Starbu(r)st - Love it or hate it?

[raverbabe]

Casino reps are forever telling us that NetEnt's "Starburst" is one of the most popular games at their casino, a statement which amazes me every time I read it - I think this game is completely terrible!

It's unexciting, the maximum win is extremely low, and there are no features to speak other than the expanding wild respin which awards absolutely nothing nine times out of ten. Why on earth would this game be popular? 

If you like the game, why? And do any casino reps have any statistics to back up the assertion that this is one of the most popular on-line casino games? I'd be truly fascinated to hear some views on this topic!

Thanks for your time folks

[Awena]

Good question raverbabe. 

 

I neither love it or hate. 

 

I was amazed myself to hear and see so much of Starbust. 

 

I even got tired of Free Spins offers for Starbust.

 

As for casino reps stating about Starbust,I am sure they have statistics to back up there statements. 

 

Starbust is extremely popular among gamblers but I don't think it will maintain that status too long.

 

Sooner or later, Starbust will be past. ..with it's poor paytable.

[Fiekie247]

Raverbabe you hit the nail right there. I have the same issue, a great casino with a great deposit offer, but that free spins attached on starbust is just not great for me, although i have seen how well startbust can pay spin after spin.

 

I done like starbust at all, but lately decided to take any free spins offer, as i do sometimes win more often lately.

 

Especially casino that has no wagering on free spins, offer you 100 free spins on starbust, i mean really? Am i gonna have a $3 wager free winning from 100 spins.

 

Lets see if casino reps come and respond here.

[Afi4wins]

The way I see it, and have mentioned it before, casinos prefer to offer their free spins on Starburst, simply because of the game's traits.

 

It costs only $0.10 per spin, so 100 free spins would only cost them $10, a cost-reduction of at least 100% for them. Starburst doesn't give big wins often, only rarely you could get those 3 Wild Star Reels with a Bar on either side, so the chances of casinos having to pay out big are very much reduced. Those numerous no-Starburst spins make completing 100 free spins relatively safe for casinos, cutting down on their risks. 20 free spins, 50 free spins is peanuts to them, and that's a fact.

 

I have compared Starburst with Fruit Zen, its most similar rival game, and I've found that the chances of getting 2 Wild Reels and 3 Wild Reels are much greater in Fruit Zen and they do come more frequently than in Starburst. I have also had several beautiful big wins on Fruit Zen's 3 Wild Reels as compared to Starburst, and my biggest win so far came from Fruit Zen, not Starburst, needless to say.

 

Starburst is one game I had began loving, but that lasted for only a few weeks at the most. Too many losses and small blardy wins changed all that, and that's how I found Fruit Zen. Till today, fruits are still my most favourite kind. The stars can remain in the sky, as far as I am concerned. 

[cocopop3011]

Okay so here's my 2 cents worth

 

I don't LOVE it but I certainly don't hate it.

 

If you had asked me maybe 18 months ago I probably would have told you I love it and it's one of my favourite slots and here's why. This game at 10p a spin I agree is completely useless, yes its okay to try and get your balance up a bit if you've gone under a fiver but that's about it.

 

There was a time when I was playing Starburst all the time betting between 30p - 60p a spin and the game was very successful for me over and over again. It helped me out with a lot of withdrawals £300+ and the best thing about this slot at that betting range is it smashes any wagering. This used to be my main slot for wagering. I'd leave it at 200 auto spins a time come back and more often or not I would be in profit. Obviously this didn't happen every time but I kept playing it because I liked it for the reasons I have mentioned.

 

I've played this game at £1 a spin a lot too but never found that it's been as good as with the lower bets. As with any game that you play continually over and over again day in day out it starts to become "not so good". Mainly because I had so many awesome wins, probably the most I was going to get out of the game so unless I was willing to raise my bets more I wasn't going to keep being impressed by the amount of win,

 

So as anyone else would do I gradually moved on to other games and Starburst is now just a game I play now and again.

 

Did I used to love it? YES

 

Do I love it now? NO

 

But I'll always like the game!

[raverbabe]

 

i have seen how well startbust can pay spin after spin.

 

Really ?! I don't think I have ever seen a screenshot above 200x bet on the game, and I have *NEVER* seen a jackpot hit despite the games supposed popularity. On a game that pays only 500x maximum, this should happen at least occasionally shouldn't it?

 

It costs only $0.10 per spin, so 100 free spins would only cost them $10, a cost-reduction of at least 100% for them. Starburst doesn't give big wins often, only rarely you could get those 3 Wild Star Reels with a Bar on either side, so the chances of casinos having to pay out big are very much reduced. Those numerous no-Starburst spins make completing 100 free spins relatively safe for casinos, cutting down on their risks. 20 free spins, 50 free spins is peanuts to them, and that's a fact.

 

I absolutely agree with this and think that explains the games popularity - with casino operators at least! Casinos will often give out 5, 10 or 20 starburst spins as an "incentive" for players to sign up, but they are of course worth next to nothing and Starburst is a game that rarely pays out more than those handful of spins are worth, it's definitely one you need to play for a while to get a hit that brings your RTP back up to where it should be. Isn't that just the WORST kind of slot, one that eats your balance slowly but surely and only occasionally boosts you back above your starting balance?

[raverbabe]

There was a time when I was playing Starburst all the time betting between 30p - 60p a spin and the game was very successful for me over and over again. It helped me out with a lot of withdrawals £300+ and the best thing about this slot at that betting range is it smashes any wagering. This used to be my main slot for wagering. I'd leave it at 200 auto spins a time come back and more often or not I would be in profit. Obviously this didn't happen every time but I kept playing it because I liked it for the reasons I have mentioned.

