Buffalo Magic Slot
Buffalo’s have never really been known for their magic powers, but when the skull of one of these bovine beasts turns up on the reels of the Buffalo Magic video slot from Novomatic, it magically expands to help you get a winning line of symbols, adding a free respin just for good measure. This 5 reel game has 10 paylines, and follows the American Indian theme, which sees traditional headgear, drums, a girl and a tepee lining up to create some high-value wins, or triggering some of the bonus rounds.
It’s been carefully designed so that everything about it adds to the overall theme, and that includes the surrounding frame which is made to look like wood tied together with leather cord, and there’s even a subtle cowhide effect backing up the reels. It’s good indication of the attention to detail lavished on this high-quality slot, which is available at online casinos powered by Novomatic software. All that’s missing is a Native American-style soundtrack, as this game comes with the standard beeps, bells and mechanical noises that’s the same as many other slots.
The Novomatic company has a great reputation for releasing games of this standard, having been in the business for decades, initially providing their range to bricks and mortar casinos and now expanding into online and mobile optimised sites as well. Their games are known for reliability, fairness and high returns, with the whole range being passed by independent testing companies, so punters can simply enjoy the experience of playing them without worry.
Oh, give me a home, Where the Buffalo roam
Even the playing card symbols that make up the lower-paying combinations look as if they have been made of stitched leather, and like all standard icons, you win a prize by landing matching symbols across enough reels along an active payline from the left side. The 10 and J symbols each pay out 5x the amount staked per line when landing on just 3 reels, while 4 of either will be worth a win of 25x, and full lines pay 100x. The Q and K are worth a little more and the top playing card symbol is naturally the A, with prizes of 10x, 40x and 200x the line stake awarded.
20x, 50x, or 300x the line bet is yours to claim when either the headdress or decorated horn symbols stop in the right places, while the hand drum pays you up to 500x and it’s a nice reward of up to 1,000x the line stake when the leather bag is seen right across the reels. A beautiful squaw is the best symbol to land however, as she only needs to be on reels 1 and 2 for a win of 5x to be awarded, then 3, 4, or 5 pictures of this young lady will pay out 500x, 5,000x and a massive 20,000x repectively.
The unfortunate buffalo has had his skull decorated by the Native Americans and now has a star symbol on his head, along with feathers hanging from the horns. This a wild symbol, that isn’t worth anything on its own, but can act as others if it’s then possible to complete a winning line. There’s the added benefits that the wild will expand to fill all 3 spots on any reels it appears on, and once any wins have been paid out, it stays locked in place while any remaining reels respin once more for free.
Tepee Freebies
A tepee is worth a prize of 20x the total bet when it lands in any 3 or more places and as it’s a scatter symbol, there’s no need for it to be in any particular lines. Once this has been paid out, 10 free spins will begin. In common with many slots from Novomatic, there’s a better chance of winning spins during the bonus round, in, this case it’s because any expanded wilds that appear will be held in place for the rest of the feature.
Any time 3 or more tepees appear at once, 5 extra spins are added on, and reels 2 and 4 will be filled with the expanded wild throughout them, although they can only be retriggered once, so you won’t be enjoying any more than 15 bonus games in total.
Gamble Feature
It’s possible to double wins over and over, to a high limit of 1,000x the stake, if you opt to enter the gamble feature. It’s a 50/50 decision on whether a playing card will be from a red or black suit, and then if correct, you will have the option to go again or count yourself lucky and collect the doubled prize.
Any wrong guess however, and the gamble is lost, along with the initial prize, so it’s often best not to get too carried away with a run of good luck in these features.
Betting Options
There’s only 10 paylines to the Buffalo Magic video slot, and you’ll only need a stake of 0.20 to activate them all, although prizes will be correspondingly smaller, so higher wagers will equal higher-value winning lines. There’s an Autoplay function that means you won’t have to click each time to get the reels spinning, and anyone who likes to test a game out before playing for real cash will find free Buffalo Magic video slots at the casinos where this range is carried.
A Wealth of Western-themed Slots
This isn’t the only Native American-themed slot from Novomatic, as Indian Spirit has similar symbols and just as much detail as Buffalo Magic. A stern-looking Chief pays out the top prizes, while an eagle awards 10 free games with extra dreamcatcher wild symbols added in to make it easier to get some nice wins during them.
Although it’s got just a single Indian character on the reels, we couldn’t help but mention the outstanding Cowboys and Aliens video slot from Playtech, simply because it’s got a wild west theme and some fantastic comic-strip style. If you are familiar with the movie, it’s actually based on an original comic, and the slot game comes with out of this world features such as bonus spins with expanded wilds and an Alien Weapon feature where symbols are blasted into the same type for some high rewards.
Worth Squaw-king About?
The sharp graphics and popular Wild Western theme are bound to bring lots of players to the reels of the Buffalo Magic video slot. Hopefully, the bonus features will keep them coming back for more, because there’s the chance of some great rewards when the expanding wild symbol grants a reels respin, and particularly in the free spins round where the locked wilds can stack up on several reels at once by the end of the games for some great wins to cash out.
It would have been nice if Novomatic had created some catchy tune to go along with this game, perhaps adding a few Indian drums and a war dance which would have helped to complete the atmosphere. But that aside, this is an entertaining slot that’s bound to be a hit.
