Starburst is not the most innovative, stunning, or immersive slot game ever released, but for some strange reason, it is the most popular online slots of all time.

Since Netent released Starburst in 2012, the slot has been one of the most prominent stars of any online casino lobby.

It is essentially a gem game with stacked symbols and seemingly not much on top, but this is a unique game and a firm fan favorite.

Starburst RTP

Starburst has been released in six RTP configurations: 90,05%, 92.05%, 93.05%, 94.05%, 95.05%, and 96.09%.

If you are looking for the best-paying version of Starburst, make sure to choose an online casino that offers this iconic slot at the 96.09% level.

Just choose one of the listed best-rated online casinos here to get the most bang for your hard-earned bucks.

Advantages of playing Starburst with a high RTP

To show you what the effects of a higher Starburst RTP compared to a lower Return to Player really are, we have done some calculations.

Based on a starting balance of €/£/$/100 and a stake of €/£/$/1 per spin, we can determine per RTP configuration how many spins it will theoretically take (excluding variance) before you run out of funds.

How many spins does it take before your balance goes below €/£/$ 1?

RTP	Number of Spins
96.09%	2,531 spins
95.05%	2,000 spins
94.05%	1,663 spins
93.05%	1,424 spins
92.05%	1,245 spins
90.05%	994 spins

Now, it is a good thing to realize that these calculations are based on theoretical losses per spin. In practice, due to the slot’s variance, results will differ significantly as you will have many losing and some winning spins.

But taking the variance out of the equation, you can see enormous differences between the RTP settings: the 96.09% RTP version will give you, on average, 531 more spins than the 95.05% RTP version before your balance dips below your €/£/$ 1 bet size. The difference in the number of spins will only increase more compared to even lower-paying versions of Starburst – up to a staggering 1,537 spins.

Starburst gameplay and paytable

Starburst has a 3×5 board filled with stacked Gems, Bars, and 7s for a grand total of seven symbols, all of which pay at least a decent amount, 7 and Bar being two high-paying symbols.

There are no Scatters, just a Wild, and a very powerful Wild at that.

The low number of different symbols plays a significant role in the appeal of this game, as good winning lines are common.

Also, the game has 10 paylines that pay both ways, which is essentially 20 paylines, in a configuration that gives a lot to the player.

Again, this is something simple and seemingly irrelevant, but these added paylines (with more frequent wins) have undoubtedly helped Starburst become one of the most popular slots ever.

The variance of this slot is low as it issues wins often, especially during the Starburst Wild feature.

It’s possible to win 50,000 coins in a single Starburst game round.

Bonus Features

There are no free spins in a starburst or any bonus feature that would be external to the base game. And that means the entire theoretical payout is in the base game, which players worldwide learned to appreciate.

There is only one feature in the entire game, and that’s the Starburst Wild. When you get it anywhere on your reels, it will expand to fill the reel, and after that happens, you’ll get a re-spin.

Simple yet effective, a re-spin with three Wilds in a game that pays both ways can prove to be quite valuable.

Also, if you happen to land another Wild, you’ll get another re-spin with 6 Wilds, and the maximum number of re-spins you can get is 3 (as Wilds only appear on reels 2, 3, and 4), for a total of 9 Wilds.

A compelling. almost hypnotizing feature.

CasinoWizard’s verdict: 4 out of 5 stars

Starburst is one of those titles that are simple, yet their simplicity works in their favor, and in this case, that’s the Starburst Wild feature, plus the fact that the game has 10 paylines that pay both ways and only a total of seven paying symbols, with no scatters to take up valuable space on the reels.

All this makes Starburst a very action-packed game and a trendsetter among online slots. No similar slot ever rose to Starburst’s level as none found the perfect blend of game mechanics and bonus features present here.

If you enjoy Starburst but are looking for something more volatile, then you don´t have to look far, as in 2021 NetEnt released the sequel Starburst XXXtreme which can pay up to 200,000x the bet.

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