Starburst by NetEnt

1. A straightforward slot with one memorable feature

Starburst is easy to get into. You have five reels, ten lines and one feature to watch for: a Wild that grows to fill a reel and stays there for another spin. I like being able to see what happened without stopping to work out a complicated bonus. That simplicity is also its limit. If you enjoy games that keep introducing new features, this original NetEnt version may feel repetitive.

What I liked

✅ Ten fixed lines and one main Wild feature make the rules easy to learn.

✅ You can clearly see the Wild expand, stay in place and help on the re-spin.

✅ BET, WIN and BALANCE are easy to find in the full desktop view.

What I didn’t like

❌ The same short feature repeats, so there is less variety than in more complex slots.

❌ The game and its buttons looked small in our portrait desktop-view simulation.

NetEnt released Starburst on 23 January 2012. Our review uses the manufacturer's free demo, tested on 6 October 2026 UTC with virtual points that cannot be cashed out. One thing deserves your attention: Help in the session labelled S4 showed 90.05% theoretical RTP, while NetEnt's product page listed 96.08%. We did not capture the RTP in the earlier S2 session, so we cannot assign either figure to those rounds.

Search interest in the Philippines

Our Ahrefs check on 8 October 2026 estimated 70 average monthly searches for “starburst slot” in the Philippines and 20 for “starburst demo”. That tells us something about searches, not how many people play. Some results also referred to an unverified app with the same name. The broader word “starburst” had 900 searches, but the results were mostly about candy, so we have not used that number to describe this game's popularity.

2. Finding your way around the screen

The bright jewels stand out against the space background. BAR and the red 7 are easy to recognise too. The large SPIN button sits in the middle, with BET, WIN and BALANCE kept apart. If a result is confusing, wait for the round to finish and look at WIN. A smaller amount flashing on one winning line may only be part of the total.

The full desktop game screen. Numbers match the guide below.

1. Reels: five columns and three symbol positions per column.

2. Line markers: the ten fixed paths are shown at the sides.

3. BET: minus/plus change the amount; the number opens the bet list.

4. Speed: this snapshot uses Super quick. Settings also offer Regular and Quick.

5. SPIN: starts a manual round; STOP appears while the reels move.

6. Autoplay: opens the round-count menu; it was inspected, not run.

7. WIN: points returned by the completed round, before subtracting its cost.

8. BALANCE: the virtual demo points left in the current session.

9. Paytable: opens symbol values for the selected BET.

10. Sound: opens sound controls; audio quality was not assessed.

11. Settings: includes the spin-speed choices.

12. Help: opens rules and the current Help’s RTP.

13. Fullscreen: its visible control location; fullscreen operation was not tested.

Three supplementary rounds at Regular speed, shown from screenshot capture. All three ended with WIN 0; the clip has no audio and does not demonstrate the Wild feature.

The speed settings are Regular spins, Quick spins and Super quick spins. We used Super quick for 47 of the 50 ordinary rounds and Quick for rounds 11–13. The three rounds in the video used Regular. Choose the speed that is comfortable to follow; our tests do not show that one speed gives better returns.

At BET 1, Autoplay offered 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 rounds and showed their total stakes. We opened that menu but started every recorded round ourselves. Sound settings included master sound, effects and music. We did not assess how the audio sounded.

Autoplay choices at BET 1. The menu was opened; no Autoplay sequence was executed.

Small-screen readability

The main weakness we noticed was the small portrait layout. At a 390 × 844 desktop window size, the game shrank into a narrow strip. SPIN was about 32 CSS pixels wide and Help about 10. The 844 × 390 landscape view was easier to read. Help opened and scrolled in portrait; the landscape Help capture stayed on Loading. These were resized desktop views, not tests of a real phone or its touch controls.

390 × 844 portrait and 844 × 390 landscape views, shown at their original proportions.

3. How the ten lines pay

Start at the left or right edge of the reels and follow one of the ten lines below. Matching symbols need to sit next to each other along that line; a gap breaks the match. The game adds wins from different lines, but pays only the highest win on each line. So “both ways” does not mean you should double every amount you see.

The actual paytable’s ten-line guide.

Here is a simple example from the paytable. At BET 1 point, three blue gems together on a paying line return 0.50 points. If that is the only win, you still finish 0.50 points down because the round cost 1 point. This is a rule example, not an extra test round. The paytable changes with BET, and the symbol cards on this page list the ordinary symbols and their values.

You can change BET with minus and plus, or open the amount list. Help gives a range of 0.10–100; in this demo those amounts are virtual points. We did not test the maximum. We did check whether the game kept BET 1.20 for the next manual spin, and it did across two rounds. We then put it back to 1. Help also says the bet drops automatically when the balance is too low, but we did not test that situation.

The bet list in the manufacturer's demo. These amounts are virtual points, not cash.

4. What the expanding Wild actually changes

Watch reels 2, 3 and 4 for the Starburst Wild. It can stand in for any symbol. When one or more Wilds appear, they grow to fill their reels and stay there while the other reels spin again. If a new Wild arrives, it can also expand and add another re-spin. Help sets a limit of three Wilds and three re-spins, all using the bet that started the feature.

This is the part I find easiest to enjoy: you can see the whole Wild reel staying in place and know exactly what is helping the next result. Round 19 shows it clearly. A Wild appeared at the top of reel 4, filled that reel and stayed for the re-spin. The whole round returned 2 points from a 1-point stake, leaving a gain of 1 point.

