Buggin Slot

Buggin Slot RTP, Details & Wager Limits

The Buggin slot is played on a 7×7 grid and uses the cluster pays mechanic. Wins are paid for any cluster of 5 or more matching symbols connected horizontally or vertically. Winning clusters explode and are removed from the reels, and the progress meter is advanced. This process will continue until no new winning clusters are formed.

If any Wilds are part of a winning cluster, they will merge into 1 Wild with a multiplier that is the sum of the multiplier values of all merged Wilds. If there’s no Wild in a cluster win, a Wild symbol with the default multiplier value of 1x will be spawned. A Wild symbol can be part of several win clusters and thus added to several Wild mergers.

Stakes range from just 20p up to £100 per spin, thus catering to all bankrolls. Like all ELK Studios slots, simply hit the coins icon to adjust your total bet. You will have 12 predefined bet values to pick from.

The Buggin RTP is 94%, which is well below the industry average but a typical figure from this provider. Volatility is in the medium range (7/10), which helps cushion the blow of the low RTP rate a little. The hit frequency is 35%, which is generous compared to a lot of other slots on the market.

The maximum win is 10,000 x bet. This is best achieved in the Super Bonus game, but it can be won at any point in the game. Always remember, though, that it’s incredibly rare to land the top prize, so expect lower wins more often than not here.

Theme: botanical beauty

This bug-themed slot looks great. The reels are set in a lovely botanical garden, with birds chirping in the background as you spin away. The colours are bold both on the grid and around it. Although the background visuals look fairly basic, it’s a very pleasant experience overall.

It’s hard to know what audio would fit well with a theme like this, but the soundtrack chosen does the game justice. It’s a calm beat, albeit a little repetitive. The sounds as winners and Wilds land on the reels have been nicely thought out too and add to the overall experience. Land some free spins and the audio ramps up to be more jazz-like and day turns to night in the botanical garden in the background.

On the reels, the lower-paying symbols are made up of leaves, blueberries, raspberries and mushrooms. The higher-paying symbols are different types of bugs – crickets, ants, snails and ladybirds. The ladybird symbol is the most lucrative, paying 1 to 100 x stake for 5 to 12+ in a cluster. The higher-paying symbols pay considerably more here compared to the lower-paying ones. There’s never too much of a gap between them in many other slots, but here the gap is quite considerable.

The regular Wild in the game is a red W, which substitutes for all paying symbols. There are also 5 more Feature Wilds, which will be explained a little further down in the review.

Symbol	Payouts/Info
Leaf	5 to 12+ = 0.1 to 1.5 x stake
Blueberry	5 to 12+ = 0.15 to 2 x stake
Raspberry	5 to 12+ = 0.2 to 2.5 x stake
Mushroom	5 to 12+ = 0.25 to 3 x stake
Cricket	5 to 12+ = 0.3 to 20 x stake
Ant	5 to 12+ = 0.4 to 25 x stake
Snail	5 to 12+ = 0.5 to 50 x stake
Ladybird	5 to 12+ = 1 to 100 x stake
Bonus	3 in view triggers Free Drops feature
Super Bonus	1 plus 2 Bonus symbols award Super Bonus feature
Wild	Substitutes for any paying symbol + can have multipliers

Buggin Mobile

The Buggin mobile slot runs on the latest HTML5 technology and is designed to work flawlessly on all devices. As such, you can enjoy this game on iOS and Android smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs. Whilst we typically recommend playing grid slots with larger layouts on PCs or laptops, the bold colours in this release mean it still looks great on a smaller screen.

Buggin Bonus Features

There are 11 bonus features to enjoy in the Buggin slot game. From free drops and multipliers to a ton of Wild features, there’s a lot going on. Let’s run you through everything, starting with the big symbols.

Big Symbols

Any paying symbol can appear as a 2×2 or 3×3 big symbol. So, for example, if a big 2×2 symbol lands, it will pay as 4 normal symbols. A 3×3 symbol is 9 regular symbols.

