Bison Bonanza: Slot Overview

One age-old division splitting people into opposing groups is the salty vs sweet question. Some people prefer a bit of sugary goodness in their lives, while others desire a salt hit. Of course, there's the third category of gastronomes who are happy chowing down on either food group. For players with savoury preferences, here is Bison Bonanza, a slot from Blueprint Gaming which undeniably has taken one or two cues from Pragmatic Play's popular release, Sweet Bonanza.

To be honest, aside from a theme change, the two games are very similar indeed. One thing uniting them is they are both played on a 6-column, 5-row game panel, using a scatter pays system. There are also colossal multiplying symbols in free spins. However, the appearance of the two slots could not be any more different. The name gives it away - Bison Bonanza is an American nature-themed slot situated in a rocky canyon, with wildlife and cacti to keep players company. These sorts of slots are pretty common, with this particular theme having worked exceptionally well for Blueprint in the past with titles such as Buffalo Rising Megaways and Wolf Legend Megaways. Here, Blueprint has gone for a standard look rather than try something more unique, so traditionalists should be happy with the polished presentation.

Bison Bonanza is a big beefy game, running highly volatile as it powers its way to a return value of 96.5%. Players can select base bets of 20 p/c to $/€10 per spin or trigger the Bison Bet, which increases the stake by 25% and doubles the chance of triggering the bonus game (RTP remains the same). Bison Bonanza does not use paylines or ways to create wins. Instead, as long as 8 or more matching symbols are in view, anywhere on the board, booyah, there's a bunch of coins coming your way.

On to the symbols then, where there are nine regular pays – four are lower value card suits, five are higher value lynxes, wolves, eagles, bears, and bison. Having 8-9 matching premiums in view is worth 1-10x the bet, going up to 10-50x when 12+ are in view. Lows payout 0.25-0.8x for 8-9, rising to 2-8x the bet for 12+ in view.

Bison Bonanza: Slot Features

Bison Bonanza borrows much of its action from outside sources, so alongside scatter pays are things like cascades, free spins with multiplier symbols, and a bonus buy for applicable players.

Cascades

When a scatter win hits, it is taken off the board, and the symbols still on the reels drop into the vacated spaces. If this creates another scatter win with the new symbols, the process is repeated.

Free Spins

Players enticed by the prospect of massive multipliers, the chance to indulge occurs when at least 4 bonus symbols land in view, thereby triggering free spins. This is where the special multiplier symbols can appear. First, though, players pick which form the free spins will come, from these options:

• 12 free spins with multipliers of x2 to x100.
• 8 free spins with multipliers of x4 to x200.
• 5 free spins with multipliers of x8 to x500.
• Mystery choice which awards random spins and multiplier limits from a pick 'n click screen.

In free spins, if a multiplier symbol lands in view during a cascade win sequence, it awards a multiplier based on the limitations mentioned above. When cascades finish, the total prize value is increased by the multiplier. If more than one multiplier is in view, the values are added together first, then applied to the win.

Bonus Buy

Jump right into the stampede if you so choose by buying the bonus round instead of waiting for it to happen on its own. There are two choices. One costs 100x the bet, has an RTP of 96.6% and is the same as landing at least 4 bonus symbols, as detailed above. The second is to buy a blast on the Bison Wheel for 248x the bet. This latter option spins a three-tier wheel to award 10-20 spins, an x2 to x10 minimum multiplier and x100 to x500 maximum multiplier. The RTP for this is 96.82%.

Bison Bonanza: Slot Verdict

Okay, fair enough, what we are dealing with here is essentially Sweet Bonanza with critters instead of candy. That's an inescapable fact, so if these similarities are a hard no for you, then Bison Bonanza is as guilty of being an ersatz impersonation as any other. We've seen Hacksaw do this as well with Joker Bombs and The Bowery Boys, and Blueprint themselves have even used the format before in Deal or No Deal Banker's Bonanza, so the trend is well established. It could even be argued Blueprint hasn't been particularly imaginative in its choice of theme. You don't need us to tell you how many North American wildlife slots dot the marketplace already, particularly those fronted with buffalo. If you can overlook these things or just couldn't care less anyway, Bison Bonanza is a real stampede of a game, with plenty to get stuck into.

Naturally, if you've played Sweet Bonanza or one of its offshoots, you'll know what to expect from Bison Bonanza. If not, it's worth checking out how a scatter pays system functions, with Bison Bonanza being a good example to experiment with. What helps it compete with its direct competitors are things like the slick execution, the huge multipliers, and the Bison Wheel.

Sure, sure, there's not a great deal of revolutionary gaming to be found here by any stretch of the imagination. However, that doesn't stop Bison Bonanza from being a strong choice for players after a new scatter win game. As to potential, it's funny, after seeing Blueprint Gaming toss around their 50,000x max win clause so often in other games, Bison Bonanza's 10,000x ceiling doesn't feel small by comparison. What with the chance of boosting wins with multipliers of up to x500, the 10,000x feels somewhat achievable.

As we said, the theme and features are far from fresh; no way to deny that. However, cliches didn't become cliches by chance, so for ground shaking gameplay you can rely on, Bison Bonanza's blend of scatter pays, and colossal multipliers along with favourable RTP and decent potential make it a solid option.