Book of Buffalo Slot Review
Under a pink-and-orange dusk sky, bison stand shoulder-deep in golden grass between red sandstone mesas, and the reels hang in a rope-lashed wooden frame strung with feathers. Most book slots pick your volatility for you; Book of Buffalo doesn’t. The symbol you choose to expand in free spins sets how brutal the round gets, and it’s the smartest thing Indigo Magic do here.
The specs are a 5×3 grid with 10 paylines, high volatility, 96.51% RTP, and a win cap of 8,000x the bet. The expanding symbol choice runs right through the maths, too: the base paytable shifts between 95.98% and 96.04% depending on the symbol. It sits alongside fellow Indigo Magic outings like Candy Treasures and Shields of Fury.
Cursed Reels and the Base Game
The base game pays left to right on adjacent reels from the leftmost, with only the highest win counted on each line. Wins on multiple lines add together, and scatter wins pay on top of line wins. It’s a traditional ten-line setup, and it plays like one.
The wild stands in for everything except the scatter, and it’s tied with the buffalo as the richest symbol on the board. The buffalo itself leads the pays, with the eagle behind it, then the mid-tier animals and the card royals. All values below are multiples of the total bet.
- Wild / Buffalo: 2 pays 1x, 3 pays 10x, 4 pays 30x, 5 pays 100x
- Eagle: 2 pays 0.5x, 3 pays 5x, 4 pays 15x, 5 pays 50x
- Bear, Wolf, Cougar: 3 pays 1x, 4 pays 3x, 5 pays 20x
- A, K, Q, J, 10: 3 pays 0.5x, 4 pays 1.5x, 5 pays 10x
- Scatter (Book): 3 pays 2x, 4 pays 20x, 5 pays 200x
Cursed Reels
On any random round, a normal symbol is selected for the cursed reel feature. That symbol expands across its reels and pays as a scatter, meaning the positions don’t need to be adjacent. Every cursed reel spin is a guaranteed win, which makes it a welcome jolt in a base game that otherwise plays things straight.
Free Spins
Landing three, four or five scatter books activates free spins, and this is where the game opens out. Before the round begins you select one symbol to become the expander, and that choice sets the character of the whole feature.
Expanded Symbol Selection
The selected symbol expands across every reel it lands on, but only where a win can be created, and expanded symbols pay as scatters rather than needing to sit adjacent. Normal wins are paid first, then the expansion pays out on top. Each symbol carries its own volatility profile and its own ceiling:
- Buffalo: very high volatility, wins up to 7,490x the bet
- Eagle: very high volatility, wins up to 5,895x the bet
- Bear, Wolf, Cougar: high volatility, wins up to 4,528x the bet
- Card royals: medium volatility, wins up to 2,665.5x the bet
That’s the dial in practice. The buffalo can approach the game’s ceiling but pays rarely; the royals hit far more often for far less. Nothing forces a choice either way, and the paytable’s RTP spread between 95.98% and 96.04% reflects the same decision.
Collecting Books and Expanding Reels
During the round, book scatters you land are collected, and each collection threshold grows the reel area, adds paylines and awards extra spins before the next one. The counter resets after each threshold fills, so building towards the next expansion starts from zero again:
- 3 scatters collected: reels expand to 5×4, 15 lines, +3 free spins
- 7 scatters collected: reels expand to 5×5, 20 lines, +2 free spins
- 12 scatters collected: reels expand to 5×7, 50 lines, +1 free spin
The maximum number of free spins that can be collected is 18. Expansion isn’t the whole story either, because the extra spins at each threshold arrive before the next spin rather than at the end, so a fast start can grow the board while there are still spins left to use it. The full 5×7 board with 50 lines and an expanding buffalo across it is what the whole game is built around, and it’s a long way from the ten-line grid you started on.
The Gamble
When free spins trigger you can gamble for a larger starting value, unless you’ve already won the maximum of 12 spins. Losing the gamble costs all of the free spins and returns you to the main game, so it’s an all-or-nothing step:
- 8 spins won: gamble for 10 or 12, lose and you get 0
- 10 spins won: gamble for 12, lose and you get 0
- 12 spins won: no gamble available
Side Bet and Buy Bonus
A side bet can be toggled on for an additional 30% of your current bet, and it increases the probability of reaching free spins by the same percentage. Wins during side bet play are calculated on the base bet alone, excluding the fee. The side bet cost is also excluded from the buy bonus price.
Direct access to free spins costs 60x the current total bet. Book scatter wins aren’t awarded on a purchase, and the same free spins rules apply otherwise. The buy runs at 96.50% to 96.51% RTP depending on your symbol selection, so the shortcut costs you almost nothing in theoretical return.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 7.8/10
You spend a lot of Book of Buffalo watching ten lines go by, waiting for the range to pay out. That’s the honest shape of it, and the reason anyone would pick this over the hundred other book slots is that it hands the decision back to you: pick the buffalo and you’re hunting 8,000x, pick a royal and you’ll actually see wins.
The best thing here is the growing board. A round that starts on 5×3 can end on 5×7 with 50 lines, and the extra spins land before the next spin rather than after, so a good run builds momentum instead of just padding the total. Against that, the ceiling outside the buffalo and eagle is thin, and the gamble that promises more spins can wipe them all.
This one’s for players who like setting their own risk and can sit through a long dusk for one big stampede. If you want frequent features without the wait, the grass here grows slowly.
Book of Buffalo FAQs
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What is the RTP of Book of Buffalo?
Book of Buffalo runs at 96.51% RTP overall, with the base paytable ranging from 95.98% to 96.04% depending on which expanding symbol is selected in free spins. -
Is Book of Buffalo high volatility?
Yes, it’s a high volatility slot. The volatility inside free spins also varies by your chosen expanding symbol, from medium with the card royals up to very high with the buffalo or eagle. -
How many paylines does Book of Buffalo have?
The base game has 10 paylines. During free spins the reels can expand, taking the count to 15 lines at 5×4, 20 lines at 5×5 and 50 lines at the full 5×7 grid. -
What is the grid size of Book of Buffalo?
The base game plays on a 5×3 grid. Collecting book scatters during free spins expands it in stages to 5×4, then 5×5, and finally a 5×7 grid with 50 paylines. -
Can you buy the bonus on Book of Buffalo?
Yes. The Free Spins feature can be bought from the base game for 60x your current total bet. Book scatter wins aren’t awarded on a purchase, and the buy runs at 96.50% to 96.51% RTP. -
How does the Cursed Reels feature work?
On any random game round, a normal symbol is selected and expands across the reels, paying as a scatter. Every cursed reel spin is a guaranteed win. -
Can you lose your free spins on the gamble in Book of Buffalo?
Yes. Gambling for a larger free spins start value can cost you all of your spins and return you to the main game, unless you’ve already won the maximum of 12 free spins, in which case there’s no gamble. -
What does the Side Bet do in Book of Buffalo?
For an extra 30% of your current bet, it increases the probability of reaching free spins by the same percentage. Win calculations use the base bet alone, excluding the fee. -
When is Book of Buffalo released?
Book of Buffalo’s release date is 22 May 2024. -
Who makes Book of Buffalo?
Book of Buffalo is made by Indigo Magic. -
What is the maximum win on Book of Buffalo?
The game has a win limit of 8,000x your bet.
