Buggin Slot

Beyond the world that we humans have created, there is another realm, another place that inhabits creatures and insects and often goes unseen. Well, not anymore. With the new game by ELK Studios, we get to pry into their private lives and see how nature uses our world as their world. The nerve. 

This game is called Buggin, and yes, I will be reviewing it and presenting the gaming performance, software details, bonus features, and what can potentially be won. Not only will this review cover all gaming information, but a free Buggin demo is embedded for you to access on any mobile device. You can play the free game before deciding on whether to play Buggin as a real money slot or not. 

If it is the case that you want to try your luck on the real game, then Casinos.com will help you find the best casinos online that serve ELK Studio slot games. 

As you may have deduced, Buggin is a creature-themed game, and it all takes place in some rich person's private estate garden. The slot layout is a gigantic 7x7 grid framed by brass with 5 ‘W’ (Wild) symbols across the top of the reels. Each one of these represents a different Wild power and will feature in play should they land. One or more of the Wilds are locked, and it’s a task to unlock them during the game.

The bug symbols that feature in the game include the high-scoring ladybird, the snail, the ant, and the cricket. These can appear as larger 2x2 symbols. The lower-scoring symbols are the toadstool, raspberry, blueberry, and leaf.

This game is one of the Cluster Pays slots, so it will feature cascading symbols that drop into the slot. Wins are made when you match 5 symbols or more in a cluster. There are no paylines, so these clusters can appear anywhere on the grid. Symbols just have to be next to each other without spaces between them.

Between the reels and the 5 Wilds, there is a power bar, which increases with each win that is formed. 

When you open the game, you first want to set the cost per spin. Buggin comes with a default price that is $1 per spin. If you press on the stacked coin icon, you can adjust the value by selecting prices that start at $0.20 per spin and climb up to $100. 

Once you have the price to suit your budget, press the spin button and watch the symbols change on the slot. There is an option to play in auto mode, which is marked ‘auto’ on the game. With this, you can choose to play either 10, 25, 50, or 100 auto spins. 

When you land a win, the symbols then explode and vanish from the screen. This then activates the power bar and gives it a boost. Now, wins produce new symbols that fall into the spaces left by the previous winning symbols. As new symbols enter into the game, it can cause a chain reaction of further wins, all without having to ‘spin the reels’. The more wins you land consecutively, the more the powerbar becomes full. 

When the power bar is full, you will trigger the Wild features that are above the power bar. The Wilds will enter into the game, and their powers will have influence over symbols and spins because you will have triggered the free spins bonus round.

Buggin has many features. First, every win made generates a Wild symbol in the game. They will merge to form a Multiplier Wild when there is more than one. 

The special Wilds that feature that are unlocked by the Powerbar are as follows:

Big Wild: This wild symbol expands into a 2x2 or 3x3 wild symbol.

Multiplying Wild: This wild symbol adds a +2 value to all wilds that didn’t form any win.

Random Wild: This wild can swap between 2 and 4 normal symbols into wilds.

Removing Wild: This wild removes all the lower-valued symbols from the slot.

Upgrading Wild: This wild will upgrade the values of all paying symbols on the slot.

During play, there is also something called Wild Redrops, which can unlock prefilled special Wilds and drop them into play. But this is not all. Buggin does come with a Bonus Game.

The Bonus Game is played with alternative symbols. You will see this with crowned ‘B’ symbols. If you land 3 of these, you will win 7 free spins, or free drops in this case. The free drops you get can be retriggered and involves Sticky Wilds. Sticky Wilds remain in the same place throughout all free drops.

Wait… there is more.

Buggin comes with a Super Bonus Game, and this is triggered by landing a mix of 3 ‘B’ and ‘S’ symbols. There must be at least 1 ‘S’ symbol, which then rewards you with 7 free drops. These can also be retriggered, and what makes this round ‘super’ is the round of play starts with several prefilled feature Wilds. 

Now, all this can be enjoyed without having to play the main game. ELK Studios has its version of a Bonus Buy feature called the X-iter. For a high cost, you can skip the main game and go into one of 5 bonus feature games. You have the Super Bonus and Bonus Game, and you can play with 4 Wild Features, 2 Wild Features, or you can play Bonus Hunt. 

The theme of games like this isn’t something I would normally pick out of a casino to play. However, ELK Studios has a knack for being good, so I wasn’t entirely put off by the idea. 

I approached the Buggin slot through its demo mode and played at $1 per spin or drop. Now, after my third spin/drop, I hit a win, and then it all went crazy. My win triggered loads of consecutive wins, and the next thing I knew, I had won 7 free drops. This all played out, and again, I’m hitting Wilds with no idea what is going on. I hit Multiplier Wilds and Removing Wilds, and it felt never-ending. It was win after win. In the end, I won $29.06 and thought it best to read through the gaming information to understand what just happened. Yes, I do play the game, then learn about it, and then write the review. 

With an understanding of what features mean and knowing that Buggin was laced with so many features, I went back in. I upped my cost per spin to $2 and played 50 auto spins. What I did notice was that there were suddenly more of the larger 2x2 symbols dropping, perhaps an effect of the price increase. Anyway, despite the changes I made, I broke even. The game was still hectic and crazy, so I let it do its own thing, which is still highly entertaining. 

Buggin by ELK comes with a Return to Player rating of 94%.  The volatility to which this game is programmed comes in at medium volatility. The maximum that can be won by playing this game is $1,000,000.  This requires you to spin the game at a cost of $100 per play. This is because the maximum return on a win is 10,000 times what you wager per spin.

I didn’t think I’d like it, but I do. This game is packed with Wilds, and this leads to wild opportunities. It’s fun, entertaining, and crazy, and as long as that balance keeps climbing, I don’t mind the fact that it is not my style of game. I’m also not a huge fan of cascading slots, so by my liking, this one says a lot. 

If you want to try other slot games online that come with the same dynamics as Buggin, then I recommend you play John Hunter and the Quest for the Bermuda Riches by Pragmatic Play and the slot Gemix 2 by Play’n GO.