Verdict: The better of the two WMS buffalo games for most players: the 1,024-ways grid and combining 2x/3x wilds give the free spins real range, and the medium volatility rating keeps the base game from going quiet for long.
From 30 lines to 1,024 ways
WMS released the original Buffalo Spirit as a 30-line game on a 5x3 grid. For the sequel it added a row and dropped the lines. Double Buffalo Spirit runs five reels of four symbols with 1,024 ways to win, so any matching symbols on adjacent reels from the left count, wherever they sit in the column.
The format change brought the game into line with the genre leader. Aristocrat’s Buffalo has used 1,024 ways on a 5x4 grid since 2008, and most floor players had already learned to read that layout. A ways grid produces more small wins per spin than a lines game, and those wins arrive in clusters when a premium symbol stacks up on the first few reels.
The base game is plainer than the original’s. Buffalo Spirit had its Replicating Wild, a centre-reel buffalo that copied wilds onto the other reels; no source describes an equivalent in Double Buffalo Spirit. The wild here substitutes and does nothing else until the free spins start. That is a real trade: the sequel gives up the original’s best base-game moment to make the bonus round stronger.
The free spins carry the game
Three scatters award 8 free spins, four award 15 and five award 20. Those are the same counts Aristocrat uses in Buffalo, which may not be a coincidence in a genre that copies what works.
What changes in the round is the wild. Every wild becomes a 2x or a 3x multiplier, and when two or more of them sit in one winning combination their values combine. Aboutslots describes the mechanic this way. On a 1,024-ways grid a single wild can be part of many winning ways at once, so a pair of 3x wilds on reels two and three can lift a whole cluster of wins on the same spin.
Scatters keep working inside the round. More of them add 5, 8, 15 or 20 extra spins, depending on how many land, and no source mentions a cap on extensions.
The 2x-or-3x free-spin wild is probably the most copied idea in buffalo slots, and the variations show where Double Buffalo Spirit sits. Pragmatic Play’s Buffalo King widens the range to x2, x3 or x5 and multiplies the values of several wilds together, which is how it reaches a theoretical top win in the tens of thousands. NetGame’s Wild Buffalo gives each free-spin wild a random 2x or 3x, much like this game. Double Buffalo Spirit stays at the conservative end of that scale. On paper its round has a much lower ceiling than Buffalo King’s, and a medium volatility rating to match.
The 10x claim
Some descriptions online say the multiplier wilds go “up to 10x”. No source supports that figure. Each wild is 2x or 3x; several in one win combine, and the combined total can exceed 3x, but nobody has published a ceiling. This page does not state one.
Two releases: the floor and the browser
Double Buffalo Spirit has a better-documented history than its predecessor. WMS showed it at G2E in September 2014 as a for-sale video game on its Blade cabinet, and trade press in January 2015 reported a launch for real-money online play as well. Review sites date the online version to 2015, with aboutslots giving November 2015. This page records 2014, the cabinet’s debut.
WMS itself has changed names twice since. It became part of Scientific Games in 2013, and Scientific Games renamed itself Light & Wonder in 2022. The game sits in the Light & Wonder catalogue today, alongside the original, on the Light & Wonder provider page.
On a casino floor the return to player is set by the casino from the options WMS offered, so there is no single land RTP to quote. The cabinet’s bet levels and denominations vary by venue in the same way.
Online numbers
For the online version, VegasSlotsOnline and casinolistings list an RTP of 95.96%, and aboutslots rounds it to 96%. That is almost identical to the 95.97% reviewers give the original. Aboutslots rates the volatility as medium, the only volatility label available; WMS publishes none.
The maximum win is not settled. Aboutslots quotes 2,500x, while VegasSlotsOnline mentions only 2,000-coin instant wins, a figure that cannot be turned into a stake multiple. This page leaves the field blank.
Bet ranges are no better. VegasSlotsOnline lists 0.40 to 100 coins, with coin multipliers from 10 to 150, and aboutslots gives 0.04 to 10. Two sources, two scales, and neither from the provider. The bet panel inside the game is the figure to trust. There is no progressive jackpot in any version described, and no feature buy.
How it compares, and where it stands in the US
Against its own predecessor, Double Buffalo Spirit is the more complete game: a bigger grid, a free spins round with multipliers that can stack up, and the same steady RTP. The original keeps one advantage, the base-game Replicating Wild, and the Buffalo Spirit vs Double Buffalo Spirit comparison works through who should pick which.
Against Aristocrat’s Buffalo the resemblance is close. Both use 1,024 ways on 5x4, both award 8, 15 or 20 free spins, and both give their free-spin wilds 2x or 3x multipliers that combine. Double Buffalo Spirit adds larger retrigger awards; Buffalo has the brand recognition and a confirmed online release in New Jersey.
That last point decides it for US players. Double Buffalo Spirit is not confirmed at any regulated US online casino, and the 2015 real-money launch announcement named no state. Players who want this style of game for real money will find Aristocrat’s Buffalo at licensed New Jersey casinos, listed on the New Jersey page.
Where to play Double Buffalo Spirit for real money
Double Buffalo Spirit is not confirmed at a US-licensed online casino by title. WMS's 2015 real-money launch named no US state; for the same free-games style, Aristocrat's Buffalo is live at licensed New Jersey casinos.
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