In January of 2023, Northern Lights Gaming debuted Bison Moon, a video slot game designed for use in Microgaming’s online casinos.
Spin the animal-filled reels of this Wild Life-themed slot machine for a chance for up to 12,500x your bet thanks to the game’s Link&WinTM feature when you get six or more moon symbols.
Style of Slots
The gameboard for Bison Moon is a typical 53, with 25 fixed paylines and 5 reels.
The base RTP for this slot is 96.08%, but with the WinBoosterTM activated, it increases to 96.33% at HIGH variance.
The lowest wager per spin begins at $0.10, and the highest bet per spin reaches $20.00; with WinBoosterTM activated, these numbers increase by 2.5x, to $0.25 and $50.00, respectively.
The player may select a bet with a single click thanks to the fantastic bet menu, which also includes minimum and maximum bet options.
The Autoplay menu lets us pick from 10 automatic spins all the way up to 100, and activating the option is as simple as pressing the spin button next to the selected amount of automatic spins.
The game board and user interface are well-designed, and the interface features a rapid spin button and a sound button, but there are no toggles to switch the music on or off.
Slot Functions
The Bison acts as the game’s Wild, replacing all other symbols (except from the Moon scatters and Link&Win symbols).
The slot’s maximum payout is 12,500 times your wager if you hit the maximum combination of 15 wilds or 5 complete bison.
If you land six or more red moons, the game’s Link&WinTM function will activate. The triggering symbols and their associated monetary values are frozen in place, and the player is given three respins. If a new symbol with a cash reward or jackpot appears during the respins, the number of respins will return to 3.
The big prize of 5,000x is awarded if a player successfully completes all 15 places. From an initial investment of 8, we netted an additional 2, yielding a 76.5-fold return. In our experience, it is quite uncommon to get any more symbols throughout the three respins if this feature is triggered with several 20x cash rewards.
If you get the blue moon with the Free Spins logo on it (the scatter), you’ll win 10 free games. In the bonus round, the middle three reels stack to become a huge, three-by-three symbol. The Link&WinTM sign counts as 9 symbols, and landing a scatter within that area triggers 10 free games.
Free spins only appear to be triggered once in a blue moon on this slot machine. Unfortunately, the monetary value of our Link&WinTM symbol was just 3x. The Link&WinTM function alone accounted for 33 times our payoff.
When activated, the WinBoosterTM feature increases the chances of triggering the Link&WinTM feature by adding more Link&Win symbols to the reels. It has no effect on the payouts for either the lines or the Link&Win symbols. The wager is doubled and then doubled again.
The boost in the feature’s trigger rate is evident, but we don’t think it’s worth it, especially on a very volatile slot machine, because the payouts are still based on the standard total bet, not the 2.5x cost.
Verdict
The two primary features of Bison Moon are the Link&WinTM scatter feature and the free spins with a 3×3 gigantic symbol.
It took us over 700 spins and several hours of play time, but the Link&Win feature eventually paid off when we won 10 free games.
In general, the slot has a lot to offer, such as the WinBoosterTM, which multiplies your wager by 2.5x but raises your odds of triggering the Link&WinTM feature.
With a maximum payout of 12,500x, this slot machine is worth a try, and you can find it right now at one of the best online casinos, Yukon Gold.