Bison Valley: Slot Overview

Those big, hulking, yet sort of gentle beasts, bison, are back on the reels in an online gambling game from software provider iSoftBet. The game is Bison Valley and is an interesting mix of old and new. New in that it comes with a host of modern bells and whistles like a buy feature, ante bet, and free spins with wild multipliers. Old, in that, it just kinda came across as dated in some ways, too. But beauty is a subjective thing. What's hideous to one person might be a joyous treat for another to behold. If you're up for some buffalo action, come take a look at Bison Valley with us as we make up our minds on it.

What is quite attractive about Bison Valley, and it's a shame you can't see more of it, is the dusty, rocky background imagery. With the old-school cream-coloured reels, 3 jackpot values, and miscellaneous user interface items on display, most of the view is blocked, unfortunately. A buffalo's head pokes out on the left-hand side as if warily checking what's going on, and a twangy Western soundtrack adds to the atmosphere. The overall effect is okay, but with ten thousand other buffalo slots on the market vying for attention, Bison Valley does little to really make itself known audio-visually.

Onto the gambling side now, where players have a number of choices to make. One is to pick a base bet of 20 p/c to $/€20; the others are whether to activate the Double Up or go for the bonus buy. The Double Up, when switched on, literally doubles the bet, while the bonus buy costs 100 times the stake. Extra info on betting options is included below. Till then, a few more facts and figures, such as Bison Valley's return to player of 96% (96.99% when buying free spins), and its medium-high volatility, which iSoftBet was slapped with a 7.5 out of 10 rating.

Played on a 5-reel, 4-row gaming matrix, players are provided with 1,024 ways to win, occurring when matching symbols land from the left across at least 3 consecutive reels. For low pays, Bison Valley's got 9 through A playing card icons, then a squirrel, a hawk, an armadillo, a fox and a buffalo, as its 5 high pay symbols. Not all are animals that get much face time in an online slot and are pretty cute to boot. Values-wise, you're looking at a payout of 5 to 7 times the bet for landing 5 of the same low-pay symbols or 7.5x to 15x for 5 OAK premiums. Not bad values with all those ways to win. Landing on the middle 3 reels (2, 3, and 4) is Bison Valley's wild symbol. Wilds can replace any regular pay symbols, therefore useful for helping to connect winning ways.

Bison Valley: Slot Features

As well as the previously mentioned Double Up and bonus buy, Bison Valley's got a Bonus Wheel feature and free spins.

Double Up

Having the Double Up switched on does a few things. One, all scatters double in size and can land fully or partially in view to help trigger the Bonus Wheel. Although, stacked scatters only count as one symbol, whether they are fully or partly in view. When Double Up is active, free spins have a hit frequency of 1 in 115, compared to 1 in 200 with the Double Up off. The regular hit rate also changes from 32.2% with Double Up switched off to 30.3% when it's switched on.

Bonus Wheel Feature

Landing 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols awards players with 1, 2, or 3 spins of the Bonus Wheel. On each spin of the wheel, players may win – the Mini, Major, or Grand prize worth 50x, 100x, or 1,000x the bet, or 8, 10, 12, or 15 free spins.

Free Spins

Free spins can only be won from the Bonus Wheel. While free spins are in play, the top-paying bison symbols may land either singly or stacked. In addition, when wild symbols hit, they can randomly be x2 or x3 wild multipliers, multiplying any wins they are part of – only 1 wild may land per reel (on reels 2, 3, or 4). When more than 1 wild multiplier is part of a win, the values are multiplied up to x27. Lastly, players collect an extra 5, 8, 15, or 20 free spins should 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols hit.

Bison Valley: Slot Verdict

You don't need us to say there are a ton of bison-themed slots already stampeding through the marketplace. Like jokers or fruit, they're one topic beloved by software providers and regularly return to the reels. No complaints about this situation btw, simply pointing out the obvious, as bison have been put to top use in slots like Bison Battle, Bison Blocks, Buffalo Toro, and Buffalo Stack 'n' Sync. Ergo, Bison Valley is unlikely to be the last time we're going to see the beasts in action. As such, players with a soft spot for the enormous animals are spoiled for choice when the desire to engage in a spot of online gambling alongside one or more of these majestic creatures comes on.

So why pick Bison Valley then over the rest of the buffalo slot herd? Here's where things got interesting because it was tricky to pinpoint Bison Valley's exact purpose due to its rather generic nature. It's kind of retro in appearance, so it might cater to players who like their slots looking somewhat aged. Yet, in other ways, Bison Valley feels bang up to date as well. Not exactly cutting edge, but it possesses a fair few features, plus betting options, and uses a ways to win pay system rather than winning lines. In other words, Bison Valley is a little bit modern, a little bit old, like a funky retro living room chair made of wood and orange padding that manages to evoke both the future and the 1960s at the same time. Bison Valley's winning potential should find fairly universal appeal, as the 5,998x the bet figure is neither tight nor desperately out of reach.

With that, another buffalo-themed slot joins the herd. While far from being the runt, Bison Valley is unlikely to become the alpha of the group either, and possibly easy to overlook with so much buffalo-infused competition wandering the gambling plains.