Starburst

Game Specifications

Slot Review

Game Overview

Starburst has cemented its place among iconic online slots. It ages extremely well, and its uncomplicated gameplay stays relevant to these days. What players get is a great game with no free spins or other popular features and without even multipliers. One of the most iconic slots happens to be one of the most uncomplicated.

In addition to a bunch of regular symbols, there are Wilds that expand and trigger Re-spins. Wins both way makes it even more exciting. But that’s it. There are no other features or bonus buy options, which is probably the reason for its massive success.

NetEnt had done some experimenting with the series. Other Starburst installments treat players with a crazy max win of x200,000 and Clusters + Cascades combo with a ton of boosters. But players still prefer a good old original game.

Popularity of Starburst Slot

This game is among the earliest super hits in the world of slots. Surprisingly, it remains relevant to these days, and a lot of gamblers choose it over the latest releases. And that’s not because the competition in the low-volatility segment is much weaker. That’s because Starburst is so good.

Some would be surprised, but those over a decade old audio-visuals seem fresh and relevant. This high quality, clean and beautiful artwork is something that you don’t always get in modern games.

Slots generally have a very short lifespan. Only a few survive the first year and only exceptional titles manage to draw crowds for several years. Starburst online slot was released in 2013. In 2022 it appeared in our Top 100 Most Popular Slots. That’s an impressive longevity.

NetEnt released a couple more Starburst installments, but they weren’t as successful. That’s probably because the math isn’t right as these are high volatility titles with much higher max wins.

Slot Features

This game comes with no bonus buys, because everything that can happen, happens during the base mode. You can have Wilds that expand and trigger re-spins. There are 10 lines where matching icons should land and only 7 regular paying icons.

One thing that makes the Starburst video slot so exciting is that it pays both ways, whereas most games award wins only for left-to-right combinations. That definitely boosts the hit frequency.

Starburst Re-spins

This is the only bonus feature you can have in this game, but it’s powerful enough to keep so many players entertained. The feature is tied to Wilds (star icons). They land only on the middle 3×3 part of the grid.

Wilds expand to cover a whole reel and then trigger one re-spin. The process repeats if there’s another Wild after a re-spin. This continues until all three middle reels turn Wild or until no new Wilds land.

Don’t rely too much on Wild Re-spins. Because Wilds don’t land too often. And once they do appear, their re-spins don’t always produce any wins. But the win both ways mechanic is there to make up for that.

Symbols

Play Starburst for free to check the list of icons and their payouts. There are seven regular symbols. Bars are the highest paying icons, then come Sevens and then five types of diamonds of different shapes and colors. Watch for yellow and green diamonds as these are two most valuable diamonds.

Game Stats

Volatility is low, the RTP is 96.09% and the top prize is x500. That’s basically all game stats studios revealed back then. So, you’ll need to figure out other stats by yourself, including the hit frequency and re-spin frequency.

Back then, multiple RTP settings weren’t common. So, at the time of writing this Starburst slot review, there’s just one RTP for this game. But it’s also possible that the studio will introduce new versions with lower average returns.

To make sure, check the game RTP. Go to the Game Info file and scroll down to find the Return to Player section. This information isn’t provided in the Paytable, you need a tiny question mark in the bottom left corner of the screen.

How to Land the Top Prize

The way to hit the top prize is by landing 15 Bars. This pays x25, and the win is multiplied by 10 lines left to right, plus x25 multiplied by 10 lines right to left. That’s how you get the top prize of x500.

There’s no other option to max out the win potential. Because there are no multipliers or other boosters. But, of course, Bars can be substituted by Wilds. So, any combination of Bars and Wilds will do the job.

Starburst Demo Play

Make sure to test this slot for a while. You can look at the stats and probably make false assumptions. Because it’s a low volatility game with wins just up to x500. The assumption might be that it pays very frequently, and you might be prone to taking too much risk.

When in reality, payouts aren’t spread that nicely and evenly. There can be quite a few spins without wins followed by a streak of successful spins. When you play Starburst for free, you can feel if it’s the right type of game for you in terms of payout distribution.

Starburst Slot Series

It took NetEnt a while to create new Starburst installments. That’s probably because the original remained popular for very long. But eventually the studio added two more titles to this series. Both are very different from the original.

Starburst XXXtreme

This game was released in 2021, and it had a completely different math. The studio basically took original visuals, symbols and features and added some crazy boosters to add explosiveness. But while adding all the new stuff, the studio removed one significant feature, which is “pay both ways”. And just like most other slots, in this XXXtreme version, wins land only one way.

For this Starburst installment, NetEnt boosted the max win all the way to x200,000. Wilds and Re-spins work just like in the original game. But this time, Wilds come with up to x150 multipliers, and players will randomly get 1-3 Wilds. Gamblers can buy 1 or 2 guaranteed Wild Reels, which cost x10 and x95, respectively.

Suddenly, the game that was loved for its simple gameplay and low volatility transformed. And players didn’t appreciate it. The slot didn’t perform well.

Starburst Galaxy

This game is another significant diversion from the original. The studio used the combination of clusters + cascades and a ton of different boosters. Starburst turned into an absolutely new game with familiar visuals. That’s another high volatility experiment with a rather massive x25,000 win limit and without a lasting success.

Conclusion

There are a very few online slots that age as well as Starburst. The fact that this game was able to land within the top 100 almost a decade after its release is sensational. The slot has built an exceptional legacy and did that with just a small set of features such as expanding wilds + re-spins and wins both ways.

Definitely demo Starburst slot if you aren’t familiar with it. The game just shows that sometimes less is more. Because when NetEnt released new installments that are much more complicated, players didn’t have much appetite for them.

Symbols & Paytable

5x25

4x20

3x5

5x12

4x6

3x2.5

5x6

4x2.5

3x1

5x5

4x2

3x0.8

5x4

4x1.5

3x0.7

5x2.5

4x1

3x0.5

5x2.5

4x1

3x0.5

Wild

Screenshots

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