Starburst Galaxy

What Is Starburst Galaxy?

No you haven’t landed on a confectionery advertisement for your favourite sweets and chocolate.

Way back in 2012 Netent released Starburst, the cosmic themed slot. This title has over the last decade been exceedingly popular, it still is. Its function is simple, it’s easy to understand and a go-to slot for beginners starting their casino journey. A sequel did follow with Starburst XXXtreme released in 2021 but the follow-up wasn’t received as well, maybe the games velocity was a bit too high variance compared to its older sister. Starburst Galaxy the 3rd installment of this game has recently been released at the end of 2024.

How To Play Starburst Galaxy

Starburst Galaxy is a 5 reel, 5 row, video slot and has no regular paylines as such with wins awarded with 3 or more symbols connected vertically or horizontally. Winning combinations then explode causing an avalanche with new symbols filling the gaps, including a Starburst Wild in the centre of every combo that didn’t include a wild. This continues until there are no more winning combinations.

This cosmic adventure begins like you’re immersed in outer space with a view of a couple of surrounding planets on a star filled backdrop. The same spacey music is used like its predecessors. On the left below the game’s logo are 5 “planets” which fuel the feature generator. This happens for each winning combination with 5 wins triggering a random feature. Just below this is the multiplier collection meter which comes into play if 3 scatter “orb” symbols appear during a spin.

Feature Generator

Each win in the base game fuels the feature generator.  After 5 wins, this randomly awards one of the following features:

• Destroy: Removes one or more random types of symbols from the reels.
• Random Wilds: Replaces from 3 to 9 payout symbols on the reels with Wild symbols.
• Expanding Wilds: Turns all the wild symbols on the reels into 3 wild symbols stacked vertically.
• Line Transform: Fills a row or a reel with a randomly chosen payout symbol.
• Upgrade: Upgrades one or more random symbols of the same type on the reels to a symbol type with a higher payout.

These game features can be engrossing helping you to your next feature. Some are more rewarding than others –  Expanding wilds I found to be the most rewarding while Destroy was the least helpful. If you are lucky enough to get to fill the 5th planet, the next stage of features are rewarded.

Mega Star Feature

The Mega Star Feature is activated when 3 scatter “orb” symbols appear on the reels in a single spin. After the avalanche from this, once there is no win a 2×2 wild is placed randomly on the reels with 2 to 5 wild symbols also added during the next avalanche. One or more of the scatter ”orb” symbols may have a multiplier from 2x to 25x. These multipliers are added to the collection meter with all wins from that spin multiplied to that amount to the end of the game round.

Galaxy Star Feature

The Galaxy Star feature is triggered when the 5th feature or “planet” is activated. The game goes into full swing here expanding its reels to 7 reels and 7 rows and adding a 3×3 randomly placed wild symbol. After the avalanche from this, 4-8 regular Wilds appear on the reels. The Galaxy Meter then comes into play taking 50 wins to fill. When full, it awards the Galaxy Star feature again.

Our Verdict

Starburst Galaxy is a medium to high velocity slot with a RTP of 94% to 96% depending on where you play (check the game help files to find out which). The minimum stake is 20p to a maximum of £28 with a 25000x max win.

The game is a feature rich spin on the old classic. It feels familiar yet very modern and new due to all the extra features. The space theme is visually superb and the Avalanche feature gives you the feel that more wins are coming. It did remind me a little of Jammin Jars and Reactoonz with the game at times frustratingly fun. This game although rather different could just be as popular as its older sister.

Where to Play Starburst Galaxy

Starburst Galaxy is widely available but most online casinos have the RTP set at 94%.  If you want to play it with the top rate of 96%, try one of these sites:

Darren Lane

Sports betting and casino expert with 18 years of experience in the iGaming industry

Darren Lane has been involved within the gambling industry for over 18 years now. He started out managing a betting shop for…

Darren Lane has been involved within the gambling industry for over 18 years now. He started out managing a betting shop for 8 years. These days, he’s all about sports and casino games, and knows his stuff.

Darren has an honours degree in Business Management, and currently trades sports on the betting exchanges. He does also like an occasional flutter in the casino, especially slot games and Blackjack.

When he’s not working, Darren loves to travel, and Las Vegas is one of his favourite spots visiting 7 times so far. 

Born and bred a Londoner, he currently lives in Kent.

Besides gaming and travel, Darren is a huge football fan, with a special place in his heart for Arsenal. He never misses a match, always cheering on his favourite team with enthusiasm.

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