Starburst Slot Review

The Starburst slot machine is one of NetEnt’s most popular games--and for good reason, too. Not only is Starburst a slot with exhilarating in-game features, but it’s also the perfect slot for beginners.

The gameplay is simplistic and easy to learn. However, the best part is that with such a high hit rate and RTP, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to make money.

To this day, the Starburst slot machine remains as one of the go-to destinations for amateur and pro slot enthusiasts alike. Today, we’ll show you why with a comprehensive overview of their payouts, features, and more.

Are you ready? Let’s get started!

Starburst Slot Overview

Released by NetEnt in January of 2012, Starburst quickly shot up the ranks as one of NetEnt’s most popular slot games to play. 

The game has become so popular that its name has been synonymous with new US market releases. (1)

The slot has 5 reels, 3 rows, and 10 paylines that pay both ways. The paylines are fixed, meaning that you have to bet on each payline. 

While there are only 10 paylines, they pay both ways, meaning that you can be paid out from left to right and from right to left. This provides more winning opportunities than your standard online slot since most online slots only allow for paylines that are hit from right to left. 

Starburst also has a pretty large betting range, with the minimum line bet being 1 cent and the maximum line bet being $1.

Thus, the Starburst slot machine can accommodate both conservative players and high-stakes players.

Unfortunately, the Starburst slot machine does not offer a progressive jackpot. Therefore, the maximum amount that can be won is fixed.

In Starburst, you can win a maximum of $50,000. This can be won by hitting three Starburst wilds. We’ll get more into this later. 

Symbols and Values

In Starburst, you’ll find eight symbols that you can win money from as you play. There are five gem-based symbols, two special symbols, and a wild which is a large, multi-colored star.

The gems pay out the lowest amounts, with the purple and blue gems paying out 5X your line bet for three matching symbols.

Meanwhile, the Lucky 7 and Bar symbols payout the most. Matching five Lucky 7 symbols will award you 120X your line bet while matching five Bar symbols will get you 250X your line bet. 

If you want more information on the different payouts for each symbol, be sure to check out our paytable below!

The wild symbol, which is the multi-colored, star has its own special functions. For one, the multi-colored star acts as a regular wild, substituting for other symbols to help form winning combinations.

However, it can also become an expanding wild, covering the entire reel. This makes it extremely easy to hit paylines, especially since you can win both ways.

It’s worth noting, though, that the wild symbol will only appear on reels two, three, and four. However, with the expanding wild feature, there shouldn’t be any problems in creating winning paylines. 

Starburst Slot In-Game Features

We’re not going to lie. Starburst doesn’t have very many in-game features aside from the wild symbol and the win both ways feature.

You won’t find a bonus game in Starburst nor will you find scatter symbols that serve a special function.

However, the wild symbol has a special ability that makes up for all of this. Whenever a wild symbol becomes an expanding wild, you can trigger free spins that help increase your total payout.

Starburst Slot Free Spins

While the Starburst slot machine doesn’t have a bonus round with free spins for you to play with, the game still has a way for you to make money without paying for your spins. 

Whenever an expanding wild is in place, you’ll receive anywhere between one and three respins. If another wild symbol shows up during your respins, you can gain up to two more respins. 

The only way that someone can get three respins is if a wild symbol lands in a different reel for three spins in a row. 

For example, one way this could happen is if the first wild landed in the second reel. Then, the second wild landed in the fourth reel. After both of these wilds, if the third wild landed in the fourth reel, this would grant you three respins. 

Furthermore, if you manage to trigger three respins, this will turn all three middle reels completely wild, allowing for some pretty big wins, especially if you have any of the Lucky 7 or Bar symbols on reels one or five.

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that even if you land a wild, you won’t necessarily win. A wild merely acts a substitute for a symbol if there is a potential payline to be hit.

Starburst Expanding Wilds vs. Free Spins Bonus Game

Some might argue that a free spins bonus game is better than Starburst’s expanding wild feature. Yes, free spins bonus games might offer you more free spins. However, it’s important to note that you need to activate the bonus game first in order to gain access to the free spins. 

The bonus game can be hard to hit. Thus, when spread out over a long period of time, you could be getting less free spins than with Starburst’s expanding wilds. 

With expanding expands, you might not be getting very many free spins all at once. However, since it’s easier to hit expanding wilds than bonus games, you’ll be getting more free spins consistently throughout your session.

Starburst Slot RTP/Volatility

Starburst has a return-to-player percentage (RTP) of 96.1% and a low volatility. The RTP is quite expected from Starburst since all NetEnt slots have an RTP of 96%.

This means that, for every $1,000 wagered over the long run, you can expect to win back at least $961 in winnings. However, this amount can vary since this is in the long-term and not the short-term.

If you only play for a short period of time, you could easily make more than your wagered amount. However, likewise, you could also lose more than what’s projected. 

After all, despite RTP being a projection of what you can expect to win, luck stills play a factor in your overall winnings.

Starburst Low Volatility

One important area to consider when choosing a slot is its volatility. In our case, the Starburst slot machine has a low volatility.

Low volatility means that the slot will offer consistent payouts. However, the prize money might not be as high when you hit paylines. 

With high volatility slots, the payouts for these games are pretty high. However, the frequency for hitting paylines is drastically lower. Thus, there might be some waiting before you finally win something.

An example of a high-volatility slot would be a slot with a progressive jackpot. While the odds of hitting the jackpot are pretty low, if you do, you could be up to win millions.  

Many players enjoy playing high volatility slots largely due to the fact that you can win large amounts all at once. However, if you’re not careful, you could easily lose quite a bit of money. 

Starburst Slot Device Compatibility

Because of how popular Starburst is as a slot, you can expect to find this game on your local online mobile casino.

