Buffalo Toro

Buffalo Toro: Slot Overview

Funny, it wasn't long ago that Toro and the Matador embarked on a three-slot world tour to celebrate the five-year anniversary of ELK's Wild Toro and already they're off on another adventure. This time the dynamic duo has gone to the US of A in search of the famed Golden Buffalo, though each character has a different motivation. Toro is there, in disguise, to save what remains of the herd, while the Matador just wants to collect their golden hides. As well as the two protagonists, Buffalo Toro has a swag of features such as multiplier wilds, Walking Wilds, Toro Goes Wild, two free spins rounds, and five X-iter options.

One of the enduring attractions of Wild Toro was its sultry Spanish setting, all oranges, fans, toreadors, roses, and charming square, if anything, given even more depth in Wild Toro 2. If you were worried the Old World to New World transition would result in a loss of its unique atmosphere, rest assured, Buffalo Toro is no less immersive than its predecessors. This is due to an oil painting-like background depicting a cacti-littered canyon and an excellent Wild West soundtrack. The two key characters are back, too, so there's plenty of comic interplay going on. This time the Matador has swapped his cape for a pistol, and Toro has gone undercover, donning a feathered headdress in an attempt to blend in.

Buffalo Toro is played on a grid formed of 6 reels, 4 rows, and 4,096 ways to win. Statistically, there are highs and lows, win potential for one being a major highlight coming in at 50,000 times the stake. The RTP, on the other hand, is not, limping in at a surprisingly low value of 94% - with just this one setting on offer, no matter where you play. As could be expect from such high potential slot, volatility is high, rated as 8 out of 10, while stakes can be set from 20 p/c to $/€50 per spin on any device.

Matching symbols landing on adjacent reels from the leftmost side create a winning way, and there are 11 different types. On the lower side are lightly patterned 9-A royals, paying 0.8-1.6x the stake for a six-symbol winning way. This increases to 2.4-6 times the stake when a six-of-kind way hits made up of bears, wolves, cougars, eagles, and bulls.

Buffalo Toro: Slot Features

Helping players create wins are several wild symbol types. The first is a regular wild, which simply substitutes for any normal pay symbol. Next are Multiplier Wilds, that not only substitute but also possess a multiplier of x2 or x3 which is applied to any win they are part of. If more than one multiplier wild is used in a win, the values are added before being applied.

Walking Wild and Toro Goes Wild

The third wild is Toro, the Walking Wild. When Toro hits, he moves leftwards until he falls off the grid. Toro generates a respin for each step he takes. If Toro and the Matador symbol are in view at the same time, the Toro Goes Wild feature triggers. When triggered, Toro moves to the Matador positions leaving a line of regular wild symbols behind him.

Matador Respins

Matador symbols are valueless blocker tiles, but if at least 2 Matadors hit, they turn sticky and trigger a respin. If another Matador lands on a respin, another respin is awarded.

Bonus Game

Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatter symbols in the base game wards 8, 12, 16, or 20 free spins, respectively. If one of the triggering bonus symbols is a super bonus symbol, then the super bonus game is awarded instead. When the bonus round is going, landing 2 scatter symbols awards +4 free spins, while landing 3 or more scatter symbols awards extra free spins in the manner they are originally triggered.

During free spins, gold buffalo symbols are collected when they land before turning into regular buffalo symbols. For every 3 gold buffalo symbols collected, the lowest premium symbol on the reels is transformed into the buffalo for the rest of the feature. A maximum of 12 gold buffalo symbols can be collected.

The rules are the same for the super bonus round, except for every 3 gold buffalos collected, Rampage Reels are triggered as well. Rampage Reels are reels that only contain buffalo symbols. When triggered, between 1 and the max number of Rampage Reels is randomly activated. The number of possible Rampage Reels is 2, 3, 4, or 5 when 3, 6, 9, or 12 gold buffalos have been collected.

X-iter

Clicking the X-iter feature buy button displays five different ways of playing Buffalo Toro, though RTP is the same for all of them (94%):

• Matador Respin – 10x the bet buys 1 spin with a guaranteed Matador Respin.
• Toro Goes Wild – 25x the bet gets you 1 spin with a guaranteed Toro Goes Wild feature.
• Rampage Reels – 50x the bet buys 3 spins with guaranteed Rampage Reels on each spin.
• Bonus – buy the regular free spins feature for 100x the bet.
• Super Bonus – 500x the bet buys an entry to the Super Bonus game.

Buffalo Toro: Slot Verdict

Buffalo Toro shows there's still no love lost between Toro and the Matador. This means hilarity ensues when the two characters hit at the same time, leading to the Toro Goes Wild features. Okay, it's not laugh-out-loud funny, the pair having duked it out for more than five years now, but their relationship continues to add personality to whatever game they appear in. And surprisingly, Buffalo Toro is the fourth time the two chaps have been brought together, cementing one of the more enduring relationships in slots. Opposites clearly attract and all that.

So, aside from the humorous antics, what other attractions does Buffalo Toro possess? ELK has nailed the setting for one. Buffalo slots are a dime a dozen, but ELK's graphics and sound team have once again proven why this part of the world is like a magnet for developers and players alike. Get it right, as ELK has done here, and the North American landscape has a timeless mystique to it, a sort of nexus point between the physical world and a mystical realm.

Keep your feet planted on earth, though, because Buffalo Toro also means business. For one, the RTP creep is real. Already, there were grumblings about ELK's goto 95% figure, so it'll be interesting to see how this new 94% value will be received. It might not be easy to tell the difference in practice when you're in the thick of the action, but the reduction does leave a sour taste and Buffalo Toro did prove to be a game that was hard to hit anything of real significance on after hours of testing. Is it enough to be a deal-breaker? Could well be, in particular for well educated hardcore gamers whilst recreation gamers might not be as bothered as they tend to focus more on the entertainment value.

As mentioned, Buffalo Toro can be a hoot trying to crack. The symbol upgrade can work a real charm alongside those Rampaging Reels in an attempt to stack the grid with as many buffalo symbols as possible. It's tough to trigger naturally, however, since super scatter symbols only appear on the sixth reel. Buying it from the X-iter is another alternative, though it is pricey at 500x, not to mention challenging to recoup your outlay at times as well, a not uncommon ELK slots trait.

Have you been on a commute to work in a crowded bus or train, and found a happy private mental place by blotting away the cramped conditions, pushing, shoving, passive-aggressive battles for a seat, and general irritation of being packed into a restrictive space, thereby making it possible to arrive at work, ready to bring it in the boardroom? Playing Buffalo Toro was kind of like that. If you can push the dismal brutality of the gameplay out of your consciousness, there's a rip-roaring buffalo-themed game here to enjoy.