Buffalo Link is Aristocrat answering a question pokie fans had been asking for years: what if Buffalo had a Hold & Spin? Released in 2021, it combines the stampeding buffalo free games, with their 2× and 3× wilds, and the Hold & Spin bonus made famous by Lightning Link.
The twist is size. Buffalo Link plays on a 5×4 grid, so the Hold & Spin has 20 positions to fill instead of 15.
How Buffalo Link plays
The base game uses 1,024 ways on a 5×4 grid, so any matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left pay. Buffalo symbols can carry cash values, and gold coin scatters start the free games. A Buffalo collection meter also ticks away in the background and awards a free feature before it reaches its limit, so every buffalo you see counts towards something.
Buffalo Link Hold & Spin and jackpots
- Land eight or more buffalo cash symbols to trigger Hold & Spin.
- They lock in place and you get three spins.
- Each new buffalo sticks and resets the spins to three.
- Each locked buffalo pays a credit value or one of four jackpots: Mini, Minor, Major or Grand.
- Collect all 20 buffalo and you win the Grand.
Eight to trigger and twenty to fill makes it a bigger mountain to climb than the 15-position link games. Our Hold & Spin explainer covers the general idea.
The free games
Gold coin scatters award 8, 15 or 20 free games depending on how many land. Wilds in the free games come with 2× or 3× multipliers, and when several sit on one winning way their multipliers combine, just like the original Buffalo. Free games can retrigger, and Hold & Spin can also trigger from within them.
Buffalo Link vs the original Buffalo
The original Buffalo built its fame on free games where multiplying wilds can stack up on a big win. Buffalo Link keeps that, then bolts on two extras: a Hold & Spin with four jackpots, and the collection meter that guarantees a free feature eventually lands. Both run 1,024 ways, so the base game will feel instantly familiar to Buffalo regulars.
What changes is the rhythm. In the original, nearly all the excitement is in the free games. In Buffalo Link you have three things to watch: the coin scatters, the buffalo count for Hold & Spin, and the meter creeping up in the corner.
History and trivia
Buffalo Link launched in March 2021 on Aristocrat's MarsX Portrait cabinet. It sits in a long line of Buffalo spin-offs, alongside Buffalo Gold and many others, and it is one of the few to borrow the Link family's Hold & Spin directly.
What to expect when you play
Buffalo Link can feel swingy. With eight symbols needed to trigger, Hold & Spin arrives less often than in some link games, and the free games can be quiet or explosive depending on where the multiplying wilds fall. Return to player is set by the venue within state limits. Keep your session to a budget you are happy to spend, and if it stops being fun, see our play-safely page.
Where to play Buffalo Link free
Cashman Casino, from Aristocrat's Product Madness, names Buffalo Link in its store listing alongside other Buffalo titles. It uses virtual coins only, with no cash prizes. App line-ups do change over time, so check the game lobby once you are in. Aristocrat has also offered Buffalo Link online in some overseas markets, but we have not seen an Australian release.
Can't find it online?
Look for 1,024-ways animal pokies on a 5×4 grid with multiplying wilds and a hold-and-respin bonus. We explain the honest situation, and which mechanics to look for, on our can you play Aristocrat pokies online page.
If it stops being fun, read our play-safely page.
