Blaze Buddies: Slot Overview

At first glance, software provider Backseat Gaming‘s slot Blaze Buddies might sound like a bunch of stoners crammed into a living room before settling in for video games and snacks, yet the theme is actually built around mythical beasts. Those creatures are dragons, and in this case they’re portrayed as surprisingly lovable and friendly. In that sense, Blaze Buddies gave off a similar vibe to the former Microgaming, now Games Global slot Dragonz. Here, a squad of scaly pals is paired with a free spins round that can be strengthened by randomly selected modifiers, while the base game is left with little to no added extras.

In terms of visuals and mood, Blaze Buddies is a cheerful, upbeat slot, largely thanks to the four bright, smiling, cuddly dragon characters. The buddies start out in a snowy setting during the base game, where not a whole lot happens before they fly off to a fiery, lava-filled world for the free spins round, where modifiers and features can show up. People say a smile helps create a good first impression, and after a spin session on Blaze Buddies, that bit of social wisdom feels pretty accurate.

Both in the base game and during free spins, the dragon friends (along with the other symbols) appear on a 5×4 reelset. Payouts are calculated across 20 paylines, with winning combinations required to begin from the leftmost reel. Players can stake 10 c to $/€100 per spin, and the highly volatile math model offers an RTP of 96.37% at its highest setting.

The four dragon buddies act as the premium symbols. A 5 OAK line win pays 5 to 20 times the bet. Beneath them are the 10 to A card ranks, which return 1.5-2 times the bet for a 5 OAK winning line.

Blaze Buddies: Slot Features

The real action in Blaze Buddies sits in the free spins feature, which kicks off with a pick round that enables different modifiers for the bonus. Bonus buys are also included.

Dragon’s Delight

The Dragon’s Delight bonus game activates when at least 3 scatters land in the base game. Once triggered, it awards 10 free spins along with 3 feature picks. Whenever scatters hit the leftmost and rightmost reels, an extra pick is added, up to 6 in total.

Blaze of Glory

During the base game, scatters can land on every reel; in free spins, they can only appear on the leftmost and rightmost reels. The Blaze of Glory bonus game starts when 4 or 5 scatters land in the base game. It also grants 10 free spins, plus 4 or 5 feature picks depending on how many scatters triggered it. Each time scatters land on the leftmost and rightmost reels, an extra pick is awarded, up to 6 in total. Once 6 picks have been given during a bonus round, scatters stop appearing in the bonus.

Feature Picks

When the bonus begins, players pick a number of dragon eggs shown on the screen, based on how many scatters landed in the base game or if the bonus was purchased. All 3 modifiers may be assigned to the same dragon. Extra spins can only be selected once when there are 3 initial picks. Additional free spins can still be gained via retriggers or when 4 or more picks are awarded at the start.

• Expanded Dragon – 1 of the 4 high pay symbols lands as a 1×4 symbol, except if it is not a golden wild symbol. This feature can only be picked once per bonus game, and only 1 dragon can get it. Expanded dragons cannot land more than once per reel.
• Wild Dragon – 1 of the 4 high pay symbols is converted into a golden wild when it lands on the grid. If the dragon symbol is expanded, the whole expanded reel becomes wild. Wild dragons substitute for all regular pay symbols and pay 20x for a 5 wild symbol win.
• Dragon Multiplier – 1 of the 4 high pay symbols receives a multiplier of x2 to x100. This multiplier is applied to all paylines involving the selected symbol. Multipliers on a single payline are added together.
• Extra Spins – +2, +3, or +4 extra spins are granted.

Bonus Buys

In the Blaze Buddies bonus buy section, players can enable: BonusHunt FeatureSpins (2x the bet) – each spin is 3 times more likely to trigger a bonus game, Scorching FeatureSpins (50x the bet) – all dragons of a single type land as a wild reel with a multiplier, Dragon’s Delight (100x the bet), and Blaze of Glory (200x the bet).

Blaze Buddies: Slot Verdict

We mentioned the similarities between Blaze Buddies and Dragonz at the beginning, though in practice the two titles are arguably more different than alike in several respects. The overall mood is comparable—warm, friendly, and full of buddy-style high fives, maybe even the odd hug. The mechanics, however, take a different approach. Blaze Buddies keeps the base game essentially feature-free, which can make it feel a little plain and uneventful, and the max win can’t be reached during that part of play. Still, the documentation lists a high hit rate of 57.4%, which may help keep things moving between bonus rounds.

The free spins round, on the other hand, has the potential to be genuinely entertaining. Single dragon symbols can receive multiple modifiers at once, so you could end up with expanding wild dragons in action, for example. Spreading modifiers across more than one dragon is also fun, and during the review they landed in decent amounts—though that won’t necessarily be the case every time. If the fire-breathing crew really gets going, the game can deliver winning potential of up to 10,000 times the stake. With multipliers and full-reel wilds in play, it’s easy to see how that could theoretically happen.

Because it lightly echoes an older slot, there’s a touch of nostalgia mixed into the already upbeat feel created by the four happy dragons. The base game can remain stuck in a low gear, but once Blaze Buddies moves into its free spins feature, its modifier set can fan the flames into something substantial if the pieces fall into place.