Buffalos, or bison as they are commonly called, have been celebrated in innumerable online slots nowadays, yet they were previously nearly driven to extinction. There were as many as 30 million bison in North America in the 16th century. This figure had decreased to under 100 by the late 1880s. The simplicity of bison hunting also played a role. When one of the herd’s bison was killed, the others would naturally congregate around the carcass. The good news for bison-philes is that interest in bisons has increased recently, both in the real world and in the virtual realm of online slot machines.
Push Gaming’s North American wildlife slot, Bison Battle, makes excellent use of its namesake colossi. They may be found here as standard wilds, sticky wilds, and on bonus symbols. Those are next on the agenda. Enjoy the beautiful canyon view for now; it changes to a concise version when you visit Green Valley or Ice Park. A few Native American artifacts strewn about the screen add a cultural touch, and the presentation as a whole is strong, especially the seasonal transitions.
Players may start the bison fighting by choosing bets from 10 p/c to £/€100, and the game is very volatile (what else?) and playable on any device. The game ships with many RTP options, however we recommend keeping it at the default of 96.4%. In any case, that’s how the game starts out normally. Adding the Green Valley and Ice Park features will increase this percentage to 96.58% and 96.69%, respectively.
All symbols, excluding the eagle, on the game’s 5×5 game panel with 20 paylines must land left to right, beginning with the first reel, for a player to be awarded a prize. In the case of eagles, it takes just two. Five of a kind of the lower-value hearts, clubs, spades, or diamonds only returns double the initial wager. Five of a kind with higher-value animals like cougars, wolves, bears, and eagles can return 10-50 times the initial wager. The Wild Bison emblem, which is shown in gold, appears on the grid as well and stands in for any other icon except the scatter.
Slot Game Feature: Bison Brawl
It would likely be rather unsettling to witness a real-life buffalo fight. You want them to fight each other since that activates new features in Bison Battle.
Indicia Speciales
Although this may seem complicated on paper, putting it into practice is actually pretty simple. You may recognize the setup from the famous NetEnt game The Invisible Man:
Scatter symbols Blue Bison and Green Bison appear exclusively on Reel 1, while Red Bison symbols appear on both Reels 1 and 5.
The Green Valley feature is activated when the Green Bison appears on reel 1 and the Red Bison appears on reel 5 in the same row.
The Ice Park bonus round is activated when the Blue Bison appears on reel 1 and the Red Bison appears on reel 5 in the same row.
Moreover…
If a red bird lands on reel one, the Instant Prize multiplier will increase by 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1,000, or 2,500. If it falls on reel 1 and there is no Red Bison on reel 5 in the same row, it will advance one reel to the right on the next spin before disappearing.
Multipliers of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 are attached to Red Bison symbols on Reel 5. If it appears on reel 1 in a succession without a Red Bison, it will shift to the left after the next spin.
Icy Attraction
Starting with 3 free spins, the Ice Park feature is a twist on the streak respin mechanic. Here, the middle three reels (2, 3, and 4) can have currency symbols or blanks, while reels 1 and 5 can have Bisons with multipliers or blanks. When coin symbols appear, the number of spins begins again. Bisons not only double the value of any currency symbols on their row by the amount they carry, but they also reset the spin counter when they land a hit.
Highlights of Green Valley
When it’s activated, you get eight spins at no cost. Whenever a wild symbol lands on the middle three reels, it will remain in place for the duration of this feature. Red Bison symbols on reels 1 and 5 carry multipliers of 2x to 10x and trigger an additional free game. In addition, the Red Bison will add its multiplier to all sticky wilds in a row if it lands on a row with sticky wilds already on it.
Bison Fight Scene
The Bison Clash bonus round is triggered in the main game when Red Bison symbols appear on reels 1 and 5 in a single payline. The player receives an Instant Prize with a Multiplier equal to the sum of the two symbols’ values on the reels.
Incentives to Purchase
Players in eligible jurisdictions can purchase either bonus game if they’re eager to get the stampede started right away. The cost of activating the Green Valley feature is 75 times the wager, while activating the Ice Park feature is 95 times the wager.
Slot’s Decision in the Bison War
During our playtest, Bison Battle got off to a roaring start, much like a real stampede. We made an early investment in the Ice Park feature and quickly went from blah to a 1,300x+ win. There were resemblances to Relax Gaming’s Chip Spin in this bonus round. Have you seen the viral video of the purple sniper chips decimating a single green chip and quickly tripling it to the victory cap? In Ice Park, a similar dynamic was at play due to the fact that Red Bisons can make currency symbols grow like crazy. Whenever the mood strikes them, that is. Fireworks won’t go off every time, of course.
The way symbols fight and struggle one another also has a The Invisible Man vibe, as was discussed before. Although this method has stood the test of time, it still manages to annoy some people. Bison symbols frequently appeared on the first or fifth reel of the basic game and proceeded to trot across the grid without colliding with their corresponding symbol. Of course there will be some teasing. The ideal situation, on the other hand, would have a 2,500x Bison facing off against an x10 Bison. Unicorn spin? Not impossible when you consider that Fat Drac has given away 50,000x from a single bubble reward.
The Green Valley component may be as exciting. Not at first, because it wasn’t clear from the paytable that Red Bisons also multiply sticky wilds by their own unique factor. it’s why it came as such a wonderful surprise when it started happening in the review completely out of the blue. It’s tough to select a favorite function because they both have their advantages, but the good news is that any bonus game can be quite exciting once it gets going. That it has a 1 in 4,830,920 chance of happening and a maximum reward of 50,000x the bet. Those aren’t terrible odds, if you ask me.
Overall, Bison Battle is a highly recommended game. Bison Battle may not immediately pique your interest like other Push Gaming slots due to its standard reel structure and theme. Nonetheless, you should see for yourself what Bison Battle can do. A exciting Chip Spin/Invisible Man hybrid with a higher risk/reward ratio thanks to its appealing statistics, creative features, and relentless speed.