Feature Wilds & Progress Bar

As you’ll see from the screenshots above and below, there is a progress bar above the grid. Winning symbols will help move the progress bar along. When it’s full, a random Feature Wild is collected on the leftmost empty position in the Wild Inventory, The meter is then reset. When there are no more wins, the collected Feature Wilds are released onto the grid. If that Feature Wild is part of a win, it will perform its modifier as well as stay as a Wild. Here’s what each Feature Wild can do:

Symbol	Info
Big Wild	Expands a paying symbol into a 2x2 or 3x3 big symbol.
Multiplying Wild	Adds its multiplier value to all Wilds not part of a win.
Random Wild	Replaces 2-4 paying symbols with regular Wilds.
Removing Wild	Removes all instances of the lowest value paying symbol from the grid.
Upgrading Wild	Upgrades all instances of a paying symbol type.

Wild Redrops

On each drop, there is a Wild Redrop target shown with a lock on one of the Feature Wild slots in the Wild Inventory. Collecting Feature Wilds up to the target will award a Wild Redrop with the amount of Feature Wilds. If you collect additional Feature Wilds, it will add to the number of Feature Wilds in the Wild Redrop.

The Wild Redrop runs when no more wins occur. Regular Wilds remain sticky on the grid and the collected Feature Wilds will be prefilled and released.

Free Drops feature

Land 3 Bonus symbols in the base game to trigger this feature. You will start with 7 free spins (or free drops as ELK calls them). If you manage to land 2 Bonus symbols and a Super Bonus symbol, that will trigger this bonus feature with 7 super free spins.

Regular Wilds are sticky here, and at the start of any super free spins, all Feature Wilds in the Wild Inventory are locked. When they’re collected for the very first time, that’s what they are unlocked. The next free spins will start with a prefill and release the unlocked Feature Wilds.

X-iter feature

For non-UK players, there is an optional X-iter feature. This allows you to buy different game modes. The 5 options range from 3 x bet per spin up to 500 x your total bet:

Buggin Verdict: another good cluster pays release

3.8/5

Based on our expert’s review. Reviewed by Martin Backhouse

Martin Backhouse

Play Buggin

Buggin Slot

While the low RTP rate of 94% might put some players off, ELK makes up for that with a medium variance game that boasts a 35% hit frequency and some fantastic bonus features. It might look confusing at first, but give it some time at enjoy the rewards on offer.

Pros

• Unlimited free drops
• Medium variance
• Great bonus features

Cons

• 94% RTP rate
• Gameplay not easy to grasp at first

Before I loaded the slot, Dane Bowers’s Buggin song from 2000 popped into my head and I was wondering if that might feature somewhere in the game. I was disappointed obviously. This is about literal bugs of course. The visuals are nice and the gameplay is great. A little confusing at first while you figure out what’s going on, but good once you get the hang of it. If you read our review above, you’ll get to grips with it in no time.

I’m not a fan of the 94% RTP rate as it’s really low compared to a lot of other slots on the market. Take a couple of similar bug-like games as an example. Forest Fortune from Hacksaw and Pragmatic’s 3 Buzzing Wilds both come with RTP rates of 96.31% and 96.03% respectively.

But when you look at the positives – 10,000 x bet max wins, medium volatility, a 35% hit frequency and plenty of bonus features – the low RTP rate is soon forgotten. When testing, I enjoyed plenty of free spins, which was great to see. The key to bigger wins is plenty of cluster wins and Feature Wilds. When the clusters flow, it does make for some exciting gameplay, which some standard video slots just can’t compete with. The merging Wilds is a great feature too and reminded me of ELK’s Propaganda slot.

Overall, while the RTP rate is low, there are so many good things about this slot. It’s why I’ve given it a 3.8/5. It’s not one of the greats, but it’s certainly able to compete with the better releases. Check out our free demo and decide for yourself.