Bison Rising Megaways

Bison Rising Megaways: Slot Overview

Here's an interesting one, folks. We're used to studios reskinning older slots and firing them out the door, but developer Blueprint Gaming has taken the shortcut concept to the next level. What we mean is if you've played 2018's Buffalo Rising Megaways, then today's slot, Bison Rising Megaways, is like its doppelgänger. Seriously, about the only thing that's changed is swapping out the 'Buffalo' for the 'Bison' in the title. The Blueprint Gaming team no doubt has its share of astute business people, and there is bound to be a solid business reason for the remake, which at the time of writing, we weren't privy to. Never mind, if you're keen to leap back on the buffalo for another round, come hop aboard.

If you're familiar with Buffalo Rising Megaways, then practically everything about Bison Rising Megaways will feel familiar as well. This applies to the visuals, which depict the same patch of North America in the same cartoonish manner as before. It wasn't the most enchanting desert view before, and it still isn't now either. There are no blazing sunsets, for example, yet it's pleasant enough, and the floating clouds are pretty nice.

From recycled artwork onto recycled math model. That translates to a medium/high volatile game producing a theoretical return to player value of 96.5%. The stake range isn't massive but should be okay for a good chunk of gamblers, starting at 10 p/c and maxing out at $/€10 per spin. Any device can be used to play Bison Rising Megaways, where the action occurs on a game grid made up of 6 main vertically spinning reels and a 4 symbol horizontally spinning reel at the top. A classic Megaways setup in other words.

Press play, and 2-7 symbols land on reels one and six, 2-6 land on the middle four reels, plus four on the top reel. Since the number of symbols changes, so does the number of ways to win, up to 117,649. Wins occur when matching symbols land from the leftmost side of the grid onwards on adjacent reels. 9 to Ace card ranks are used as the low pays, worth 1-1.5x the bet for a six-of-a-kind win, then come elk, wolves, beers, and bison, paying 2 to 50 times the bet for six-of-a-kind. Wilds appear only on the top reel and can be used to substitute for any normal pay symbols to help complete winning ways.

Bison Rising Megaways: Slot Features

The same features are used to brighten Bison Rising Megaways' gameplay as before, including cascades, mystery symbols, free spins, and a possible Bison Bet.

Cascading Symbols

Winning ways start a chain reaction and are removed from the reels by the cascade mechanic. Symbols fall down to fill the empty spaces, and if another win is created, the mechanic triggers again, only ending when no new win hits.

Mystery Symbols

Mystery symbols can appear in any position. When mystery symbols hit, they all transform to reveal the same symbol, which can be anything except the diamond free spins scatter.

Free Spins

In the base game, scatter symbols appear on the main six reels, not the upper reel, and landing at least 4 of them triggers the free spins bonus round. Triggering the feature with more than 4 scatters awards extra free spins. Next, 4 bonus round options are displayed on the screen for players to pick one:

• 15 free spins where the win multiplier starts at x1. If triggered by more than 4 scatters, each extra scatter awards +4 free spins.
• 10 free spins where the win multiplier starts at x5. If triggered by more than 4 scatters, each extra scatter awards +2 free spins.
• 5 free spins where the win multiplier starts at x10. If triggered by more than 4 scatters, each extra scatter awards +1 free spin.
• Mystery Choice – randomly awards 5, 10, or 15 free spins with a starting win multiplier of x1, x5, or x10.

During free spins, the win multiplier increases by +1 following each cascade, without limit. Also, scatters may appear on the upper four symbol reel. Landing 3 or 4 of them awards +5 or +10 extra free spins, respectively.

Bison Bet

Imagine Bill and Ted righteously calling out the word 'Buffalo!' This is what happens when getting a buffalo win or when activating the Bison Bet, which lets eligible players buy free spins for 100x the stake. Once bought, it is possible to buy one of the four options covered above. The RTP for the Bison Bet is 97.01%.

Bison Rising Megaways: Slot Verdict

Right? Kinda unusual Blueprint Gaming simply changed one of the words in the title and whacked out another slot. As mentioned, there is no doubt some canny business-related reason why they've done so. There was that dustup a while back between Aristocrat and Pragmatic Play over the trademarking of certain buffalo characters, or the number of buffaloes and the way they look at the viewer, or some such thing. Pure conjecture, of course, and the switch from Buffalo Rising Megaways to Bison Rising Megaways probably has nothing to do with that. Who knows, though? Speculating on how Bison Rising Megaways came into being was part of the fun of reviewing it.

The other part was playing it, and Bison Rising Megaways is admittedly a sturdy buffalo, sorry bison, themed Megaways game. Even if it had been a completely original release, it wouldn't exactly be bristling with innovation, though. Features are a standard combination of cascades, mystery symbols, and free spins with an unlimited progressive win multiplier. Having the choice of which free spins/starting win multiplier combo isn't massively widespread, yet the concept isn't as fresh now as it might have been back when the original Buffalo game was released. Like before, the win cap is 250,000 credits or 50,000x the bet, whichever comes first, though that might be a tad on the optimistic side as there has never been an official 50,000x hit that we know of, or even close to it.

Buffalo Rising Megaways came out a few years ago, and times have moved on since then. Still, as a reliable Megaways game featuring bison and other prairie animals, Bison Rising Megaways is a solid enough choice. The potential is decent, the features are old hat but dependable, and getting to choose which free spins round tickles your fancy is handy. On the whole, Bison Rising Megaways gets the job done, again, without being overly flashy while doing it.