Updated
Lisa Michaels
I was happy to re-experience a classic with NetEnt’s Starburst Slot machine, perhaps one of the best-known iGaming titles in history. This now-classic title is a prime example of how simplicity can be a slot’s best friend and many clones of it, like Solar Wilds, have been made since its release in 2013. The transparent reels are set against the expanse of outer space with twinkling stars in the background and bright cosmic gems as symbols. Wild symbols expand to deliver regular wins and give you a shot at the game’s top potential of $50k.
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This is NetEnt’s biggest ever slots and one of the most popular slots of all time. Part of the game’s enduring popularity is how simple it is to play. NetEnt is one of the best casino software providers, and all of its games are really straightforward. Here’s how you can get started:
This is such a popular game that you can find it at pretty much any online casino available to Canadian players.
Starburst has a standard layout, with five reels and three rows. You can spin, use Autoplay, and adjust your bet from the panel below the reels. The autoplay button lets you set a number of spins for the game to playthrough automatically, meaning you don’t have to keep pressing the button.
Below the reels is also where you’ll find the info button. This lets you check out the paytable and game rules, helpful for finding out how to play and how much each symbol is worth.
When playing this slot, you win by landing matching symbols along one of the game’s paylines. There are ten paylines, although they work a bit differently to those in other slots. Rather than simply paying out from left to right, these paylines pay both ways. That means you can land three or more symbols from the right-hand side of the reels for a win, as well as from the left.
Starburst includes wild symbols which help you win by substituting for other symbols, and they also trigger the game’s main bonus feature for even bigger winning potential.
Statistically speaking, this game’s RTP of 96.09% means that you should get a decent return on your bets. It’s around average for online slots, though you should note that the RTP value isn’t a guarantee of how much you’ll win back while playing. You should only use the RTP rate as a guide, as it’s calculated from playing the game for a very long period of time.
The low volatility means you won’t see many big wins, but a stream of smaller, regular prizes will surely come your way. When I played, I was often hitting winning spins and ended up with a $15 profit. Although the payouts were smaller compared to other slot games I played recently, the expanding wilds are key to landing big wins.
The maximum win from a single spin is just 500x your stake, which is fairly low compared to some of the other most popular online slots. That means the most you could win is $50,000 when playing the maximum bet of $100 per spin. It’s not a small amount of money by any means, but still not comparable to many other games out there.
Starburst features just seven regular symbols, made of an assortment of coloured gems, as well as some symbols based on classic slot machine designs. At the bottom of the paytable, purple and blue gems pay up to 2.5x your bet for five on a payline. Orange gems pay 4x for five on a line, while greens pay 5x and yellows pay 6x.
Further up the paytable, the lucky sevens are worth up to 12x your stake for five on a line, while the highest paying is the BAR symbol. This last one pays up to 25x your bet if you’re lucky enough to land five of a kind along a line.
Aside from the regular symbols, this slot also features a single bonus symbol, the star wild. This is the key to the game’s main feature. It’s a wild with a difference, not only substituting for other symbols but also expanding and triggering respins.
If you’re looking for a game that’s bursting with special features, this slot may not appeal to you. Although NetEnt’s slots usually contain lots of bonuses, this game only has a few. However, what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. The bonus features are incredibly effective and fun to play.
This is a pretty simple feature, and yet it has a huge impact on the game. Rather than simply paying from left to right, Starburst’s paylines pay from the right too. This effectively doubles your chances of a win on every spin, and makes the game far more engaging.
Wild symbols may only appear on the three middle reels, but they expand whenever they land. This ensures they take up an entire reel, boosting your chance of a big win by substituting for other symbols to form winning lines.
The game’s only bonus feature relies exclusively on the wild symbol. Wilds only show up on the 3 middle reels, and when they do, they will then expand to cover the whole reel while remaining sticky and triggering a respin. The wild reel remains locked in place for the respin, and the feature is retriggered if another wild appears. While there are no Starburst free spins, the respins are a great feature that triggers fairly often, resulting in more wins even if the payouts are a bit lower.
Despite being more than ten years old now, I have to say that Starburst still looks great. The graphics were never out of this world, but they hold up well. Each of the symbols has an interesting yet simple design, and bright colours help them pop whenever they appear on the reels. They’re designed with reflections to look bright, shiny and appealing.
Relaxing, space-age music plays in the background, and each spin and win triggers exciting sound effects. The graphics and sounds used in Starburst help to make it an enjoyable slot to play even after all these years. It remains one of the most popular online slots at any online casino, with many players stating that they love the simple yet colourful style.
Starburst has influenced many other slot games over the years, inspiring countless software providers to come up with their own versions. It’s hardly surprising, considering how popular it is with Canadian players. Here’s a comparison of some similar slots:
The first thing I noticed on Starburst was the high betting range that was available, being able to adjust the coin value and the number of pay lines you would like to play. Which makes it friendly to large or small bankrolls. I started out with a $3 bet on level 10 thinking I was going to make a quick return. I didn’t get as lucky as I thought I did. The adjusting the paylines and the bet amount down to $3-1 payline, I won a small win. Then continued to increase the paylines 5.
After that, I got a decent win of about $20 from the expanding wild star symbol. I then increased the bet size again to a $3,60 bet and hit the expanding wilds ending off the 25 spins in a profit of about $15.
Results:Star Burst is a great game all around, its betting range does a great job at catering to a wide audience and different styles of play, within a short amount of time playing the game I could see a lot of potential for winnings, and if you have the budget, winning big!
There aren’t many online slots out there which have made quite as much of an impact as this one. Starburst slot is a true classic that has significantly shaped how today’s online slots are designed. NetEnt has a great track record of creating simple yet highly engaging slots which stand the test of time. Despite being released in 2013, it’s just as much fun to play today as it was when it first came out.
I enjoyed the nostalgic feeling of watching the wilds line up and expand on the middle reels. The spacey design still holds up, despite the game’s age. While this game isn’t heavy on features, and its top prize of $50k is far from life-changing, I would consider it essential playing for anyone interested in online slots.
Since Starburst released, plenty of other games gave come out with similar features and ideas. Here are two I also enjoyed. Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah offers a multimillion-dollar progressive jackpot while copying the expanding wilds / respins feature, and Hyper Star is more or less a carbon copy, but with a smaller top prize.
Lisa started off as a croupier at her local casino. However she found her niche in writing and has subsequently used her real-world gambling experiences to help produce and review the many online slots that are released monthly. Lisa also contributes to keeping you up to date with Canadian newsworthy stories.
