Buffalo Hold and Win Slots: Respins, Jackpots and Link Cabinets

What hold and win means

Hold and win is a bonus that runs on respins, not free spins. Land enough special symbols in one spin (six coins or bonus symbols in the two online games here, eight buffalo on Buffalo Link) and they stay in place while the rest of the grid spins again. The player gets three respins. Every new special symbol that lands locks too and resets the count to three, and the round ends when three respins pass without one, or when the grid is full.

Each locked symbol carries a value, either a cash amount or a jackpot tier, and the bonus pays their total. The tension is easy to read: every respin either adds something or brings the end closer. That clarity is the format’s main appeal, and it explains why a free spins genre like buffalo slots adopted it at all.

Two things vary from game to game. One is what happens on a full grid: Buffalo Hold and Win pays its Grand, Buffalo Power: Hold and Win doubles the total. The other is whether the jackpots are fixed multiples of the stake or progressive pools, which is the main difference between the online games and the floor cabinets.

Buffalo Power: Hold and Win

Playson’s 2020 game is a 5x3 slot with 20 fixed paylines, a stacked buffalo wild and a straightforward free spins round: scatters on reels two, three and four award eight spins, where the stacked wilds carry x2. The bonus starts with six or more Bonus or Power symbols, runs three resetting respins, and pays four fixed jackpots, listed by Slotcatalog at 20x, 50x, 150x and 500x. Fill all fifteen cells and the total doubles.

The RTP is 95.04% in every source read, and reviewers rate it medium volatility. The figures carry one caveat: Playson’s own page could not be read, so the 1,187x max win and the jackpot tiers rest on Slotcatalog alone. The sequel, Buffalo Power 2: Hold and Win (May 2023), lifts the Grand to 5,000x for six Power symbols and lists a 10,468x max win. Neither is confirmed at a regulated US casino. Buffalo Power: Hold and Win review.

Buffalo Hold and Win

Booming Games released its version in 2021, on a 5x3 grid with 25 paylines and stacks of three wilds on reels two to five. Six or more coins start the respins, the count resets on each new coin, and a full board wins the Grand. The fixed jackpots are Mini 25x, Major 100x and Grand 1,000x, and the max win is 1,200x. Three scatters on the middle reels award eight free spins with no extra modifiers. The RTP is 95.91%, which some sites round to 95.90%, and the volatility rating is high.

Booming calls this line its top-performing series, and the spin-offs show it. Buffalo Hold and Win Extreme (2024) spreads the bonus over four unlockable 3x5 grids, and later editions run up to Booming Buffalo Hold and Win Extreme 25,000, released on July 2, 2026 with a 25,000x Grand Prize. Booming Games is licensed in Ontario, but the game is not confirmed in any US state. Buffalo Hold and Win review.

The Buffalo Power vs Buffalo Hold and Win comparison puts the two online games side by side. In short, Booming’s game has the bigger top jackpot and stake range (0.25 to 250 against 0.20 to 100), and Playson’s has the extra Minor tier and the full-grid doubler.

The Link and Cash cabinets

On casino floors, Aristocrat put the buffalo onto its Lightning Link and Dragon Link Hold & Spin engine in 2021. Buffalo Link, launched on the MarsX Portrait cabinet, triggers the bonus with eight or more buffalo, starts with three respins that reset on each new buffalo, and awards cash-on-reel prizes. Twenty buffalo, a full screen, wins the Grand. Its Grand and Major are progressive, Minor and Mini fixed; on one cabinet surveyed by Wizard of Odds the Grand topped out at $20,000 and the Major at $1,000, but every casino configures its own. It also keeps the classic Buffalo free games and adds a must-hit-by feature that triggers before the collected-buffalo meter reaches 1,800.

Buffalo Cash, shown at G2E 2021, is the higher-denomination version, at 5 and 10 cents, with solo and linked progressive options. Aristocrat says its Grand “can reach” $200,000. Buffalo Ultimate Stampede, shown at G2E in 2023, turns the idea around: cash-on-reel symbols fill a meter, and in the Ultimate Stampede hold-and-spin round collected prizes unlock extra reel rows.

None of the three has an online release, and their returns are set by each casino. NetGame’s Wild Buffalo line has moved the same way online, with Rapid Link (2023) and Hold ‘N’ Link spin-offs of its 2019 original.