Buffalo Goes Wild 2 Slot Review
Buffalo Goes Wild 2 hides its entire personality inside one bonus round, and the base game is mostly there to pay for it. That’s the gamble Mancala Gaming has made here: a 5×3 grid, 20 paylines, medium volatility and a 3,000x ceiling dressed in a prairie sunset that’s painted with far more care than the reels underneath it. The studio’s Coin Fusion and Frosty Bonanza took the same approach, and it worked when the bonus was worth the wait.
The picture is doing a lot of work, because the game underneath is a straightforward one: a 5×3 grid, 20 paylines, medium volatility and a top prize of 3,000x the bet, built on a free spins round and a respins collection game. It sits in familiar company alongside the studio’s Coin Fusion and Frosty Bonanza.
Whether the respins ladder earns its place beside that sunset is what the game turns on, and the answer sits mostly with the jackpot horns.
Base Game & Features
The reels run five by three with 20 fixed paylines, and only the highest combination on each line pays. Wins read left to right in the conventional way. There’s nothing unusual about the layout, which is fine – the interest here lives in the symbols rather than the grid.
The Wild is the buffalo itself. It substitutes for all regular symbols and happens to be the joint-richest symbol on the reels, paying the same as the top animal. That’s its whole story in the base game; the multiplier version arrives later, in free spins.
The paying symbols are a North American cast, and the paytable below shows what each returns as a multiple of the stake.
- Bear: 200x for three, 500x for four, 1000x for five
- Wolf: 100x, 200x, 500x
- Eagle: 80x, 150x, 250x
- Lynx: 60x, 80x, 100x
- Raccoon: 50x, 60x, 80x
- A: 40x, 50x, 60x
- K: 30x, 40x, 50x
- Q: 20x, 30x, 40x
- J: 10x, 20x, 30x
- Wild (Buffalo): 200x, 500x, 1000x
It’s a conventional ladder with a steep top. The bear and the buffalo each pay 1,000x for a five-of-a-kind, and the tiers drop away quickly from there.
Scatter and Special Symbols
The Scatter can only land on reels 1, 3 and 5, and only in the base game. Three of them trigger the Free Spins Bonus Game. It pays nothing on its own – its only job is the trigger.
Alongside it sit three Special symbols, shown as blue, pink and gold horns. Each has the potential to activate the Respins Bonus Game, and various combinations of them can trigger it too. The symbol that did the triggering decides which feature – Multiplier, Coin Booster or Jackpots – can appear inside the respins. They appear in the base game and the free spins round, but never inside the respins themselves.
Above the reels, three ornate horn-shaped vessels sit on a shelf, their bowls filled with coloured glass. They’re not decoration – they’re the jackpot ladder, and they fill as the bonus round pays.
Buffalo Goes Wild 2 Bonus Features
Free Spins Bonus Game
Three Scatters award 10 free spins. For the duration, the Wild becomes Wild x2: it carries a x2 multiplier, doubles the win of each payline it lands on, and can appear anywhere on the reels. It still substitutes for everything except the special symbols.
The round can also bring the respins game with it. Special symbols keep landing during free spins, and each time they trigger the Respins Bonus Game, that round plays out before the free spins resume. Several respins rounds can be won within a single free spins session, which is where the feature stacks its value.
Respins Bonus Game
Land at least one Special symbol, or a combination of them, and the Respins Bonus Game begins with 3 respins. Every Special, Jackpot and Coin symbol that lands sticks to the reels. Each new symbol that appears resets the respin count to three. The round ends when the respins run out or the reels fill completely.
It’s the classic hold-and-collect shape, and the reset rule means a lucky streak can keep the round alive for a long time. What it collects depends on which feature the triggering symbol brought in:
- Coin symbols carry multipliers from x0.25 up to x50 and pay their values at the end of the round
- Multiplier symbols reveal a random multiplier and add it to a randomly selected coin or Coin Booster on the reels
- Coin Booster symbols reveal a fixed value and add it to every visible coin
- Jackpot symbols can appear in any position, and collecting them awards the corresponding jackpot
The jackpot ladder runs Mini at 100x, Minor at 250x, Major at 1,500x and Grand at 3,000x the bet. The Grand is the ceiling of the whole game, and it sits at the top of a ladder the respins round fills coin by coin.
Buy Bonus Feature
The bonus features can be bought instantly from the base game, and there are four options. Each buys three respins with a chance at the named feature plus a chance at the two others, or the free spins round outright:
- Coin Booster – x60 your stake, with a chance at Multiplier and Jackpots features as extras
- Multiplier – x80 your stake, with a chance at Coin Booster and Jackpots as extras
- Jackpot – x120 your stake, with a chance at Multiplier and Coin Booster as extras
- Free Spins – x120 your stake, buying 10 free spins with a chance to win additional respins rounds along the way
The Coin Booster entry is the cheapest of the four, and the two x120 options are the dearest. What the buy never guarantees is the feature itself – every option is a chance, not a lock.
Our Honest Verdict
Overall Rating: 6.9/10
Buffalo Goes Wild 2 is a waiting game with a very nice view. The base game rarely gives you more than the sunset to look at, so you’re here for one thing: the respins round, and the ladder of horn-shaped vessels that fills while you’re in it.
That round is the strength, and it’s a real one. Every new symbol resets the count, so a good run builds its own momentum, and a Coin Booster landing on a full board turns pocket change into a genuine prize in a single hit. The weakness is the free spins themselves – ten spins and a x2 wild is thin fare, and the round only matters because the respins keep interrupting it.
This is one for players who like the long collect-and-climb and don’t mind a base game that’s mostly scenery. Anyone chasing big volatility or a feature-rich free spins round will find the prairie quiet. For the rest, the sunset holds up, and the bonus underneath is worth waiting for.
Buffalo Goes Wild 2 FAQs
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What triggers the free spins in Buffalo Goes Wild 2?
Three Scatter symbols trigger the Free Spins Bonus Game with 10 free spins. The trigger symbol is restricted to reels 1, 3 and 5 during base game play. -
How does the Respins Bonus Game work?
Any Special symbol, or a combination of them, activates the round and grants 3 respins. Special, Jackpot and Coin symbols all stick where they land, and each new symbol sets the respin count back to three. It finishes when the respins run out or there’s no room left on the reels. -
Can the bonus round retrigger in Buffalo Goes Wild 2?
Yes. Special symbols keep appearing during the Free Spins Bonus Game, and several Respins Bonus Games can be won within a single free spins session. -
Can you buy the bonus on Buffalo Goes Wild 2?
Yes. The Buy Bonus Feature offers four options: a Respins round with the Coin Booster feature for x60 your stake, the Multiplier feature for x80, the Jackpots feature for x120, or 10 free spins for x120. Each respins purchase is a chance at the named feature rather than a guarantee. -
What is the maximum win on Buffalo Goes Wild 2?
The maximum win is 3,000x the bet, which is also the Grand jackpot at the top of the ladder. -
Is Buffalo Goes Wild 2 high volatility?
No, it’s a medium volatility slot, so wins should arrive at a steadier rhythm than a high-variance game. -
How many paylines does Buffalo Goes Wild 2 have?
There are 20 paylines in total across the 5×3 grid. -
Who makes Buffalo Goes Wild 2?
Buffalo Goes Wild 2 is made by Mancala Gaming.