Currently, Starburst is compatible with any iOS or Android device. Thus, all you need to do is boot up the game on your mobile browser and you’ll be good to go. 

If you want to play Starburst through a mobile app, that is also an option. However, you first need to make sure that your online casino offers an app in the first place.

Furthermore, downloading a mobile casino app from the Apple Play Store is different from downloading a mobile casino app from the Google Play Store.

With iOS devices, Apple allows most online casinos so long as they’re regulated, legal, and have a license. Chances are, if your casino is located within the United States and you’re within state borders, you can download their app if they offer one.

With Android devices, it’s a little bit more complicated. Google only just recently began to allow real money casino apps on their Play Store as of March 1st, 2021. (2)

However, in order to qualify, casinos need to fill out an application form and create restrictions in order to prevent minors from downloading their app.

Thus, chances are, only a few online casinos are ready to be downloaded on the Google Play Store. 

Nevertheless, you can still play Starburst through your Android mobile device. Even if you can’t download an online casino via the Google Play Store, some online casinos allow you to download their app directly from their website.

If this doesn’t work, then you can always play from a mobile browser. Due to how popular mobile casino gaming has become, just about every top online casino has made their websites mobile-compatible.

Therefore, no matter where you are, whether you’re at home or at a restaurant, you’ll be able to play Starburst at all times and all locations.

Overall Rating

Here at Gamblib, we like to compile our overall rating of a slot game based on four areas: user experience, game features, payouts, and sounds & visuals.

We applied these ratings to the Starburst slot. That way, we can come up with a definitive ranking to help you determine whether or not you want to put your money here.

The user experience of Starburst was flawless. Not only was everything easy to navigate and access, but the design team went the extra mile. All of the commands are at the bottom of the screen so that you can quickly alter betting levels. 

Above the buttons is a screen showing the maximum amount you can win and to the side of the first and fifth reel are numbers indicating each payline’s shape. 

Furthermore, if you need more help, you can always go to their information section where they provide a thorough overview of everything that you need to know. 

Overall, NetEnt not only made sure that the gameplay experience was seamless, but that every tool or piece of information needed was easily accessible. Therefore, the user experience for Starburst was phenomenal. 

While Starburst didn’t have as many game features as one might’ve liked, they still had a solid arsenal to keep our team entertained. The two biggest features were the win both ways and the expanding wilds.

These two features alone helped keep us engaged for the entirety of our session. The ability to win free spins off of an expanding wild gave us plenty of opportunities to hit paylines free of charge.

Meanwhile, the win both ways function resulted in some pretty hefty payouts, especially when we hit the same payline from both left to right and right to left. 

Despite not having as many in-game features as other popular online slots, Starburst was still able to keep us thoroughly entertained the entire time we played. 

When we played the Starburst slot machine, we rarely found an issue with payouts. Due to the low volatility, we were consistently hitting paylines which kept our overall bankroll stable.

While the payouts weren’t as large as a high volatility slot, they were more than enough to keep us going throughout the entire session. 

Furthermore, the win both ways feature allowed us to constantly hit multiple paylines as we played. It also saved us occasionally whenever we didn’t hit any paylines from the left to right. 

With an RTP of 96.1%, we went in expecting to keep our balance at a steady level. However, we were thoroughly surprised and happy with most of the payouts we received. 

If one of your concerns with Starburst is payouts, you have our word that payouts in Starburst are typically better than most of the other slots we’ve reviewed. 

The sounds and visuals of Starburst are another area where we think the NetEnt team went above and beyond. Starting off with the graphics, each symbol is extremely well-designed.

The gems are fluorescent and each gem pops outwards with a sort of shine that catches your attention. The Lucky 7 symbol incorporates a blue and red color scheme with the same shine as the gems. 

As for the Bar symbol, it has the same structure as the Lucky 7 symbol. However, it uses a purely yellow-golden color scheme with the word “BAR” popping out at you. 

The reels aren’t really there. However, accompanything them on the end of each side are the numbers that indicate the different paylines you can hit. The same goes for the background.

There isn’t really a background. However, the light purple and floating stars creates a tranquil environment for you to play.

As for the sound, we felt like the NetEnt team hit it spot on. The music is reminiscent of the 1980s and makes you feel as if you were floating through space.

There are sounds for just about every action, whether it’s spinning the reels or changing the bet amounts. Furthermore, if you hit a payline, exciting celebratory music plays to pump you up.

The graphics and sounds of Starburst do a great job of making us want to play more. The graphics are visually appealing and it’s very easy to go with the flow of the music as you play. This allows for an immersive gameplay experience that you don’t want to leave. 

There’s no doubt that Starburst is one of the top slots by NetEnt. The game provides seamless graphics and audio, consistent payouts, and a great user experience for your time.

While there may not be as many in-game features as some of the other top online slots, the features that they do have do an amazing job of making sure that players are entertained.

Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran, Starburst is a great slot to pick up at your favorite online casino. If you’re looking for an online slot to play today, one of your top choices should definitely be Starburst.

Starburst FAQs

Can I play Starburst for free?

Yes, you can play Starburst for free here at Gamblib or any other site offering free online slots.

Where can I play Starburst for real money?

You can play Starburst for real money at any credible, online casino. To find a credible, online casino, check out our recommendations here at Gamblib.

How to win on the Starburst slot?

In order to win on the Starburst slot, you’ll need to hit one of ten paylines to be paid out based on that symbol. The most you can be paid out is $50,000 when matching three wild symbols.

Can I unlock free spins when playing Starburst?

Yes, you can unlock free spins when playing Starburst by hitting expanding wilds. These will trigger a respin at no extra cost.