Buffalo Gold vs Buffalo Gold Revolution: Which One to Play

Same collection, new front door

Buffalo Gold gave the Aristocrat line its best-known idea: gold buffalo heads collected during free games turn picture symbols into Buffalos, one upgrade for every three heads, up to 15 heads. Buffalo Gold Revolution keeps that collection exactly. In Aristocrat’s own words it is the latest instalment “extending on the popular Buffalo Gold”.

What it adds is a wheel. The Wheel Bonus can award progressive jackpots, credit prizes, Gold Buffalo symbols or free games, and the free games always start with a spin of it. So a Gold Revolution feature opens with a wheel spin that might hand out a jackpot or Gold Buffalo before the reels even move.

The second change is to the wilds. In Buffalo Gold, wilds carry 2x or 3x multipliers during free games. In Gold Revolution every wild carries a multiplier.

Which suits which player

Buffalo Gold is the better pick for a player who wants the classic collection round in its cleanest form. The free games start, the heads fall or they do not, and the round is judged on how many Buffalos it ends with.

Gold Revolution suits players who like the chance of a jackpot on top. The wheel adds a second way for a feature to pay, and the progressive prizes give the game a ceiling beyond the reels. OLG puts the reel-based maximum at “up to 1,000x your bet”, a figure that leaves the progressives out. OLG and FanDuel both describe the game as high volatility.

There is also a history point. Gold Revolution was the launch title for Aristocrat’s MarsX cabinet, which debuted in August 2019 at Graton and was shown at G2E the same year. Some review sites date the game to 2021, but the cabinet launch puts it in 2019.

Floor or online

This decides a lot. Buffalo Gold is a casino-floor cabinet, and no regulated US online casino lists it. Its RTP and bets are set by each casino, and its progressive configuration depends on how the machine is linked.

Gold Revolution exists in both forms. On the floor it runs on MarsX with a return set by the casino. Online, it is confirmed in New Jersey at FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars Palace Online. The online RTP is 95.05% at OLG and PlayAlberta. Bets run from $0.75 to $37.50 at OLG and up to $300 at FanDuel.

One detail is unsettled. OLG and PlayAlberta describe the online version as a 5x4 grid with 1,024 ways, while Caesars Palace Online describes a 6x4 grid. This page follows OLG.

The Buffalo Gold idea online

For a US player who wants the head-collecting free games online, there are three routes. Gold Revolution in New Jersey is one. Buffalo Gold Collection, a separate title, is at BetMGM in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia with a 95.5% RTP. Buffalo Gold Max Power is a third, confirmed in all four states, though it comes in two RTP versions, 94.11% at OLG and BetMGM and 95.8% at PlayAlberta, so its info screen is worth checking first.

Against the cabinet it grew from, Gold Revolution’s case is simple: the same collection, every wild a multiplier, a wheel with progressive jackpots in front of the free games, and a version a US player can open in a browser.

Buffalo Gold itself stays on casino floors. The Aristocrat provider page lists every game in the family, and the New Jersey page lists the licensed casinos for players 21 and over.