Buffalo Blitz Slot Review: The Complete Playtech Family Guide

Here is the single most important thing to understand before you read another word. Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz is not the same game as Aristocrat’s Buffalo, and it is not part of that franchise in any way. Aristocrat’s Buffalo, Buffalo Gold and Buffalo Link titles are a separate family from a different studio, and those are the ones you tend to see on casino floors and in many United States online lobbies. If you want that game, it lives at our Buffalo review, not here. Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz shares only a theme and an animal. It runs on a different math model, a 6-reel 4,096-ways engine, and it comes from a different developer. Do not confuse the two. If a lobby lists “Buffalo” it is almost certainly the Aristocrat game, and if it lists “Buffalo Blitz” it is the Playtech game reviewed on this page.

Buffalo Blitz earned its popularity the honest way. The base game feels generous because every spin gives you 4,096 ways to connect stacked animal symbols, and the free spins round layers in wild multipliers of 2x, 3x and 5x that can turn a modest trigger into a large payout. The theme leans on the open plains of the American frontier, which puts it comfortably in the same visual family as classic Wild West slots, and the sound design, with its rolling thunder of hooves, gives the reels a real sense of momentum. It is a high volatility slot at heart, so it can run cold, but the ceiling is high enough to keep players coming back.

Buffalo Blitz Quick View

The table below covers the flagship title, the original Buffalo Blitz. Where a figure is not published by Playtech or varies by operator, that is stated plainly rather than guessed.

Version Comparison: All Three Buffalo Blitz Slots

The three games share a look and a wildlife theme, but they run on different engines and pay very differently. Use this table to see the family at a glance before reading the detailed breakdowns further down.

All three titles are online slots built for desktop and mobile browsers. None of the Buffalo Blitz games is a land-based cabinet product, so there is no genuine “land-based only” version of this family to flag. If you have played a Buffalo machine on a casino floor, that was the Aristocrat game, not the Playtech Buffalo Blitz covered here.

Buffalo Blitz vs Aristocrat Buffalo: Clearing Up the Confusion

Because the two share a name and an animal, it is worth spelling out the differences in full so you never load the wrong game. Aristocrat’s Buffalo is a 5-reel slot that pays 1,024 ways in its original form and is famous for its coin-value free spins with growing multipliers; it spawned a huge line of follow-ups including Buffalo Gold, Buffalo Grand and Buffalo Link, and it is a fixture of physical casino floors. Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz is a 6-reel slot that pays 4,096 ways, was designed first for online play, and carries an entirely different pay table, wild rule and free spins structure. The studios are competitors, not partners, and neither game references the other.

The practical consequence for a United States player is simple. The Buffalo you are most likely to see inside a BetMGM, DraftKings or FanDuel slot lobby is the Aristocrat game, because Aristocrat, now part of the group operating under the Light and Wonder and related brands in various markets, has a deep footprint in regulated United States iGaming. Playtech’s Buffalo Blitz is a European mainstay whose United States online distribution is far narrower. If you specifically want the 4,096-ways Playtech title reviewed here, do not assume any lobby that lists “Buffalo” has it; look for the exact words “Buffalo Blitz” and confirm the provider is Playtech.

Game Overview and How It Plays

Buffalo Blitz plays out on a wide 6-reel grid that stands four symbols tall, which is unusual and part of what gives the game its identity. Instead of choosing a number of paylines, you simply place a bet and the machine pays any time you land matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel. With six reels and four positions each, that adds up to 4,096 possible ways to win on every spin. The high-value animals appear stacked, so a full column of buffalo across several reels can connect into a large win without any special feature active.

The base game is deliberately simple. You set your stake, spin, and watch for stacked animals and the diamond wild. The wild only lands on reels 2 through 6, never on the first reel, and it substitutes for every paying symbol except the Free Games scatter. Because the wild carries multiplier power inside the bonus, the real fireworks come when you trigger free spins. If you are new to how return to player figures and volatility shape a session, our short primers on RTP and volatility explain what those numbers mean for your bankroll. Buffalo Blitz is a high volatility game, so expect stretches of quiet reels punctuated by the occasional big free spins payout.