One recorded round, shown in order. Final WIN 2.00 includes the re-spin; it is counted once.

The selected examples from rounds 19, 23, 30 and 43 show this sequence, with final returns of 2.00, 1.00, 0.00 and 1.00 points. One separate BET 1.20 round also had a re-spin and returned nothing. These examples show how the feature works; they are not a count of every trigger in the sample. None captured a new Wild adding another re-spin. That part, including the three-re-spin limit, comes from Help.

An expanded Wild does not guarantee a payout. The re-spin can still finish at zero, as our examples show. You do not pay another stake for it, and any points it returns are already included in that round's final WIN. We found no BUY or EX/Extra Bet option in this demo's screen, Help, paytable or menus. We have not assumed every operator offers exactly the same version.

5. RTP, stakes and the cost of a round

The RTP in our checked S4 Help was lower than the figure on NetEnt's product page. That matters when comparing versions. RTP describes the expected share returned over a very large amount of play, not what you should expect back from a few spins. At 90.05% RTP, the theoretical house edge is 9.95%; at 96.08%, it is 3.92%. The gap is 6.03 percentage points. A short run of wins cannot tell you which setting a game uses, so check its Help rather than judging by a lucky session.

The opened S4 Help states 90.05%. Its example BALANCE 500.00 is illustrative, not the live balance.

NetEnt's official Starburst product page, captured on 6 October, lists an 800× maximum payout, a 23% hit frequency and a EUR 0.10–100 bet range. Those are product specifications. Our short test did not establish the maximum or hit frequency, and all our test amounts are the manufacturer's non-cash demo points, not euros or pesos. We also found no source-backed numeric volatility rating. For reference, the S4 Help identifies server version 3.4.0; it does not identify an engine build.

For each round, subtract BET from the points returned in the final WIN. Include the re-spins once, as part of that same round. In round 19, the balance went from 1,004.50 to 1,005.50: 1,004.50 − 1.00 + 2.00 = 1,005.50. A WIN amount left on screen from the previous round is not another payout. Neither is a fresh demo balance after a session restarts.

If you want to see how different stakes affect a fixed budget, try the AskSpinner slot simulator. It is a separate illustration, not a copy of Starburst's maths or another set of Starburst test results.

6. What the recorded rounds show

On 6 October 2026 UTC, we completed 50 ordinary demo rounds at 1 point each. We also played two rounds at 1.20 points to check that the bet stayed selected, plus three 1-point rounds for the Regular-speed video. The table keeps these groups separate. Each counted round starts with one deduction from the virtual points balance; any re-spins belong to that round and are not charged or counted again.

Of the 50 ordinary rounds, 14 returned points. Eleven returned more than they cost, three returned exactly the stake, and the other 36 returned nothing. Round 12 had the largest payout: 12.50 points from a 1-point stake, a gain of 11.50. Its recording used Quick speed, so it is separate from the Regular-speed clip above. Notice the 2.50 shown on one line in the screenshot: that is only part of the final 12.50.

Largest ordinary payout in this sample: 12.50 on BET 1, giving +11.50 net.

Balance by completed round. The gaps in this chart mark fresh demo sessions, not sudden wins. S2 started at 1,000 points and ended at 990 after ten ordinary rounds. S4 started again at 1,000 and ended at 1,004.90 after forty ordinary rounds and the two bet-retention checks. S5 started at 1,000 and ended at 997 after the three video rounds.

Blue: the 50 ordinary rounds. Gold: the 5 supplementary rounds. New session balances are not payouts.

Cumulative payout relative to cost. The 50 ordinary rounds used 50 points and returned 47.30, giving a sample return of 94.60%. Including the five extra rounds raises the total cost to 55.40 points, so the combined return is 85.38%. These percentages describe this test only; neither proves the game's RTP. The 100% line means the sample has returned as many points as it cost.

The ordinary sample and the full test each include their own costs. The five extra rounds are not left out of the full-test figure.

Net result per parent. Each bar shows points returned minus points spent on one complete round. A Wild re-spin stays inside that round's total. The two bet-retention rounds each lost 1.20 points, and the three Regular-video rounds each lost 1 point.

Round 12 peaks at +11.50 net. No extra events or feature-buy outcomes are inferred.

One attempted round 11 stopped at a session-expiry message. The balance still showed 990, but the record did not establish whether a round started or settled, so we left that attempt out rather than guessing its cost or result. The later, completed round 11 has its own record. S3 only supplied a fresh starting balance and no charged round. We did not test recovery of an unfinished round.

7. Who Starburst suits, and the alternatives

My rating is 7.6/10. Starburst makes its main feature easy to understand, and the clear desktop layout helps you follow each result. I would point someone towards it if they wanted a simple slot with a visible, easy-to-follow Wild feature. Its limited variety holds it back, and the small portrait layout in our desktop simulation was less comfortable to read. That is a layout finding, not a verdict on playing it on a real phone.

These comparisons use the Help and feature-entry costs checked for each game. In DJ Boom Boom, 3/4/5/6 means the number of starting frames, not a guaranteed 3×–6× multiplier. The table helps explain the different playing styles; our short samples cannot tell you which game is more profitable over time or establish their theoretical volatility.

Open the Starburst demo entry on AskSpinner to explore the game with the manufacturer's virtual points. Watch how the Wild expands and how the final WIN relates to BET; that will tell you more about whether you enjoy this game than its age or reputation. Also read the RTP in Help for the version you open. Our checked 90.05% setting is a good reason not to assume every Starburst version uses the product page's 96.08% figure.