5 Wild Buffalo 3

5 Wild Buffalo 3: Slot Overview

If you can feel the ground-a-shaken, it could be because developer 4ThePlayer has added a third instalment to its 5 Wild Buffalo slot range. Well, the ground's probably not shaking, but since 5 Wild Buffalo 3 is a buffalo-themed slot, there had to be some sort of stampede reference in there somewhere. At least we got it out of the way early, right? Anyway, along with cramming cliches into a review, 5 Wild Buffalo 3 crams a lot of buffalo into its gaming area. This it does with the return of Buffalo Thunder, while free spins go one further by introducing a new double buffalo symbol into the blend.

5 Wild Buffalo 3 has taken the prize wheel away, so there is a lot more to see behind the gaming grid and what a majestic view it is. Where the original release was one of those desert and canyon type games, 5 Wild Buffalo 3 moves to a more mountainous region and is very easy on the eyeballs. With a quasi oil painting quality going on, clouds drift slowly across the sky, leaves blow across the screen, in what looks like prime yodelling country. Buffaloes remain prevalent, both landing on the reels in single or double forms, and also stampeding about the place in connection with features to give the grid a shake.

The buffalo rush may commence after picking a stake of $/€0.20 to $/€20, and it takes place on a 5x4 gaming grid. A ways to win pay system means there are 1,024 ways, creating winning combinations when matching symbols land on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost side. 4ThePlayer has labelled the math model as being highly volatile, while the RTP is 96.04%.

Symbol values tend to be on the low side in these 5 Wild Buffalo slots, and in 5 Wild Buffalo 3, hitting 5 matching 10-A royals is worth 0.15x the bet, while 5 matching horses, eagles, cougars, wolves, bears, or buffalo pays 0.2x to 0.25x the stake. Wilds land on all reels except the leftmost and are able to substitute all symbols apart from scatters.

5 Wild Buffalo 3: Slot Features

There are tweaks, but for the most part, 5 Wild Buffalo 3's features won't feel like strangers. They include Boosting Fortunes, Buffalo Thunder, free spins, and feature buys.

Boosting Fortunes

There are 5 Fortune prizes - ranging from Mini to Ultra, worth 8x to 5,000x. Landing a Diamond on a symbol or landing a wild in free spins increases a random Fortune prize. When a Diamond lands on a symbol, the Fortune Bonus may trigger. In it, players pick objects until 3 matching tokens are revealed and the associated Fortune Prize is awarded. Awarded Fortune prizes reset to their starting value.

Buffalo Thunder

Landing 4 Buffalo symbols on the same reel in any phase triggers the Buffalo Thunder, creating a single stacked Buffalo symbol with a multiplier of x5 to x10. Stacks on adjacent reels combine to form a single multi-reel stack - the multipliers of each stack multiply each other to form a single combined value. The stack multiplier is used to calculate how many symbols are on the reel during win evaluations.

Free Spins

Landing 3 or more scatters triggers the free spins round. During free spins, double buffalo symbols may land, and they count as 2 regular buffalo symbols. Double buffalo symbols can land in a stack, though not in a mixed stack of regular buffalo and double buffalo symbols. Landing four double buffalo symbols on the same reel triggers Buffalo Thunder, combining them to form a buffalo stack with a multiplier of x10 to x20. If wilds land, they expand to cover the reel and get a multiplier of x6 to x12. The multiplier values are used to calculate how many symbols are on the reel. Landing 2 scatters awards an extra +4 free spins.

Feature Buy

Two feature buys are available. They are free spins costing 50x to trigger, or a spin with a guaranteed Buffalo Thunder trigger for 100x the bet.

5 Wild Buffalo 3: Slot Verdict

5 Wild Buffalo 3 continues 4ThePlayer's buffalo saga with an attractive new edition, though how much it evolves the series is another matter. The initial reaction is not a huge amount, since a lot, if not most, of what can be found here, mechanically speaking, can be easily traced back to the previous two 5 Wild Buffalo slots. On a superficial level, the new mountainous skin adds a sense of vast scale and grandeur, and the removal of the prize wheel is a welcome change. However, even though 4ThePlayer has rejigged the visuals, there is no confusion over what series 5 Wild Buffalo 3 belongs to.

Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to the features. These are very recognisable from the past, and 5 Wild Buffalo 3 is arguably closer to the original than part two in this regard. The focus of the base game remains on landing Diamond symbols to increase Fortune Prizes, maybe even win one, and hitting full stacks of buffalo symbols in order to trigger Buffalo Thunder for some stack multiplier action. Free spins have seen 4ThePlayer have a tinker, where the new double buffalo makes its entrance felt. Though tinkering might not be the most accurate word, since 5 Wild Buffalo 3 appears to be a redo of 10000X Gold 2, so maybe porting is a better term.

As for winning potential, this isn't entirely clear, since no official figure was attached to the game info. As a possible guide, the previous 5 Wild Buffalo slots topped out at 7,500x, and they both had the same maximum Ultra Fortune prize value as 5 Wild Buffalo 3. And so, the double buffalo symbol might capture the interest of returning gamblers who have enjoyed what came before, but on the whole, 5 Wild Buffalo 3 is about as ground-shaking as the last two.