As a straightforward video slot, Buffalo Blitz keeps its rules light. There is no complicated side bet, no skill element and no meter to fill in the base game of the original title. You are playing for the free spins, where the multipliers live. That clarity is a big reason the game has aged well and why Playtech kept building on the formula with two sequels.

It helps to understand why 4,096 is the ways figure. On a 6-reel grid with 4 symbol positions on each reel, the number of ways to win is 4 multiplied by itself six times, which equals 4,096. Any matching symbol on each of the leftmost consecutive reels counts as a win, regardless of its vertical position, and stacked symbols multiply the number of connecting combinations. That is why a screen full of stacked buffalo can pay so heavily even without a wild involved. If you are still learning the mechanics of ways-to-win games, our how to play slots guide walks through the basics step by step.

Symbols and What They Pay

The symbol set splits into two tiers. At the top are the animals of the American plains, and below them sit the familiar card ranks. The buffalo is the marquee symbol and the biggest regular payer. The figures below are for the original Buffalo Blitz and are quoted as a multiple of the line bet for a full six-of-a-kind unless noted.

The card symbols, running from 9 up to the Ace, fill out the low end and begin paying at three of a kind, climbing toward roughly 150x for a full six-symbol Ace line. Two special symbols sit outside the pay table. The diamond wild substitutes for any animal or card, and the Free Games scatter is the key that opens the bonus.

The high-value animals appear in stacks, and that stacking is central to how the game pays. When a single reel shows several buffalo positions at once and the adjacent reels do the same, a single spin can create hundreds of individual winning combinations across the 4,096 ways, which is how a base-game spin without any feature can still deliver a meaningful hit. The buffalo is the top animal, followed by the lynx and raccoon at the same pay level, then the bear and moose a step below. Because the buffalo can fill an entire column, it is the symbol that most often builds the large base-game and free-spin payouts, and it is the reason the herd theme feels rewarding rather than decorative.

Bonus Symbol Cross-Check

Here is the direct answer to the question players ask most: do all three versions use the same bonus symbol? The core answer is yes, with one important addition. The original Buffalo Blitz and Buffalo Blitz II both use the same two special symbols, a diamond wild that carries 2x, 3x and 5x multipliers inside the bonus, and a Free Games scatter that triggers the free spins round when three or more land anywhere on the reels. Buffalo Blitz Megaways keeps that same diamond wild and a bonus-triggering scatter, but it adds a second layer the earlier games do not have: dedicated jackpot symbols that feed the four-tier Jackpot Blitz progressive. So the wild and the free spins scatter are consistent across the whole family, while Megaways layers extra jackpot symbols on top. If you learn the diamond wild and the Free Games scatter in the original, you already understand the bonus triggers in all three games.

How to Trigger the Bonus

In both the original Buffalo Blitz and Buffalo Blitz II, you trigger the free spins round by landing three or more Free Games scatter symbols anywhere on the reels in a single spin. The scatters do not need to line up on a way; position does not matter, only the count. The number of scatters you land decides how many free spins you receive. Three scatters award 8 free spins, four award 15, five award 25 and six award a full 100 free spins. Because scatters can appear again during the round, the feature can retrigger, and in the original the total can climb as high as 200 free spins across a single bonus.

Buffalo Blitz Megaways changes the entry requirement slightly. There you need four or more scatters to open the free spins, and instead of a fixed award you are handed a choice of bonus modes, which is covered in the section below. The takeaway is simple: in the two 4,096-ways games, watch for three Free Games scatters, and in the Megaways game, watch for four.

How the Bonus Works

Once the free spins begin in the original Buffalo Blitz, the game keeps the same 6-reel, 4,096-ways grid, but the diamond wilds take on multiplier values. Each wild that lands during the round can carry a 2x, 3x or 5x multiplier, and when a win uses more than one multiplier wild, those values combine, which is how the biggest payouts are built. There is no wheel to spin and no pick screen; the free spins simply play out with enhanced wilds, and additional scatters retrigger more spins. This is a classic free spins bonus rather than a mini game, and the multiplier stacking is the engine that drives it.

