Buffalo pokies machines are developed by Aristocrat and were first launched at US casinos and then slowly were rolled out to other parts of the world. Now the Buffalo pokies even have their presence at online casinos as well as social casinos as a free game app to play with your mobile even on the go.
The Buffalo pokies are just awesome as their sound effects are benign, even friendly. Buffalo seems like such a good-natured machine that pays often. It’s a clever and skillful combination of those frequent small wins with bonuses inside bonuses, free spins, re-triggers, multipliers that multiply other multipliers, and at the heart of it all, Aristocrat’s own invention, Reel Power.
Some of the unique features of Buffalo Aristocrat pokies
In the 1990s, Aristocrat developed what it called Reel Power, which did away with the “lines” concept and made the entire face a winning field. Reel Power and its own spin-offs, Xtra Reel Power and Super Reel Power is a departure from the time-tested single-line pokies machine that required symbols to line up along a horizontal line etched into the glass face of the machine. Also, there are three-line and five-line machines, but these all required a bet placed on each line to activate it as a winning option.
Instead of five pay lines or the three horizontal lines for the three rows of symbols, along with the two diagonal lines, Aristocrat made a lineless screen, and five matching symbols appearing in any of the three horizontal rows resulted in a win.
The five reels, each presenting three symbols, gave the pokies player 243 ways he or she could win. So with this arrangement, wins would occur much more frequently. Along with more frequent wins, Aristocrat tossed in bonus rounds, nested multipliers, and wild cards that double as win-multipliers, and you have a winning combination.
The Xtra Reel Power is the addition of a fourth horizontal row of symbols to the game, which gives the player 1024 ways to win, and Super Reel Power is the addition of a fifth horizontal row of symbols giving the player over 3000 paths to glory.
Eight most popular Buffalo pokies to enjoy
Here are the eight most popular Buffalo pokies to enjoy all free at online casinos or at social casino apps like Cashman Casino, Heart of Vegas, and others.
1. Buffalo Pokies
These pokies were first released in 2008 were one of the pioneers of video pokies and was one of the first to feature the “lineless” form of five-reel play.
The original Buffalo pokies possess all of the features that Aristocrat would build upon with the release of each successive version of the game. While not exclusive to Buffalo these features include the following.
- Scatter symbols (a gold coin), which could trigger free spins if enough of them appeared anywhere on the screen). Scatter symbols popping up during free spins will give you additional free spins
- Wild cards (a sunset), which substitute for most other symbols to produce a winning combination. The wild cards also double as game’s win multipliers
- The win multipliers (2x and 3x) that actually multiply other multipliers
- Bonus rounds, which summon up mini-games which themselves contain all of the above-noted features
2. Buffalo Deluxe Pokies
This was the next pokies Aristocrat rolled out where the game remains the same as an earlier version of Buffalo pokie. The add-on was the three wagering options that alter free spins and multipliers are now offered each with benefits and drawbacks.
- Play Buffalo with 15 free spins with 2x or 3x multipliers
- Play Buffalo with 12 free spins and 2x or 4x multipliers
- Play Buffalo with 9 free spins and 2x or 5x multipliers
3. Buffalo Stampede Pokie
Buffalo Stampede was released in 2013 and the primary feature here is the stampeding buffalo that randomly run up the screen, across the regular reel display area, and into the screen above. Each “stampeding buffalo” is seen from a bird’s-eye view, and as each passes into the area above the regular reel display, it reveals another two rows (or partial rows) of symbols. Stampedes of one to five buffalo are possible, and naturally, with the addition of up to ten more symbols with which to calculate a win, the game can get pretty exciting.
4. Buffalo Grand Pokie
Aristocrat’s next roll-out in the Buffalo family is Buffalo Grand, which improved upon Stampede’s tall screen by gently curving it. Additionally, the normal playing screen is five reels showing four horizontal rows of the familiar symbols, plus a fifth mini-row of three symbols positioned above the center three reels.
The top portion of the screen is used to announce wins and other interesting information such as the status of the various minor, major, and grand jackpots just waiting to be won.
