Buster’s Bones

Buster's Bones: Slot Overview

Veteran game designer NetEnt invites players to 'Ride down the dusty back roads of a never-ending canyon and immerse yourself in the mischievous world of Buster's Bones.' Buster's Bones is a Wild West meets wild poochies extravaganza full of pup-ridden hijinks on the front end while delivering a Buster's Bones feature, something known as the Random features, free spins, and a bonus buy option.

Visually, Buster's Bones is quite a delight for the eyes, taking place in the aforementioned canyon, in a place that could easily serve as the backdrop for some Hanna-Barbera Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote-style action. You know, like, painting a big black half-circle on the side of a wall so Road Runner will run into it, thereby rendering himself unconscious, but instead of seeing stars, the bird actually runs through a tunnel. Then when Wile E. takes a look, a truck comes flying out and smashes him in the face. Something along those lines anyway. Where were we…? Back to Buster's Bones, which looks a real treat, its lush canyon backdrop is the perfect spot for a bunch of wacky canines to strut their adorable stuff.

With the cutie pie credentials nailed, let's peel back the outer layer and see what we can find. For starters, there's a medium/high volatile math model paired with three different RTP options, 96.07% being the maximum. These numbers drive a cluster pays slot, played on a 6x6 sized game grid, creating a win when at least 5 matching symbols land adjacent to each other in horizontal or vertical positions. Once a win hits, the Avalanche mechanic kicks in to remove the winning symbols from the board. New and remaining symbols fall to fill the empty spaces, and if a new cluster is created, then the game Avalanches again. Willing participants can join in the antics on any device where bets of 10 p/c to $/€200 may be selected. For its pay symbols, Buster's Bones uses playing card suits imprinted on wooden squares as its lower value lot, while the high pays are three doggies with green, blue, and purple backgrounds.

Buster's Bones: Slot Features

Another key symbol to note is the Buster special symbol. If one of these lands on the reels and there is at least 1 bone special symbol in view as well, then the Buster's Bones feature is triggered. When activated, Buster bounds about the reels in order to collect bones, thereby turning each one of them wild. Wilds substitute for all paying symbols. Once all the bones are collected, Buster, who also acts as a wild, adds up the values of the bones to produce a win multiplier. When he rests, Buster uses the multiplier to boost payouts when he is part of a win. When the spin is complete, Buster and his multiplier vanish, though, of course, they may return on a later spin.

Random Features

This oddly named extra may activate, tossing bones and the Buster symbol onto the grid as the reels spin. As stated above, if Buster appears with at least 1 bone symbol, the Buster's Bones feature will fire.

Free Spins

When landing 2 Free Spins scatters on the reels and 1 Buster symbol, a total of 8 free spins are awarded. For this play moves from the canyon to a quaint saloon. Until the end of free spins, Buster jumps about the reels, collecting bones to build a multiplier that is only reset when the bonus round ends. If 1 or 2 Free Spins scatters land during the bonus round, 1 or 3 extra free spins are awarded, respectively.

Buy Feature

No need to wait for the 2 scatters and 1 Buster to naturally appear if you choose not to. Instead, shelling out 60x the bet will buy instant access to the saloon for the free spins bonus round.

Buster's Bones: Slot Verdict

We noted NetEnt's veteran status at the top of the review, and no one lasts this long in the competitive world of online gambling without knowing a thing or two about giving players what they want. The thing about gamblers, well, about people in general, is they've got a broad range of tastes, interests, risk/reward tolerances, and so on and so forth. Sorry for stating the obvious here, by the way, but just trying to find a way to tee up Buster's Bones' verdict. Basically, what we're trying to say, in a roundabout way, is that Buster's Bones' particular set of features, looks, and stats suggest they are just as likely to attract a certain type of player as repel others.

Arguably, the biggest question mark hangs over the pairing of the medium/high math model with un-gasp inducing potential of 973x the bet. The two stats feel slightly out of sync, and hey, massive winning numbers aren't everything, yet something's a little off-kilter about the max win. Especially with the way Buster scampers about in free spins accruing the multiplier. You kind of have to feel for the guy since no matter how much scampering he gets up to, he isn't going to get all that far in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps Buster's Bones follows the sadistic cartoon tradition of teasing and torturing animals. We mentioned Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote already, but others include Tom and Jerry, Daffy Duck; the list goes on, so Buster is in good company.

Are we being a little over the top here? Sure are, but Buster's Bones' troop of playful doggies provided the inspiration. They're the sort of gang which are easy to fall for, after all, and players looking for charm over the sort of max win figure that attempts to rival a nation's debt clock might be down with Buster's Bones' warm lap dog persona.