Starburst pokie: play free online and where to play for real money in New Zealand

Starburst in two minutes

Starburst is a five-reel, ten-line pokie that NetEnt released on 23 January 2012, and it is still the game most casinos hand out free spins on. There is no free-spins round, no scatter and no bonus buy. The one feature is the Starburst wild: it lands only on the middle three reels, expands to cover its reel, locks there and gives you a respin, up to three times in a row. Wins pay in both directions. It is a low-volatility gem-matcher built for short, frequent wins, and its ceiling is a few hundred times the stake.

How it plays

The grid is 5 × 3 with ten fixed paylines. The lines pay both ways: a combination counts whether it starts on the leftmost reel or the rightmost. The symbols are five gems (purple, blue, green, yellow and red), a lucky seven and a BAR. The BAR is the top symbol; five on a line pay 25x stake, five sevens pay 12x, and five of the best gem pay 6x. Gems are the small change.

NetEnt’s game page lists the bet range as 0.10 to 100 per spin, which is A$0.10 to A$100 at an AUD casino; the original client used ten bet levels multiplied by a coin value, and some casinos still show it that way. The studio’s page states a hit frequency of 23% (databases say 22.6%), so roughly one spin in four pays something. NetEnt’s own volatility score for the game is 3.1 on a ten-point scale, which is low, and that matches how it plays.

Bonus features

Starburst Wild. The wild appears only on reels two, three and four. When one lands anywhere on those reels it expands to fill all three positions on that reel, substitutes for every other symbol, and stays in place while the other reels respin once at no cost.

Respins. If another wild lands on a different one of the middle reels during a respin, it expands as well, both wilds lock, and a further respin follows. That can happen a maximum of three times: three respins in a row with wilds on reels two, three and four all locked. When a respin produces no new wild, the sequence ends and the wins from that spin are paid.

That is the whole feature set. There are no multipliers, no free spins and no gamble. NetEnt’s page confirms there is no bonus buy. Starburst XXXtreme and Starburst Galaxy are separate games with their own maths.

RTP and volatility

Starburst’s headline RTP has been quoted as 96.09% since its release, and Bigwinboard and Slotcatalog both list that as the default. NetEnt’s current game page, now hosted on the Playin platform, shows 96.08%, a one-hundredth difference that we take to be rounding of the same certified build. More important is the range beneath it: NetEnt ships Starburst with configurable RTP. Bigwinboard and Slotcatalog give the range as 90.05% to 99.06%; OLBG lists the six settings it has seen as 96.09%, 95.05%, 94.05%, 93.05%, 92.05% and 90.05%. The ones to watch for are the 94% and 92% builds, which a Curaçao casino can run without telling anyone. Open the info panel at the casino in real-money mode and read the figure printed there.

On the maximum win, the databases say 500x stake per spin, and NetEnt’s page now says 800x. We quote 500x as the long-standing figure and note the studio’s higher number. Either way, at A$1 a spin the best possible outcome is a few hundred dollars, and the respin sequence that produces it (BARs on the outer reels with all three middle reels wild) is rare. Low volatility means small wins land often, the bankroll erodes slowly, and nothing in the game will change your week.

Where to play Starburst in Australia and New Zealand

NetEnt is widely licensed but not universally available to Australians, and the casino reviews we hold reflect that. Spin Samurai, Richard Casino, Golden Crown and Need for Spin all name NetEnt in the pokies section of their review, and all four run AUD accounts; they are listed above in rating order. Neospin’s review also names NetEnt but records that we could not check whether NetEnt titles actually open for Australian accounts, so it is not listed. RocketPlay, our highest-rated casino, states outright that NetEnt games are blocked for Australian players by contract..

None of the four reviews records which RTP build of Starburst is loaded. Treat the 96.09% figure as the studio default, not a promise.

Free demo

NetEnt’s game page runs the game for free with the Playin platform’s virtual coins rather than a plain open demo, and it requires the Playin front end rather than a bare launcher, so we have not linked a demo button here. We have not found an official standalone NetEnt demo endpoint that we can confirm. Most casinos that carry the game will let you open it in fun mode before registering; that demo normally runs the same build the casino has loaded, so the info panel there is worth reading.

Verdict

Starburst is a 2012 game that does one thing: expanding wilds, respins, both-ways pays, low variance. It is the pokie casinos attach free spins to because the maths is gentle and the cap is low, and that is exactly why it is worth understanding before you accept the spins. If you want a session that lasts and a game whose rules fit in a sentence, it is fine; if you want a max win worth the name, it is the wrong game. Check the RTP build, because NetEnt gives casinos more room to lower it than most studios do.

FAQ

Is there a Starburst free play demo? NetEnt’s own site runs the game for free with the Playin platform’s play-money coins, and most casinos offer a fun-mode version. We have not found an open studio demo endpoint to link directly.

What is the RTP of Starburst? The default is 96.09% (NetEnt’s page shows 96.08%). The game is shipped with configurable builds from 90.05% to 99.06%, and the casino chooses. Check the info panel.

Is Starburst available online in Australia? Yes, at offshore casinos that carry NetEnt for Australian accounts. Of the casinos we recommend, Spin Samurai, Richard Casino, Golden Crown and Need for Spin name NetEnt; RocketPlay blocks NetEnt for Australians.