Buffalo Blitz II plays the bonus differently and this is its signature upgrade. When the free games start, the grid physically expands. The reels grow from the base 6-by-4 shape into a taller 4-5-6-6-5-4 arrangement, and that WaysBoost expansion lifts the ways to win from 4,096 all the way up to 14,400. On top of the larger grid, the same multiplier wilds apply and accumulate, so the sequel’s bonus can pay far more than the base game suggests because you have more ways active and stacking multipliers at the same time. Retriggers add further spins in blocks that scale with the number of scatters landed.

Buffalo Blitz Megaways runs the most elaborate bonus of the three. When you trigger it with four or more scatters, you choose from four free spins modes. Blitz gives you 10 to 20 spins with multipliers from 2x to 5x. Thunder gives 8 to 16 spins with multipliers from 3x to 6x. Buffalo gives 6 to 12 spins with the biggest multipliers, from 4x to 10x, in exchange for the fewest spins. Mystery hides the spin count and multiplier until you commit, adding a gamble element. Free spins can extend up to a very high cap through retriggers. Running alongside the free spins is the Jackpot Blitz feature, a four-tier progressive with Mini, Minor, Major and Blitz prizes that seed at rising values and can be won independently of the free games. That combination of selectable bonus modes and progressive jackpots is what sets the Megaways release apart from its predecessors.

Version by Version

Buffalo Blitz

The original Buffalo Blitz launched around 2015 and 2016 and established the template the whole family follows. It runs on a 6-reel, 4-row grid with 4,096 ways to win, carries a published return to player of 95.96 percent and sits firmly in the high volatility category. The minimum bet starts at 0.40, and the maximum stake varies by operator, commonly running up to 200. Its top prize is 10,000x the line bet, capped at 250,000 coins, and that ceiling is reached through stacked buffalo wins multiplied inside the free spins round. This is the game that made Playtech’s take on the buffalo theme famous, and it remains the reference point for the series.

What makes the original stand out is its restraint. There is no bonus buy, no jackpot and no side feature to distract from the core loop of spinning for stacked animals and chasing the Free Games scatter. The diamond wild lands only on reels 2 through 6 and turns into a multiplier wild during free spins, where three scatters give 8 spins, four give 15, five give 25 and six give 100, with retriggers pushing the total toward 200. In the legal United States online market this is a Playtech online title, so its presence depends on whether your state’s operators carry Playtech content; it is not a land-based cabinet. Players should confirm availability in their own lobby before expecting to find it.

Buffalo Blitz II

Buffalo Blitz II arrived in 2020 as the direct sequel, and its release is generally dated to the middle of that year. It keeps the same 6-reel, 4-row base layout, the same 4,096 base ways and the same 95.96 percent return to player, so a first glance suggests very little has changed. The real difference is what happens when the bonus starts. The sequel introduces the WaysBoost mechanic, which expands the grid during free games into a 4-5-6-6-5-4 shape and lifts the active ways from 4,096 to 14,400. That single change transforms the ceiling of the bonus round without altering the familiar base game.

Beyond the expanding grid, Buffalo Blitz II widens the stakes, running from a 0.20 minimum up to a 250 maximum, and its multiplier wilds of 2x, 3x and 5x accumulate as they land, so several wilds in one win combine for a much larger multiple. The maximum win is quoted at 10,000x the total bet, which at the top stake works out to a very large cash figure. Free spins are still triggered by three or more scatters, awarding 8, 15, 25 or 100 spins based on the count, with further spins added on retriggers. Like the original, Buffalo Blitz II is an online slot rather than a floor cabinet, and in the legal United States market its availability depends on operator support for Playtech content. Because its base game is nearly identical to the first title, the sequel is best thought of as the same slot with a stronger bonus.

