Quick verdict: Buffalo King Megaways is Pragmatic Play's 2021 Megaways take on its earlier Buffalo King slot, rebuilding the fixed grid into six reels of 2 to 7 symbols for up to 200,704 ways to win. RTP tops out at 96.52% (with lower-RTP configurations available to some operators), volatility is rated high, and the ceiling is a 5,000x stake maximum win. The hook is a wolf-pack style Wild that carries a random 2x, 3x or 5x multiplier during free spins, on top of unlimited retriggers once the bonus is running. It's a straightforward American-wilderness theme wrapped around a well-tested Megaways engine rather than anything flashier.
The Story
There's no framing narrative beyond the premise: Buffalo King Megaways drops the reels into an open American desert canyon at golden hour, with cacti and mesa rock formations dotted around the frame and a herd of bison implied rather than shown outright. It's Pragmatic Play's Megaways sequel to its original 2018 title Buffalo King, keeping the same wildlife cast — bison, wolf, eagle, cougar and moose — but rebuilding the reel engine around the Megaways mechanic licensed from Big Time Gaming, credited on-screen every spin — the same engine underpinning Pragmatic's other wildlife Megaways title, The Dog House Megaways. Pragmatic Play later released a further variant, Buffalo King Untamed Megaways, but this review covers the original 2021 Megaways release.
Theme, Gameplay & Symbols
Buffalo King Megaways runs on six reels, each showing between 2 and 7 symbols on every spin, for a maximum of 200,704 ways to win — wins pay left to right on adjacent reels starting from reel one, with no fixed paylines. That variable reel height is the core Megaways appeal: a spin where every reel lands at its tallest stacks the odds of a wide multi-symbol combination, while a short spin plays closer to a conventional low-ways slot.
The paytable is built around the five animals: the bison pays the most, followed by the eagle, the cougar, the wolf and the moose, with the deck of card royals — Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten — filling out the lower-paying end of the table as is standard for the genre. The mesa-rock Wild substitutes for every paying symbol except the golden coin Bonus scatter, and appears anywhere on the grid rather than being restricted to specific reels. During the base game it substitutes without a multiplier attached; the multiplier badges are a free spins-only mechanic, covered below.
Presentation & Sound
Buffalo King Megaways keeps a clean, sun-baked desert look: the reels sit inside a weathered wooden frame with the game's red-and-gold logo overhead, and the background canyon scene shifts gently with drifting clouds and warm late-afternoon lighting. It's a functional rather than elaborate presentation — there's no idle animation on the animal portraits and the interface leans on bold, legible symbol art rather than character work. The soundtrack is a low-key western-tinged loop that stays out of the way during normal spins and swells briefly on a win or a scatter landing. Nothing in the art direction, animation or audio pushes an urgent or high-pressure feel; it's a calm, wildlife-documentary aesthetic rather than anything built around risk or reward messaging.
How to Play Buffalo King Megaways
- Set your stake using the bet selector — Buffalo King Megaways runs from around 0.20 up to 125.00 per spin, depending on the operator's currency and limits.
- Spin the six-reel grid. Each reel independently shows between 2 and 7 symbols, so the total number of ways to win changes every spin, up to a maximum of 200,704.
- Wins pay when three or more matching symbols land on adjacent reels starting from reel one, in any row position.
- Watch for the mesa-rock Wild anywhere on the grid — it substitutes for every symbol except the golden coin Bonus scatter.
- Land 4 to 6 Bonus scatter symbols anywhere on the grid to trigger 12 to 20 free spins.
- During free spins, every Wild that lands carries a random 2x, 3x or 5x multiplier, and landing further scatters retriggers additional spins with no cap stated by Pragmatic Play.
- Where an operator offers it, a Feature Buy option lets a player pay a fixed multiple of their stake to launch the free spins round directly — this is disabled for UK-licensed real-money play under 2020 UK Gambling Commission rules, so UK players will not see it regardless of what the demo build shows.
Features & Mechanics
Landing 4, 5 or 6 golden coin Bonus scatters anywhere on the grid awards 12, 16 or 20 free spins respectively. The free spins round is where Buffalo King Megaways' main mechanic sits: every Wild that lands during the feature carries a random 2x, 3x or 5x multiplier, and because Wilds substitute across the whole grid rather than a restricted set of reels, several multiplier Wilds can land in the same spin. Landing further Bonus scatters during the round retriggers additional free spins on top of whatever remains, so a well-landed run can extend well past the initial award.
Where regulations allow, a Feature Buy option skips straight to the free spins round; in the demo build this showed as a fixed cost of around 80–100x the current stake, and third-party sources cite up to 100x depending on operator configuration. This option is switched off for UK-licensed real-money play — UK operators removed bonus buy features from Pragmatic Play titles following the UK Gambling Commission's 2020 restriction on the mechanic, so it should not be relied on as a way to reach the free spins on a UK-regulated site even though non-UK demo builds still display it.
Volatility & Win Potential
Pragmatic Play publishes Buffalo King Megaways at a top RTP of 96.52%, though as with most of its catalogue, lower-RTP configurations (reported by third-party trackers around 95.55% and 94.51%) can be live on individual operators — it's worth checking a site's own game information panel to confirm which build is running. Volatility is rated high, shown as a four-bar meter in the game's own info screen. The maximum win is 5,000x stake, considerably lower than some of Pragmatic Play's more recent Megaways releases, so treat it as a solidly high-variance title rather than one built around five-figure jackpot chases. Third-party trackers report free spins triggering roughly once every few hundred spins on average, though these figures come from independent analysis rather than an official Pragmatic Play data sheet, so treat them as indicative rather than exact. Stakes run from roughly 0.20 to 125.00 per spin depending on the operator.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Wilds can land anywhere on the grid rather than being restricted to a handful of reels
- Random 2x/3x/5x multipliers on free spins Wilds add real variance to the bonus round
- Unlimited retriggers mean a well-landed free spins run can extend significantly
- Familiar, well-tested Megaways engine with a full 200,704-ways ceiling
Cons:
- High volatility means long stretches without a meaningful win are normal, not a sign anything's wrong
- 5,000x max win is modest next to some of Pragmatic Play's newer Megaways titles
- Feature Buy is not available to UK players, unlike on some non-UK demo builds
- RTP can vary by operator configuration, so it's worth checking the in-game info panel before playing
Final Verdict
Buffalo King Megaways doesn't reinvent its own formula so much as give the original a wider, more variable reel set and a randomised multiplier free spins round. It's a solid, high-volatility Megaways title that suits players comfortable with quiet spells between hits in exchange for a shot at a four-figure multiplier, rather than anyone chasing the very largest Megaways jackpots, which is where a title like Big Time Gaming's own Extra Chilli Megaways comes in instead. For fans of Pragmatic Play's wildlife-themed catalogue, it remains a dependable, if not flashy, entry.
