Bison Valley Slot Review

Bison Valley Slot Overview

Bison Valley is a video slot from iSoftBet with 5 reels, 4 rows, and 1,024 ways to win set out on the mighty bison fields. It is basically a straight up remake of Golden Buffalo Double Up, but the visuals have been somewhat modernised and the Morricone-inspired soundtrack is decent. Out on the harsh valley I see golden bison and other wild animals lining up for stacked wins and multipliers.

Everything revolves around triggering the Bonus Wheel, which is your only entry into the Free Spins round and the jackpots. The wheel can award 8, 10, 12, or 15 free spins or Mini, Major, or Grand prizes of 50x, 100x, or 1,000x the stake, and with multiplier wilds you can hit up to 5,998x your stake. The volatility is mid-high, and the hit frequency of 32.2% means about every third spin is a win.

Bison Valley Slot Information

Bison Valley takes place outdoors in a pretty harsh environment, with two big rocks framing the white reels and a bison standing to the left while fog drifts in from the right. You play on 5 reels and 4 rows with 1,024 ways to win, landing at least 3 of the same symbols on adjacent reels starting from the first reel. The game runs well on mobile phones and other digital devices.

The lower-paying symbols are the very common 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A, paying between 5x and 7x the bet for a 5-of-a-kind win. Higher-paying symbols are squirrel, bird, armadillo, fox, and golden bison, which award between 7.5x and 15x for 5 of a kind. The Wild Symbol substitutes all regular paying symbols but not the Scatter, and only appears on the three middle reels.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	5	x15
	4	x12.5
	3	x10
	5	x12.5
	4	x10
	3	x4
	5	x12.5
	4	x10
	3	x4
	5	x7.5
	4	x5
	3	x2
	5	x7.5
	4	x5
	3	x2
	5	x7
	4	x3
	3	x0.5
	5	x7
	4	x3
	3	x0.5
	5	x6
	4	x2
	3	x0.25
	5	x6
	4	x2
	3	x0.25
	5	x5
	4	x1
	3	x0.25
	5	x5
	4	x1
	3	x0.25
	Scatter
	Wild

Bison Valley Slot Features

The Double Up feature is a side bet you can turn on before a spin, and it doubles your bet while increasing the chance of triggering the Bonus Wheel. Using Double Up raises the bonus wheel frequency from about 1 in 200 spins to around 1 in 115 spins, and it also doubles the size of all Scatter Symbols so they appear two rows high. Each scatter counts as one symbol whether it lands partially or fully in view.

Landing 3, 4 or 5 Scatter Symbols awards 1, 2 or 3 spins on the Bonus Wheel feature, and this wheel decides whether you go into Free Spins or take a cash prize instead. Each spin can give 8, 10, 12, or 15 free spins, or Mini, Major, or Grand jackpots worth 50x, 100x, or 1,000x the bet. With the Double Up ante bet active, I see the wheel triggering regularly enough to stay engaged.

There is also a Bonus Buy option priced at 100x the bet, which takes you straight to the Bonus Wheel without waiting for scatters. From there you still rely on the wheel outcome, so you may end up with free spins or only a fixed cash prize. I find the bonus wheel jackpots not all that exciting on their own, but they add a bit of extra spice on top of regular wins.

Wild Symbol in Bison Valley

The Wild Symbol in Bison Valley appears only on reels 2, 3, and 4, and only one wild can land per reel. In the base game it substitutes all regular paying symbols to help complete and improve winning combinations, but it has no direct payout of its own. I like how the wilds work together with the 1,024 ways system, since even single wilds often turn near-misses into solid hits.

Free Spins in Bison Valley

You gain access to the Free Spins through the Bonus Wheel, starting with the number of spins awarded there, between 8 and 15. During the feature the top-paying golden bison can appear both in regular form and stacked, giving a shot at some chunky 5-of-a-kind hits. Wilds can land with random multipliers of 2x or 3x, and when more than one wild is involved the values are multiplied together.

This means that a multiplier up to 27x is possible on a single win, and with stacked golden bison the payouts start to look serious. During Free Spins, landing 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards an extra 5, 8, 15, or 20 spins respectively, so the bonus can rumble on for quite a while. When everything lines up, the game can reach that advertised max win of 5,998x the bet.

Bison Valley Slot Review Summary

Bison Valley sits in a very crowded North American animal and bison genre, and I have seen better visuals and more inventive mechanics than this half-hearted attempt at a remake. The Morricone-inspired soundtrack is decent at least, but the retro charm of the first game arguably suited the theme better, and adjustable RTP ranges can be a concern. Still, with Double Up, multiplier wilds and a 5,998x potential, the hit rate and flow feel decent for solid session play.

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