3 Buzzing Wilds

Theme and Design

I like the general vibe of this game - full of cute, happy bees, the kind you find in NetEnts' Bee Hive Bonanza and who wouldn't look out of place in a classic Disney film. It is an enchanting game, and if you want bright, immersive visuals and a calming, pastoral atmosphere then you'll love it. The setting is a sun-dappled meadow with bright flowers, butterflies fluttering and sunbeams bursting through trees. Whilst the character symbols, except the frowning ladybird, are all smiling and animate in cute ways when they land as part of a win. And to round things off, in the background a pleasant little soundtrack ticks along.

Of course, don’t forget though that despite its pleasant exterior, 3 Buzzing Wilds is a ruthless, high variance game!

RTP and Variance

3 Buzzing Wilds has 3 available RTP settings – 96.03%, 95.01% or 94.05%. Which you play at is at the discretion of your casino. We verified the RTP at five popular slot sites to find out which they were using. This is what we found:

• Casumo (independent): 94.05%
• Barz Casino (White Hat Gaming): 94.05%
• Vegasland (Aspire Global): 96.05%
• MrQ (Independent): 96.03%
• Duelz Casino (SuprPlay): 94.05%

Our own research shows that the best slot sites to play 3 Buzzing Wilds at for optimum RTP are therfore MrQ or Vegasland. We recommend that you play there this game there if RTP is an important stat for you.

This is also a highly volatile game rated 5/5 on Pragmatic Play’s own scale and giving it a similar maths model to other games from this provider like Wisdom of Athena or Smugglers Cove.

Maximum Win

The maximum payout in 3 Buzzing Wilds is just 5,000x. This is not unusual for Pragmatic Play who regularly release high variance games with a 5,000x cap, like the recent Hellvis Wild. However, if you are looking for more potential reward you could try Spellbinding Mystery with a top payout of 10,000x, or Eye of the Storm, also capped at 10,000x.

Symbols and Paytable

3 Buzzing Wilds is a 5 reel and 4 row slot with 20 active paylines on each spin. Wins are triggered by landing 3 or more identical symbols on the reels from left to right.

The paytable shows 8 standard pay symbols with small payouts at the low end rising up to some very tasty numbers at the top of the premiums, and useful pay outs for Wilds and Scatters too.

Low payers are the Jack to Ace, starting at 0.25x for 3 Jacks on a line, up to 5x for 5 Aces on a line. Premiums are the insects – butterfly, caterpillar, ladybird and bee. These are valued at from 1.5x for 3 butterflies up to 50x for 5 bees.

There is a Wild too which substitutes for other symbols to complete winlines and pays out 5x, 10x and 15x for 3, 4 or 5 on a line. And a bee hive scatter which is required to a unlock the free spins rounds and also pays out 2x, 10x and 50x for 3, 4 or 5 on a line.

Features and Gameplay

If you enjoy a slot with lots of wild features, you will love 3 Buzzing Wilds.

Remember, wilds substitute for other symbols to complete winlines so these specials can be a powerful way to enhance your wins, particularly when 2, 3 or more drop on one spin. In this instance they appear at random in the base game, then become sticky in each of the 3 free spins rounds.

3 Special Wilds - Random, Expanding and Surrounding

These are the 3 types of Wild to look out for.

Random Wilds are simply added at random to the reels at any point in the base game. There is nothing in the rules to say how many can be added but I've never seen more than 5 on one spin. But you may get lucky and get 5 or 6.

Expanding Wilds are standard wilds that expand to full reel height at random in the base game to trigger wins. These are particularly useful in my experience, especially when 2 or 3 land at once, though that is rare. By covering a full reel there is significant chance that the wild will complete a line for you.

When a Surrounding Wild lands (distinguished by the bee character displayed across it), all positions around it on the reels will transform into wilds too. This is my favourite of the lot because it can add up to EIGHT wilds if it lands on one of the middle reels - that is MASSIVE!

Check out this screenshot from testing showing 8 'Surrounding' wilds added to the reels.

3 Free Spins Options – Choose Your Wild!

What I love about this game is that the free spins round allows you to choose the game configuration for your spins, each configuration utilising one of the above wild options. So, think about which suits your style before you pick. The key in each instance is that the Wilds now stick for the round.

You’ll need at least 3 scatters to land at once to trigger the round.

Random Wilds Option – you get 10 spins with random wilds added on EVERY spin. Remember, this time, they stick to the end of the round. 

Expanding Wilds Option – you get 8 spins in which any wild to land expands to full reel height and sticks to the end of the round. This option sounds good because it means you can potentially get fully wild reels!

Surrounding Wilds Option – you get 6 spins in which surrounding wilds that land trigger all adjacent positions to transform into wilds and remain wild for the remainder of the round. Again, this option could bring many wilds into play by the 6th and final spin.

One disappointing part of the game is that there is NO chance to re-trigger free spins in 3 Buzzing Wilds. Still, you can't have everything!