Buffalo Spirit Pokie Machine
It seems that online pokie players can’t get enough of games themed around North American wildlife and Buffalo Spirit from WMS Gaming is a good example of the genre that takes players to the region and shows them lizards, owls, eagles, snakes, foxes and cacti across 5 reels and 30 paylines.
Of course, there are some Buffalo thrown in there as well, acting as wild symbols and the majestic landscape of the American West is featured on a bonus symbol that starts a free spins round. That’s not the only extra that we find here, as other symbols can be transformed into extra wilds for some nice guaranteed payouts in the Replicating Wilds round.
The design of the Buffalo Spirit video pokieis fairly simple, with a glimpse of the desert sky at night behind the reels and a straightforward set of control buttons beneath. These are used to set the bet level, with low limitplayers able to gamble just 0.30 on a spin or high rollers able to go up to the maximum wager of 90.00 a go. It’s playable with no download needed, on PC’s and mobile devices alike.
Playing Buffalo Spirit
Like many fruit machines from the same developer, the Buffalo Spirit pokie has smaller wins created by landing Heart, Spade, Club and Diamond playing card symbols across the reels. All standard wins come from 3 or more of the same type landing on a payline in an unbroken line from left to right, although the bonus features will help out in other ways.
The rich variety of plants and animals that populate the land will be worth more, and topping the table, we see a mean-looking buffalo staring out from the reels. But it turns out that he’s quite a useful beast as this symbol is also the wild, substituting for others and filling in the gaps to complete a win line.
Buffalo Spirit
Unable to connect to MySQL: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory
Bonus Features
If this buffalo stops on the middle reel, it will appear surrounded by an oval frame and trigger the Replicating Wilds feature. In this special round, he will snort a bit and release glowing circles that float around the reels for a second or two and settle on random symbols, turning them into extra wilds. The new set of symbols are then recalculated, with any additional winning combinations paid out, and it’s guaranteed that at least one line will be completed in this potentially high-payingfeature.
A symbol of a big rock tower, that’s so iconic of the American West, is a scatter, so it can appear in any positions to trigger some bonus games. If just 3 land at once, players are awarded 10 free spins, while 4 of them will be the start of 20 free games and should the full complement of 5 scatter symbols turn up at once, an impressive top award of 40 free games will begin.
During these spins, any wins will be doubled in value, and the first 2 reels will be made up of higher value symbols, so it should be easier for playersto grab some decent payouts before the free games come to an end. If any 3 or more scatters turn up before then however, the round will be retriggered and the new set of spins added on to the end of any still left in the current round.
The Verdict
It’s easy to dismiss the free Buffalo Spirit video pokie as yet another Western-themed game, but anyone who does so would be missing out on a quality game that may follow a well-worn path in terms of design, but has some interesting features to make up for it.
The free spins and multipliers are a nice addition, and thanks to those richer symbols, it can be a highly rewarding round, with generous real cash winnings. The most unique feature here, certainly in the way that it’s presented, are the Replicating Wilds which at first glance look like snot coming out of the buffalo’s nose, but actually, these multicoloured orbs float out from behind the animal before adding those extra wilds to the mix.
Is Buffalo Spirit a perfect game? Well, there will be people who really can’t face another pokie with the same theme, and the design is in some ways a little basic, but overall there’s not much that can be held against it, and players should really give it a go at the many online casinos where WMS Gaming casino pokiemachinesare featured.