How Buffalo plays online: reel cost, ways-pays, symbols and the sunset wild

Online Buffalo plays all five reels on every spin for a reel cost of 40 credits, and your total bet is that reel cost multiplied by the bet multiplier you choose. There are no paylines to pick: Aristocrat’s Xtra Reel Power ways-pays counts matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left, wherever they sit on each reel. A sunset wild on the middle three reels fills gaps, and coin scatters start the free games.

What does a spin of Buffalo cost?

Aristocrat Interactive’s rules state that all reels are played for a reel cost of 40 credits, and that the total bet is the reel cost multiplied by the bet multiplier. That makes 40 credits the minimum bet. You change the stake with the plus, minus or max buttons.

Two practical points from the rules:

• Wins are shown in credits. Tapping the credit, total bet or win meter switches the display to currency, which is the quickest way to see what a spin costs in dollars.
• Free games keep your stake. The total bet during free games is the same as on the spin that triggered them, so you cannot raise or lower it mid-bonus.

The multipliers on offer, and the dollar value of a credit, are set in each casino’s version of the game. Check the bet panel rather than assuming the range you saw elsewhere.

How do Xtra Reel Power ways work?

Instead of fixed lines, each winning combination uses one symbol from each reel in a row of adjacent reels, starting with the leftmost reel, and the symbols can sit in any position on those reels. Only the highest win per combination is paid. BetMGM describes this as 1,024 ways to win, which is what five reels of four symbols each produce (4 x 4 x 4 x 4 x 4). Aristocrat’s rules explain the method but do not print the number.

Coin scatters are the exception to the left-to-right rule. They pay anywhere on the reels, their win is multiplied by your total credits bet, and that scatter win is added to any ways wins on the same spin.

What are the Buffalo symbols?

• Buffalo: the top animal. BetMGM notes the online game keeps the floor’s famous “Buffalo!” call when the symbol lands, with an option to switch the audio off.
• Other animals: BetMGM lists eagles, wolves and mountain lions. (The Gold Collection rules name eagle, cougar, wolf and elk.)
• Card ranks: 9 through ace, the low pays.
• Sunset wild: lands on reels 2, 3 and 4 only and substitutes for every symbol except scatters. In the base game it only substitutes; during free games each sunset in a win multiplies that win by 2 or 3.
• Coin scatter: three, four or five award 8, 15 or 20 free games.

The rules publish the pays as paytable images shown at a bet multiplier of 1, so every pay scales up with your multiplier. Open the paytable inside the game for the exact values in the version you are playing.

How do Gold Collection and Buffalo Chief compare?

Three Buffalo games appear most widely in the rule pages, and each has its own cost, ways and RTP settings.

Buffalo Chief premiered on casino floors in August 2020 with 3,456 ways, and the online version keeps that count. Buffalo Gold Max Power, launched online in New Jersey in December 2024, goes further, with 2 to 6 symbols per reel for up to 46,656 ways.

The higher RTP setting is not something you can pick; the casino chooses it. That is why the same title can return more at one casino than another.

Where to go next

The free games carry the sunset multipliers and the Gold Collection and Chief extras, all explained in how the Buffalo bonus works. For what the two RTP settings mean in dollars, read Buffalo RTP and volatility, or go back to the Buffalo overview.