was a minging slot or anything. As these games are meant to do, Buffalo Collector provides a fairly immersive environment to pretend wander around, with plenty of buffaloes on display and a fairly decent mechanical hook to motivate some spin button spamming. Such are the inherent possibilities when using a spin cycle approach, something partner studio NetEnt used around the same time in Babylon Riches. If you get one or two (or more) decent buildup spins, it's hard not to keep going to see how the final spin plays out. Buffalo Collector's method is quite simple; there's nothing complicated about collecting Buffalo symbols then popping them on the reels at the end. A positive nudge is provided by possibly getting symbol multipliers if Buffalo symbols land on each other and the use of a large number of ways to win instead of paylines.

Winning potential is quite large, too, with a calculated max multiplier of 10,000x. Quite the charge if it ever occurred, in what is an uncomplicated slot, lacking in big original creativity but fine at what it does.