5 Wild Buffalo 3 — Bonus Features
Buffalo Thunder, the five Fortune Prizes, multiplied Wilds in Free Spins — trigger by trigger, here's what each mechanic actually does.
How Each Feature Pays
Trigger conditions, multiplier ceilings, and where each mechanic is worth the stake. Never spun the reels before? The 5 Wild Buffalo 3 how-to-play guide starts one step earlier.
Buffalo Thunder Stacks
How to Trigger
Four Buffalo symbols fill a single reel top to bottom, covering all four visible positions on it.
What Happens
The four Buffalo weld into one four-high symbol that occupies the whole reel, and that merged symbol takes a random multiplier. Every winning way passing through the reel is multiplied by it. Two Thunder Stacks on neighbouring reels don’t add — they multiply, so a 5x beside an 8x turns any win crossing both reels into a 40x win. Inside Free Spins the Double Buffalo symbol counts as two Buffalo from one position, which means a reel only needs three symbols plus a Double Buffalo to complete a stack.
Multipliers
Base game stack: 5x to 10x. Free Spins stack, with Double Buffalo in play: up to 20x. Adjacent stacks compound multiplicatively rather than additively.
Variants
Same mechanic in base play and Free Spins, with the higher multiplier ceiling reserved for the bonus round. Stack position is down to the reels — there is nothing to choose. A 100x bet buys a spin with a stack guaranteed.
Strategy
This is the mechanic worth watching the reels for, because you can see it building: three Buffalo on a reel and the fourth position still spinning. Buying a guaranteed stack at 100x costs more than the Free Spins buy at 50x, and it buys one spin rather than a whole round — weigh that before you tap it.
| Trigger | Full four-symbol Buffalo reel |
| Base multiplier | 5x–10x per stack |
| Free Spins multiplier | Up to 20x |
| Adjacent stacks | Multiply together |
| Guaranteed buy | 100x bet |
Boosting Fortunes
How to Trigger
Diamond symbols land attached to regular symbols on the reels. Each Diamond either boosts a Fortune Prize or sets off the Fortune Bonus.
What Happens
Five Fortune Prizes sit in a row above the grid — Mini, Midi, Super, Mega and Ultra. A Diamond that lands lifts the value of one of them. Diamonds can also launch the Fortune Bonus instead: a pick round where you turn tokens over until three of a kind show, and the prize those tokens name is paid at whatever value it has climbed to. Because each tier moves on its own, Mini and Midi turn over regularly while Super, Mega and Ultra sit at the top of the ladder building slowly.
Multipliers
Mini: 8x–25x the bet. Midi: 12x–75x. Super: 100x–500x. Mega: 300x–1,500x. Ultra: 1,000x–5,000x. Each prize climbs from its floor towards its ceiling as Diamonds land.
Variants
All five tiers track at once and independently. The prize values shown are live — what you see above the reels is what the Fortune Bonus would pay if it fired on that tier.
Strategy
Boosting Fortunes is the reason the base game doesn’t feel dead between Free Spins rounds — the meters give you something that visibly moves. Read the values before you start: a Super or Mega already well up its range is stored return sitting there. It does not, however, make the next spin any more likely to trigger the Fortune Bonus.
| Mini | 8x–25x |
| Midi | 12x–75x |
| Super | 100x–500x |
| Mega | 300x–1,500x |
| Ultra | 1,000x–5,000x |
Wild Multiplier Free Spins
How to Trigger
Three, four or five Bonus scatters — the buffalo skull — anywhere on the 5×4 grid, paying 8, 15 or 25 free spins.
What Happens
The round runs on the same 1,024 ways as base play, with two changes that matter. Wilds land carrying random multipliers up to 12x instead of substituting flat. And the Double Buffalo symbol enters the reel set, counting as two Buffalo in one position — so Thunder Stacks form more readily and carry up to 20x here rather than 10x. Wild and stack multipliers apply together on the same way, which is the only route to the 10,000x ceiling. Further scatters during the round add extra spins.
Multipliers
Wild multipliers: up to 12x. Thunder Stack multiplier in Free Spins: up to 20x. Both apply to the same winning way when they line up, on top of the symbol value.
Variants
No selectable modes — the only variable is how many scatters opened the round, which sets 8, 15 or 25 spins. A 50x bet purchase opens the round without waiting for scatters.
Strategy
Getting five scatters for 25 spins is worth far more than the extra scatter count suggests, because every additional spin is another shot at a multiplied Wild crossing a stack. Set your bet so the round is worth having before you chase it: a 25-spin run on a stake you had to stretch for is a bad trade.
| Trigger | 3 / 4 / 5 Bonus scatters |
| Spins awarded | 8 / 15 / 25 |
| Wild multiplier | Up to 12x |
| Double Buffalo | Counts as two Buffalo |
| Buy cost | 50x bet |
Feature Buy Options
How to Trigger
Bought from the base game menu, where your jurisdiction permits feature purchases.
What Happens
Two separate products, not two tiers of the same thing. The 50x purchase opens the Free Spins round — multiplied Wilds, Double Buffalo, the higher stack ceiling, the lot. The 100x purchase buys a single spin with a Buffalo Thunder stack guaranteed to land on it, which is a base-game spin with one certainty attached rather than an entry into the bonus.
Multipliers
What you buy is access, not a better multiplier. Wild and stack values inside a purchased Free Spins round come from the same ranges as a naturally triggered one.
Variants
Free Spins buy: 50x bet. Guaranteed Buffalo Thunder spin: 100x bet. Availability depends on your regulator — several markets ban feature purchases outright.
Strategy
The 50x Free Spins buy is the one that buys a round; the 100x Thunder buy is the one that buys a moment. Neither changes the maths. What they change is pacing: 50 or 100 spins of stake committed in a single click, so size them against the bankroll you brought rather than against how long you’ve been waiting.
| Free Spins buy | 50x bet |
| Buffalo Thunder buy | 100x bet |
| What 50x gives | Full Free Spins round |
| What 100x gives | One spin, stack guaranteed |
| Availability | Jurisdiction-dependent |
Buy Feature Options
Two purchases, two different things. One opens the bonus round; the other guarantees a single spin. Both are switched off in markets that ban feature buys.
| Option | Cost | What It Buys | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Spins Buy | 50x bet | Opens the Free Spins round — multiplied Wilds, Double Buffalo, stacks up to 20x. | High |
| Buffalo Thunder Buy | 100x bet | One base-game spin with a Buffalo Thunder stack guaranteed to land. | High |
Watch a Stack Fuse in Demo
Four Buffalo welding into one is easier to understand once you have seen it happen. Play money, no registration.
Play Free Demo