Denmark’s most popular slot machine for many years – Starburst – has got a sequel that keeps everything the players love about Starburst, but doubles the biggest possible win and adds multipliers to the Starburst symbols of up to 150x. At the same time, the repayment percentage has received a slight boost. Read about all the new functions here.
What’s new in Starburst XXXtreme?
Starburst XXXtreme uses the same symbols and sound effects as Starburst, and the Starburst symbol still functions as a Wild, expanding vertically and triggering a Re-spin. But a number of new features have been added to Starburst XXXtreme:
Multiplier on Re-spins. Just like on Starburst, the Starburst symbol triggers a re-spin, but in Starburst XXXtreme there is a multiplier on this respin. Your winnings are multiplied by 2, 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 or up to 150. This means that, while you previously had a significantly greater chance of winning when you triggered Re-spins, you now get both greater chance to win, and if you win the prizes are significantly larger.
Random Wilds feature. This is brand new: after any spin or Re-spins, you can be lucky enough to be awarded 1-3 Starburst symbols on reels 2, 3 or 4.
XXXtreme spins. You now have the option to buy direct access to Re-spins with Starburst symbols on reels 2, 3 or 4. One column of Starburst symbols costs 10 times the bet, while two columns cost 95 times the bet. At the same time, the chances of winning are of course significantly higher: in fact, the RTP is slightly higher when you buy direct access: 96.45% against 96.26% for normal spins.
You only win from the left. Unfortunately, one of the unique things about Starburst has not been carried over to Starburst XXXtreme: You can no longer win from both sides, but only win on combinations from left to right. This means that you won’t win as often, but when you win on Re-spins with a multiplier, the prizes are higher.
Higher RTP: It can be tempting for game developers to try to squeeze a little more money from players when making a sequel to a popular game, but here Net Entertainment has actually chosen to go the other way: The payback percentage on Starburst XXXtreme has been raised compared to Starburst, so players now get back an average of 96.26% of the bet compared to 96.1% in Starburst. And even more if they buy direct access to XXXtreme spins.
What exactly made Starburst so popular
Taste is of course individual and people may have different reasons for liking a slot, but with Starburst, there’s no doubt that nostalgia plays a big part in the game’s success. Even though Starburst is a video slot, it looks like a classic mechanical slot machine from the arcade, and the video effects that could not be done on a mechanical machine are limited to the bonus feature – i.e. the expanding Starburst symbols – and a very subtle animations every time winner.
Another important feature that has contributed to the game’s success is speed. If you set the game to autospin, an average of 15 spins rush across the screen per minute, and that includes re-spins, which are activated about once a minute. The fact that the bonus function is triggered so often means that you are “rewarded” with a relatively large chance of winning once a minute, and this increases the enjoyment of the game for many players. After all, there are many who play slot machines to experience the rush of winning rather than to watch long animated sequences, which often characterize some of the more “advanced” slot machines.
Finally, there is the image and sound side of the game itself. The theme of the game is space, but it is again a nostalgic presentation of space, which gives several associations to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and Space Mountain from the 1970s. than to contemporary SpaceX rocket launches and Mars missions. In other words, it appeals to the most active slots players aged 40-60.
