Starburst is one of the most widely available online slots in the UK, and it's often the first game a new player tries. If you want to know how to play Starburst slot without the jargon, this walkthrough takes you through a single round, explains what the one feature actually does, and clears up a few things beginners tend to get wrong.
It's a NetEnt game, originally released in 2012, played on a 5×3 grid — five reels across, three symbols tall. The theme is space and jewels: emeralds, rubies, diamonds, sapphires and amethysts, plus a Lucky Number 7 and a golden BAR symbol.
Setting your stake and spinning
You control two things before each spin:
- Level — how many coins you bet per line.
- Coin Value — how much each coin is worth.
Adjust those two until the total bet shown suits you, then click the green Spin button. The bet range runs from 10p to £100 per spin.
One thing you can't change is the paylines. Starburst has 10 fixed paylines, and they're always active. You don't choose how many lines to play — every spin uses all ten.
To see how the lines run, hover over the edges of the screen to light them up, or open the combination pay-table and instructions menu on mobile. As with any form of gambling, it's worth setting yourself a budget before you start and sticking to it.
How wins are paid
To win, you need 3, 4 or 5 matching symbols on an active payline, landing on consecutive reels. Only the highest win on each payline counts.
Starburst uses Win Both Ways. Most slots only pay combinations that start on the leftmost reel and run rightwards. Here, winning lines also pay from right to left. That's part of why wins feel frequent — there are more ways for a line to come in.
What the symbols pay
Wins are shown in coins. The rough pecking order:
| Symbol | 3 / 4 / 5 on a line |
|---|---|
| BAR | 50 / 200 / 250 coins |
| Lucky Number 7 | 25 to 120 coins |
| Gemstones (five colours) | 5 to 60 coins |
Among the gems, the yellow one pays the most and the purple one pays the least. The BAR is the top-paying regular symbol.
How the expanding wilds and re-spins work
This is the only feature in the game, so it's worth understanding properly.
The Starburst Wild is the jewel-studded star. It only appears on the three middle reels — reels 2, 3 and 4. It never lands on reel 1 or reel 5.
When a wild lands:
- It expands to cover the entire reel.
- It substitutes for every paying symbol, helping complete lines.
- It locks in place and triggers a free re-spin.
If another wild lands on a different middle reel during that re-spin, that reel becomes wild too and you get another re-spin. This can build up to a maximum of 3 wild reels and 3 re-spins. With all three middle reels held as wilds and symbols matching on reels 1 and 5, that's where the biggest wins come from.
Two points beginners miss: the wild doesn't pay anything on its own — it only completes combinations made from the other symbols. And there are no multipliers attached to it.
Why the wilds only appear on reels 2, 3 and 4
It's a design choice baked into the maths. Because the wild only appears on the three central reels, it can only ever extend combinations in the middle of the grid — it can't single-handedly fill the whole screen. Combined with Win Both Ways, that produces lots of modest wins rather than rare huge ones, which fits the game's low-risk feel.
Does Starburst have free spins or a bonus round?
No. There's no free spins round and no scatter symbol. The expanding wild re-spins described above are the entire feature set — there's no separate bonus game, no bonus buy, and nothing to "unlock". Base play runs continuously, and the only extra action you'll ever see is a re-spin.
This trips people up, because many slots market their free spins heavily. In Starburst, if you're waiting for a bonus screen to appear, it never will.
Is Starburst high or low volatility?
Starburst is a low volatility slot. In plain terms, you get wins fairly often, but they tend to be small. AskGamblers reports a hit frequency of 22.6% at the highest RTP setting — roughly a win every 4.42 spins — with other versions sitting between 21.2% and 22.8%.
Low volatility doesn't mean you can't lose; it means the swings are gentler than on a high-variance game.
What is the RTP, and can it change between casinos?
RTP (return to player) is the long-run average a game pays back. Figures vary by source: most review sites quote 96.09%, while NetEnt's own page states 96.08%.
The catch is that NetEnt supplies multiple RTP versions that operators can choose to run — reported as 95.05%, 94.05%, 93.05%, 92.05% and 90.05%, with one source also listing 99.06% and 98.05%. A 94.05% version has been noted in use in Alberta. So the same game can pay back a different average depending on where you play it. If RTP matters to you, check the version listed in the specific game's info screen.
What is the maximum win on Starburst?
Sources disagree here, so it's worth flagging. Most UK review sites and AskGamblers state a maximum of 500x your stake per spin or re-spin, while NetEnt's own game page lists 800x bet. In cash terms, some sources put the top single-spin win at up to €50,000 / $50,000 on the maximum $100 wager, which lines up with the 500x figure.
Treat these as ceilings, not expectations — on a low-volatility game, hitting the cap is extremely rare.
Trying it for free
A play-for-fun demo version exists and is reviewed on various sites. The demo behaves exactly like the real game, so it's a sensible way to watch the wilds and re-spins a few times and get comfortable with setting your Level and Coin Value before you commit any money.