Buffalo Blitz Megaways

Buffalo Blitz Megaways landed in 2021 and is the most ambitious entry in the family. It swaps the fixed 4,096-ways engine for the licensed Megaways system, so the number of symbols on each reel changes every spin and the ways to win range dynamically up to a maximum of 117,649. Its published return to player is around 96.29 percent, with a portion of that figure allocated to the progressive jackpots, and some listings quote a version near 97.26 percent, so the exact RTP can depend on the configuration an operator runs. The game keeps a high volatility profile and a stake range from 0.10 to 200.

The Megaways release changes almost everything about the bonus while keeping the diamond wild and the wildlife theme. Instead of a single free spins award, you pick from four modes, Blitz, Thunder, Buffalo and Mystery, each trading a different number of spins against a different multiplier range, so you can favor volume or firepower. On top of that, the Jackpot Blitz feature adds four progressive prizes, Mini, Minor, Major and Blitz, that seed at rising values and can be won separately from the free games. The maximum win outside the jackpots is quoted at 20,000x the stake, double the ceiling of the earlier titles, and the jackpots can add more on top. This is an online title only, and in the legal United States market its presence again depends on operator support for Playtech Megaways content, so check your state lobby before assuming it is available.

Bets, RTP and the House Edge

The two 4,096-ways games share a published return to player of 95.96 percent, which means the theoretical house edge is 4.04 percent. Over a very large number of spins the game is designed to return about 96 cents of every dollar wagered, though any single session can land far above or below that line because the figure is a long-run average, not a promise for one sitting. Buffalo Blitz Megaways runs a slightly higher return of roughly 96.29 percent, but part of that percentage funds the progressive jackpots, so the money you can win outside a jackpot hit behaves like a lower number in practice. Some operators run alternate Megaways configurations closer to 97.26 percent, which is why you should always check the info screen inside the specific lobby you are playing.

These returns are respectable rather than exceptional. If maximizing return is your priority, our list of the highest RTP slots gathers games that pay back more over time. If the swing and the chance at a large multiplier is what draws you, the Buffalo Blitz family fits neatly among other high volatility slots, where big wins are rarer but larger. Bet sizing matters here: the original starts at 0.40, the sequel at 0.20 and the Megaways release at 0.10, so you can stretch a bankroll across more spins on the newer titles while you wait for the free spins to arrive. Because every result is produced by a certified random number generator, there is no way to influence the next spin; our explainer on the random number generator covers why that is true of every legal slot.

Which Buffalo Blitz Should You Play

The three versions reward different tastes. The original Buffalo Blitz is the purist’s choice, a clean 4,096-ways slot with no jackpot and no bonus modes, where the whole game is about reaching the free spins and stacking multiplier wilds. Buffalo Blitz II is the natural upgrade for players who liked the first game but wanted a bigger bonus, since its WaysBoost expansion to 14,400 ways during free spins raises the ceiling without changing the base game you already know. Buffalo Blitz Megaways is for players who want maximum variety, offering a choice of four bonus modes, a far higher ways count and four progressive jackpots layered on top, at the cost of a more complex and more volatile experience. If you are weighing one slot against another more generally, our guide on how to choose a slot lays out the factors that matter most.

Playing Buffalo Blitz on Mobile

Every Buffalo Blitz title is built in HTML5, which means the games run directly in a phone or tablet browser with no separate download required. The wide 6-reel grid scales down cleanly to a portrait screen, the stacked animals stay readable, and the free spins round plays exactly as it does on desktop. Touch controls handle bet sizing and spinning, and autoplay is available if you prefer to let a set number of spins run. If you want to see which other titles play well on a small screen, our guide to mobile slots collects the best options for phones and tablets.

Where to Play Buffalo Blitz

If you want to play any of these games for real stakes, start on our legal United States casino sites page, which tracks licensed operators state by state and flags which ones carry Playtech content. Because the Buffalo Blitz family is a Playtech series and the studio’s United States catalog is limited, availability is not guaranteed everywhere, so the market page is the fastest way to see who currently offers it. When you are ready to move from demo play to real money slots, make sure the operator is licensed in your state and that the exact Buffalo Blitz title you want is live in the lobby.

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