Buffalo Link

Introduction

Buffalo Link is one of many games by Aristocrat with a Buffalo theme. What makes this game noteworthy is the player is guaranteed to win a free feature before a counter of buffalo heads reaches 1,800. If that meter is close enough to 1,800, then the odds will swing to the player's favor.

Following are the significant rules to Buffalo Link in my own words.

1. A credit can be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cents.
2. The player may bet 100, 200, 300, 500 or 1000 credits per spin. Thus, the bet range is $1 to $50 per spin.
3. This is a "ways to win" game, as opposed to a payline game.
4. All wins pay left to right.
5. The symbols are as follows:
   • Buffalo (head), eager, mountain lion, wolf, rain deer, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 — Line pays
   • Sunset — Wild
   • Gold coin — Scatter
   • Buffalo (body) — Scatter
6. There are four bonuses/jackpots, as follows:
   • Grand &mash; Progressive with maximum of $20,000.
   • Major — Progressive with maximum of $1,000.
   • Minor — Always 10,000 credits
   • Mini — Always 2,000 credits
7. The players wins 2x, 10x, or 100x the total amount bet for 3, 4, or 5 gold coin symbols, respectively.
8. The buffalo body symbol is always associated with a win. This win can be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 50, 100, 200, or 250x the total amount bet.
9. If the player gets eight or more buffalo body symbols, then he will win the total wins associated with those symbols.
10. In addition, if the player gets 8-19 buffalo body symbols, he will earn the Hold & Spin feature. Earning the Hold & Spin bonus does not reset the Free Feature counter.
11. In the Hold & Spin feature, any position not already a buffalo body will respin. If the resulting spin results in any additional buffalo body symbols, they shall also stick in place.
12. The Hold & Spin feature starts with three free spins.
13. If the player gets one or more additional buffalo body symbols, the number of remaining free spins shall reset to three.
14. The major jackpot can be won if either:
    • The player gets 20 buffalo body symbols and "major jackpot" appears on one of them after a paid or free spin
    • The player gets the "major jackpot" symbol on a buffalo body in the Hold & Spin feature (see below).
15. The Free Games feature shall consist of 8, 15, or 20 free games.
16. Spins in the Free Games feature have separate reel stripping. This includes some wilds having multipliers.
17. A counter of buffalo heads is kept. The counter starts at 100. Each buffalo head that appears on an initial spin increments the counter by one.
18. Whenever the player gets at least one buffalo head on any spin (including bonus spins), there is a chance of winning a free feature.
19. A free feature MUST be won before the counter reaches 1,800.
20. A separate counter of buffalo heads is kept for all five credit values and credits bet, for a total of 25 counters.
21. There are two types of free features — The Free Games Feature and the Hold & Spin Feature, to be determined randomly.
22. It is possible, although very unlikely, to earn a bonus and trigger one randomly in the same spin. If this happens, the player will play two bonuses consecutively.

If my explanation of the rules was unclear, here are images of the rule screens directly from the game:

• General Rules 1
• General Rules 2
• General Rules 3
• Buffalo Collected Meter
• Stand Alone Progressive
• Buffalo Free Feature
• Hold and Spin Feature
• Linked Progressive
• Lucky Chance Spin
• Progressive Ceilings
• Scattered Buffalo

Play Points

As mentioned in the rules, every time a buffalo head is collected it is banked in what I'll call the "Free Feature" bank. This bank resets to 100 and must-hit-by 1,800. If the game is close enough to 1,800 buffalo, then the odds swing to the player's favor.

I have evidence that the RTP in this game increases as the player bets more. I'm sworn to secrecy on the source or details of such evidence, so you'll have to take it on faith. However, it stands to reason that with a higher RTP, the player does not have to be as picky about number of buffalo are needed for the game to be positive.

My advice is to play only if the number of buffalo in the meter is at least 1,300 to 1,450. The greater the bet required, the fewer the buffalo you need. If you must have just a single number, then I would go with 1,375.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank "Howard Ratner" for his advice with this game.

External Links

Discussion about Buffalo Link in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.

 

Written by: Michael Shackleford