Starburst Slot

Starburst is the NetEnt slot that turned up in almost every casino welcome offer for a decade. It is a 5-reel, 3-row game with 10 fixed paylines, wins that pay both ways, an RTP of 96.09% and low volatility. This guide covers how the game works, what each symbol pays, how the expanding wild re-spins are triggered, and how the original compares with Starburst XXXtreme.

How the Starburst Slot Works

Starburst was developed by NetEnt and released in 2012. The grid is five reels wide and three symbols deep, with 10 fixed paylines that cannot be switched off. You set a bet level and a coin value, and the total stake covers all ten lines.

What separates it from most slots of its era is that wins pay both ways. A combination counts whether it starts on reel 1 and runs right, or starts on reel 5 and runs left. That roughly doubles the number of ways a spin can pay, which is a large part of why the game feels as busy as it does.

There is no free spins round, no scatter and no bonus game. The only feature is the expanding wild, and every big win on Starburst comes from it. Step by step instructions are in our guide to playing Starburst.

Starburst Symbols and Paytable

There are seven paying symbols: five coloured gems, a gold 7 and a BAR. Three matching symbols on a line is the smallest win, five is the largest. The figures below are multiples of the line bet, so a 250x BAR line at a £1 total stake (10p per line) pays £25.

Symbol	5 Matching	4 Matching	3 Matching
Bar (highest)	250x	200x	50x
7s	120x	60x	25x
Yellow Gem	60x	25x	10x
Green Gem	50x	20x	8x
Red Gem	40x	15x	7x
Blue Gem	25x	10x	5x
Purple Gem (lowest)	25x	10x	5x

Because the game pays both ways, a screen filled with BAR symbols pays each of the ten lines twice. That is how the 500x maximum is reached rather than the 250x a single direction would give.

Starburst Wilds and Re-Spins

• The Starburst wild lands only on reels 2, 3 and 4.
• When it lands it expands to fill the whole reel and stays in place.
• Each expansion awards one re-spin, with the wild held.
• A new wild during a re-spin holds as well and awards another, up to three re-spins in a row.

The best case is wilds held on all three middle reels with BAR symbols on reels 1 and 5. Every line then reads as five BARs in both directions, which is the 500x maximum. There is no way to influence when a wild appears, and no feature buy in the original game.

Win Both Ways Explained

• A line pays whether the run starts on the leftmost or the rightmost reel.
• It doubles the number of winning combinations compared with a standard 10-line slot.
• Both directions can pay on the same line in the same spin, which is what produces the top win.

Starburst RTP and Volatility

Starburst runs an RTP of 96.09%, a little above the industry average of about 95.5%. That means for every £100 staked, £96.09 is returned to players over the long run. It is a theoretical average measured across millions of spins, not a promise about your session.

The volatility is low. Wins land often, roughly one spin in four or five, but they are small. Individual payouts are rarely more than 20x to 50x the stake. Low volatility also means session results cluster closer to the average than they would on a high-variance game like Big Time Gaming’s Bonanza or Pragmatic Play’s Gates of Olympus.

One thing worth checking: some casinos run slots at a lower RTP setting than the provider’s headline figure. Our Starburst RTP and volatility page goes into what the number means in practice and how to check the version you are playing.

Bet Sizing and Strategy

No strategy changes the odds on a slot. What bet sizing does change is how long your balance lasts and how large a wild re-spin pays when it arrives.

Small bankroll: £0.10 to £0.50 per spin. This stretches the session out and suits clearing bonus wagering, since the frequent small wins keep the balance ticking over.

Medium bankroll: £1 to £5 per spin. At this level a triple wild re-spin with BAR symbols returns roughly £500 to £2,500.

Higher stakes: £10 or more per spin is only worth considering if you are chasing the 500x top win. At the £100 maximum bet, the best case pays £50,000, but the three-wild hit is uncommon. Note that casinos licensed in Great Britain cap online slot stakes at £5 per spin, and at £2 for players aged 18 to 24.

Can You Play Starburst for Free?

A demo version of Starburst exists, but in Great Britain you have to be signed in to a licensed casino account to open it. Licensed sites are not allowed to offer free play to anyone who has not been age-verified, so there is no open demo to click through to from a page like this one.

The nearest thing to risk-free play is a free spins bonus. Most of these need a qualifying deposit, and a smaller number of casinos run Starburst free spins with no deposit, where the spins are credited once your account is verified.

Starburst Pros and Cons

Pros

• Frequent payouts – wins land roughly one spin in four or five
• Low minimum bet – £0.10 per spin makes it accessible to all budgets
• Win both ways – doubles winning combinations compared with standard slots
• Expanding wilds with re-spins – up to three consecutive re-spins with wilds held
• Widely offered as a bonus game – more casinos give free spins on Starburst than on almost any other slot
• Good for clearing wagering – low volatility keeps the balance stable while requirements are worked through

Cons

• Max win capped at 500x – there are no life-changing jackpots on this slot
• No free spins round – the expanding wild re-spin is the only feature
• Simple gameplay – experienced slot players may find it repetitive
• Small individual wins – payouts are rarely more than 20x to 50x the stake

Starburst vs Starburst XXXtreme

NetEnt released Starburst XXXtreme in 2021 as a high-volatility sequel. The original caps out at 500x your stake with low variance; XXXtreme offers a maximum win of 200,000x with far more risk. It adds random wilds, multipliers of up to 150x per wild, and bet options at 10x or 95x your stake that guarantee wilds on the next spin. Its RTP is 96.26%, slightly above the original’s 96.09%.

Which suits you depends on how you play. The original is the better choice for bonus wagering and casual sessions, because its steady payout pattern works through requirements without burning the balance. XXXtreme is built for players chasing one big win who can sit through long dry spells to get there.

Playing Starburst on Mobile

Starburst runs on HTML5, so it works on any modern smartphone or tablet without a separate app. The game loads in the mobile browser at the same quality as desktop. Controls adapt to touch: tap to spin, use the bet controls to change stake, and open the paytable from the menu icon.

Slots Similar to Starburst

If you like Starburst’s pace, these are the closest matches:

• Twin Spin (NetEnt) – another NetEnt classic with linked reels that mirror each other. 243 ways to win with medium volatility.
• Reactoonz (Play’n GO) – cluster pays grid slot with cascading wins. More complex mechanics but a similarly engaging flow.
• Fluffy Favourites (Eyecon) – low to medium volatility with a toybox theme and a free spins round. Popular with casual players.
• Book of Dead (Play’n GO) – higher volatility than Starburst but another common free spins bonus game. Egyptian theme with expanding symbols.

There are more of them, with what each one does differently, on our slots similar to Starburst page.

Where to Play Starburst

Starburst is carried by almost every online casino, so the question is usually which one gives you the best terms for playing it. Our list of Starburst slot sites compares casinos that include spins on the game in their welcome offer, with the spin count, the wagering and the deposit needed to qualify. The full list of Starburst casinos covers every site we track.