If you have ever walked past a row of Buffalo pokies, you have heard it before you saw it: that big, booming "BUFFALO!" call when the herd lines up. Aristocrat's Buffalo is one of the most recognisable machines on the planet, and in the United States it became the kind of game people plan a casino trip around.
Here at home it never quite had the cult status of Queen of the Nile or Big Red, but plenty of Aussie punters know it well, and the Buffalo name has since grown into a whole family of games. This page covers how the original plays, how the free games work, a bit of history, and where you can spin it for free in Aristocrat's own apps.
How Buffalo pokies play
Buffalo runs on a 5×4 grid, so you get four symbols showing on each of the five reels instead of the usual three. There are no paylines to pick. Instead the game uses Aristocrat's Xtra Reel Power system, which gives you 1,024 ways to win: any matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost reel, count as a win no matter which row they sit in.
With Reel Power style games you are effectively paying for reels rather than lines. Bet on fewer reels and you pay less, but you also cut down the ways a win can form. Bet on all five and every one of those 1,024 ways is live. If that sounds confusing, our Reel Power explainer walks through it with pictures in your head rather than maths.
The other thing you notice straight away is stacking. The buffalo symbol often lands stacked, filling whole reels, and when a few stacks line up across the screen the wins can add up quickly because every row combination counts.
The free games and sunset wilds
The feature is the heart of Buffalo, and it is beautifully simple.
- Trigger: land 3, 4 or 5 gold coin scatters anywhere on the reels to win 8, 15 or 20 free games.
- Sunset wilds: the wild is a sunset symbol that only appears on reels 2, 3 and 4. During the free games, any sunset wild that helps make a win carries a random ×2 or ×3 multiplier.
- Stacking multipliers: if more than one sunset wild is part of the same win, their multipliers multiply together. Two ×3 wilds make ×9, and three ×3 wilds make ×27.
- Retriggers: landing more gold coins during the feature adds extra free games, so a lucky run can keep going for a good while.
This is why Buffalo has a reputation for streaky play. Plenty of features finish quietly, but the moment a stack of buffalo meets a couple of multiplying wilds, the meter starts climbing fast.
Symbols and pays
- Buffalo: the top animal and the one that lands in tall stacks.
- Eagle, mountain lion, wolf and elk: the other premium animals, paying less than the buffalo.
- Card symbols (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9): the low pays that fill the gaps.
- Sunset: the wild, reels 2 to 4 only, with multipliers in free games.
- Gold coin: the scatter that triggers the free games.
Exact pays depend on the version and the reels you bet on, so check the help screen on the machine or in the app before you play.
History and trivia
Most sources date Buffalo's big debut on Las Vegas floors to 2008, and a collectors' database of Aristocrat software also lists a New South Wales version on the MKVI platform, so it was running in Australia around the same era. Either way, it arrived at a time when Aristocrat was pushing its ways-to-win systems hard, and Buffalo became the poster child for the 1,024-ways format.
In the US, the game turned into a genuine phenomenon. Its success led Aristocrat to build a whole series around it, including Buffalo Gold, Buffalo Grand and later the hold and spin style Buffalo Link. You will also see Buffalo pop up inside Wonder 4 Tower, a multi-game machine that bundles four Aristocrat favourites together. If you want the bigger picture of how Aristocrat went from Sydney poker machines to a global player, our Aristocrat history page covers it.
What to expect when you play
Buffalo is a game of patience. The base game ticks along with small wins from the card symbols and the odd stack of animals, then the free games do the heavy lifting. Long stretches without a feature are normal, and so are features that pay less than you hoped. Return to player on land-based machines is set by the venue within state limits, so do not expect any two machines to behave identically.
The best way to enjoy it is to treat it as entertainment with a budget you are happy to spend, and enjoy the noise when the herd shows up. If it ever stops being fun, have a read of our play-safely page.
Where to play Buffalo free
Original Aristocrat titles are not something you will find at offshore online casinos. The legitimate way to spin Buffalo for free is through Aristocrat's own social casino apps, which use play coins with no cash value. Buffalo slots are listed in both Heart of Vegas and Lightning Link Casino, which are made by Aristocrat's Product Madness studio. Our free Aristocrat pokies guide explains how to get started on each device.
Heart of Vegas · Lightning Link Casino
Can't find it online?
Look for 5×4 pokies with 1,024 ways, stacked animal symbols and wilds that multiply during free games. 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.