To win these jackpots you get a Wheel Bonus coin during regular or bonus play, at which time a video “wheel of jackpots” fills up much of the upper screen and demands you press its spin button. It’s kind of intimidating, so your safest course is probably to just do as it commands and press the button. Winning (or additional free spins) ensue.
5. Buffalo Moon Pokie
Released around the same time as Buffalo Grand, Buffalo Moon Pokie is more of a different take on the entire Buffalo pokie experience. This pokie conceit is that its action takes place during the night. The background behind the reels, and all the familiar artwork in the symbols, are all illuminated as if by moonlight.
The features of these pokies include:
- 20 free spins with 2x, 3x, or 5x multipliers
- 15 free spins with 3x, 5x, or 8x multipliers
- 10 free spins with 5x, 8x, or 10x multipliers
- 8 free spins with 8x, 10x, or 15x multipliers
- 5 free spins with 10x, 15x, or 30x multipliers
Buffalo Moon stole a march on Buffalo Deluxe and increased the pre-play choices of ways to win substantially.
6. Buffalo Gold pokie
In the pokies, golden buffalo heads accumulate to a certain number and then transform successive symbols (eagle, cougar, then wolf) into buffalo on the next spin. In triggering the bonus game and then winning big via that bonus game you are likely to win some of the highest valued winning payouts when playing it!
The way in which this pokies game has been designed is as penny pokies however one thing that you will need to keep in mind due to the all pay type of playing structure is that you have to play it for a certain number of coins, so you will not be able to play the Buffalo Gold pokies for one penny per spin. Keep that in mind if you do decide to play it for you will be required to have to pay for a set increment of coins per spin.
Free Spins
The aim of the free spins bonus game on the Buffalo Gold Slot is for you to try and get all of the high paying reel symbols turned into Buffalo reel symbols, and that will happen each time you get enough of the Gold Buffalo Head reel symbols spinning in as your free spins are all playing off. The best chances you will get of turning all of those symbols into Buffalo symbols will be by you retriggering the free spins bonus game multiple times!
The best aspect of playing the Buffalo Gold is that due to its all pay playing structure and format there is always going to be the chance of you winning big not only from the base game but also from the bonus feature round too. You will need to get as many of the Buffalo reel symbol spinning in on each of the five reels for by doing so you will then win the highest valued jackpot payout multiple times off a single spin!
7. Buffalo Max
Buffalo Max was released in 2018 and is a reiteration of the original Big Idea of Buffalo, but it takes the varying volatility levels of Buffalo Moon and Buffalo Deluxe too, well, to the max. Each additional coin results in an improved potential win picture, including increased free spins, additional wild cards, and higher multipliers.
Perhaps the most notable difference is the bonus feature of free games. Previously, you’d be rewarded with 8 games, but Buffalo Max pokies give you an extra one making it a total of 9 free games in the bonus with a huge possibility of getting a retrigger to further increase the run. This bonus may change from machine to machine though. They also have an addition of wilds and an increase of multipliers from the original maximum of x3 to x4 which provides the players with the chance of getting high payouts. The line pays are also great especially when you have placed max bets.
8. Buffalo Diamond
Buffalo Diamond pokies were released in 2018 and are the latest of the Buffalo in celebration of the popular pokies series’ domination of the popularity charts for ten years. Buffalo Diamond features a novel 4-5-6-5-4 symbol layout for its five reels that roughly approximates the shape of a diamond.
Featuring a progressive jackpot that can get into the hundreds of thousands of dollars (at max coins-in), Buffalo Diamond features a number of betting options that starts with the minimum bet (which itself offers the same wins as the original Buffalo game) all the way up to max coin-in, which gives you access to that tantalizing progressive jackpot.
Additionally, three different colored diamonds can be collected during regular play that once enough is gathered can dramatically increase the number of free spins available.
You can enjoy all these Buffalo series for free at the social casino apps from Product Madness or play with real money at real land casinos of Australia and Las Vegas.
