Big Buffalo Megaways

Big Buffalo Megaways: Slot Overview

For their second Megaways release, developer Skywind Group is visiting the majestic North American plains in their nature slot Big Buffalo Megaways. Actually, we should have said revisiting since not only has Skywind been in this part of the world before, but Big Buffalo Megaways is an updated, Megaways remake of an earlier release titled Big Buffalo. When you get down to it, the two games are very closely related, and the way the original was set up means the Megaways version doesn't do a whole lot to enhance the experience; let's take a look.

Big in real life and big in iGaming, buffalo are a motif that pops up time and again in slots – as well as their dreamy home turf. Skywind Group has recycled all of the original graphics, meaning the same dry, red rock formations in a background image set against a cloudy blue sky. What's nice about the visuals is they have an almost oil painting quality, where you can make out individual brushstrokes. It's pleasant on the whole, and the Native American inspired soundtrack drapes a heavy blanket of relaxation over the whole scene making Big Buffalo Megaways a satisfying example of this type of slot.

Big Buffalo Megaways gets its stampede on when using any device, offering stakes from 20 p/c to $/€250. While the theme and gameplay are standard, the math model might prove an attraction for certain people. Medium volatile, the RTP is 96.5%, with no mention of whether engaging the ante bet or buying free spins alters the figure in any way. As for the gameplay, every time you hit the play button, 2 to 7 symbols land on each of the 6 reels, producing up to 117,649 ways to win.

Three matching low pay 9-A symbols are required to form a winning combination or just two or more of the premiums. High pays are all denizens of the plains, such as lynxes, foxes, wolves, eagles, and buffalos, worth a payout of 5-7.5x the bet for six of a kind. One more symbol before moving on to features is a wild, landing on all reels bar the first. Wilds substitute for any pay symbols and appear with multipliers during free spins.

Big Buffalo Megaways: Slot Features

Players on these plains benefit from three features when traversing Big Buffalo Megaways. These are wild multipliers, free games, and an ante bet feature. Something to note is Skywind Group has not included a cascading win system in either the base or bonus part of the game.

Ante bets seem to be surging at the moment, and Skywind Group is elbowing its way into the action as well. In Big Buffalo Megaways, engaging the ante bet increases the base stake by 25%, or by 5+ coins if you prefer to think of it in those terms. For switching the ante bet on, the chance of triggering free spins doubles.

Big Buffalo Megaways' free games are its headlining stat to pull punters in, well, the 6 scatter amount is at least. Not because they do anything particularly innovative, it's just that you can win a lot of them. The gateway to the bonus round is the scatter symbols where 3, 4, 5, or 6 in view give you 8, 15, 25, or 100 free spins.

It is during free spins that the wild multipliers come into play. Wilds landing on reels 2 to 6 during the bonus round possess a random multiplier of x2, x3, or x5 attached to them to boost wins. If more than one wild is involved in a winning combination, the multipliers are added together before being applied. So two x5 multipliers would produce an x10 multiplier, for example. Scatters remain on the reels throughout the feature, and retriggering 5, 8, 15, 25, or 100 free spins occurs when 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 of them land.

In some territories, players may have access to a bonus buy. If available, it costs 100x the bet to have at least 3 scatters land on the next spin.

Big Buffalo Megaways: Slot Verdict

After Skywind Group's debut Megaways slot Book of Gems Megaways cleverly merged 'book of' expanding symbols with Big Time Gaming's popular engine, there was interest as to where the studio would go next. What they've followed up with is less inventive than Book of Gems Megaways since the studio has simply overhauled an existing game. The original Big Buffalo slot's claim to fame was its massive number of free spins, which the Megaways version has kept while increasing the wild multipliers in the process. Really though, there isn't a whole lot differentiating the two, other than alternating symbols on each spin and a higher number of possible win ways.

Very little has been altered in regards to looks, feels, and win-all-ways pay system. On the subject of potential, things don't get much more exciting either. Max win is quite low for a Megaways game at 5,000 times the bet, though this is a number popping up regularly from the likes of Pragmatic Play.

Add up the timeless oil painting quality of the visuals, the chilling around the campfire soundtrack, and a math model more concerned with burying the hatchet than going to war, means you've got a peaceful buffalo game on your hands. Some may like that, others will be picturing winning 100 free spins and watching them limp their way to a modest win cap, like an injured buffalo returning to its home patch then slumping down in the dust.