 

Well,. now I've heard it all.! But coming from you cocopop I have no doubt you are telling the truth. Can I have misjudged the game? I don't know, but I fear for my deposit playing this game on 60p a spin that's for sure! I can imagine it being an option when playing a wagering requirement if your balance is big enough, but there have to be so many better options don't there?

[blondie]

If I have to decide between hate or love- I do love it. Recently I've been playing Starburst with 0.20€ bets and it has helped me a lot with wagering. This is not a game I would play only for fun, I just think that it can help keep steady balance. For example I had a small no deposit bonus and within few hours I wagered almost 1000€ with 20 cent bets and managed to withdraw around 90€ which where basically for free.

[cocopop3011]

Well,. now I've heard it all.! But coming from you cocopop I have no doubt you are telling the truth. Can I have misjudged the game? I don't know, but I fear for my deposit playing this game on 60p a spin that's for sure! I can imagine it being an option when playing a wagering requirement if your balance is big enough, but there have to be so many better options don't there?

 

Indeed there are better options out there, but at the time when I played Starburst the most it was the only game for me. But as time goes on you get bored of playing thr same game and this is just what happened with me and Starburst.

 

I bet most of my winner screenshots have come from this game. Raverbabe I'll see if I can dig some old ones out for you - I'm almost positive I've got some over 200x

 

If I have to decide between hate or love- I do love it. Recently I've been playing Starburst with 0.20€ bets and it has helped me a lot with wagering. This is not a game I would play only for fun, I just think that it can help keep steady balance. For example I had a small no deposit bonus and within few hours I wagered almost 1000€ with 20 cent bets and managed to withdraw around 90€ which where basically for free.

 

Absolutely blondie! It's great for keeping a steady balance and I'd always recommend this game to help with wagering.

 

I think Starburst is just one of those games though some players love it others hate it. It's like me and Twin Spin, the game is so popular here but I hate it!

[Afi4wins]

I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!

 

But I'm still playing it...once in awhile... 

Not many games can let me play with just $0.03 bet per spin...   

[Flatzem]

Earlier this year I played a monstrous 1857 spin session Starburst skinnerbox experiment, (no autoplay/just skinner box) @0.20/spin and it did spit out the 3 stars combo once for a 67.5xBet, longest sequence of dead spins during session: 24, still it was a losing session as it never went above starting balance and took 37.42EUR from me. [session RTP 89.92%], Theoretical RTP for Starburst is 96.10%.

 

[cocopop3011]

Earlier this year I played a monstrous 1857 spin session Starburst skinnerbox experiment, (no autoplay/just skinner box) @0.20/spin and it did spit out the 3 stars combo once for a 67.5xBet, longest sequence of dead spins during session: 24, still it was a losing session as it never went above starting balance and took 37.42EUR from me. [session RTP 89.92%], Theoretical RTP for Starburst is 96.10%.

 

So just to check do you Love it or Hate it? 

[raverbabe]

I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!

 

But I'm still playing it...once in awhile... 

Not many games can let me play with just $0.03 bet per spin...   

 

How about Microgaming's "Thunderstruck" ?? I saw somebody won £300 on that playing a single line at £0.01p a couple of years ago. The most you could win on Starburst with that bet is just £5.00 !!

[Flatzem]

So just to check do you Love it or Hate it? 

 

bit of both, for the hate part its the long sequences of dead spins especially with a star  , for the love  , it does work well for meeting wagering requirements when its in a good mood  .

[raverbabe]

Earlier this year I played a monstrous 1857 spin session Starburst skinnerbox experiment, (no autoplay/just skinner box) @0.20/spin and it did spit out the 3 stars combo once for a 67.5xBet, longest sequence of dead spins during session: 24, still it was a losing session as it never went above starting balance and took 37.42EUR from me. [session RTP 89.92%], Theoretical RTP for Starburst is 96.10%.

 

Those 3 stars guarantee you a four of a kind on every payline, both ways. I'm going to assume that's what you got as surely you would have won more if you had any five of a kinds, which means you won on 20 paylines at once and still only got 67.5x your bet. That seems awful to me!

[Flatzem]

Those 3 stars guarantee you a four of a kind on every payline, both ways. I'm going to assume that's what you got as surely you would have won more if you had any five of a kinds, which means you won on 20 paylines at once and still only got 67.5x your bet. That seems awful to me!

 

was worse than that it was actually 66.5x Bet. 7s and Bars went missing before or after respins.

[raverbabe]

Well thank the lord I was right and you don't have any five of a kinds in there! If I remember correctly the purple symbols are quite low scoring so you were unlucky to get a full stack of those. 

 

I can't think of any other game - particularly a 9/10 liner - where getting the middle 3 reels full of stacked wilds would produce a win this low. It's such a rare event it simply makes no sense for it to pay out so little!

[Afi4wins]

My best ever win on Starburst is this 290x bet win:

 

 

 

And this is my second best win so far on Fruit Zen, at only 156x

but two more 3 Wild Reels and a few of 2 Wild Reels came soon after, for a final 3000EUR withdrawal

My best ever session win on Fruit Zen, which Starburst could never give me.

 

[raverbabe]

Monster! I like the look of that game

[ValDes]

In my humble opinion, Starburst is no longer just a very popular NetEnt video slot, it's a living legend! Despite its low variance, despite its poor paytable, despite its ultra rare big mega combo wins, despite everything and beyond this game is and most probably will be for a long time among the most popular slots ever. 

 

The reasons?... It's rather easy actually, the truth is that what makes this game ultra popular is that most players do not associate its name with big losses. Short or long sessions, small or high bets, 9 out of 10 times you will finish near or just a little above or below the starting balance. And that's the perfect choice for anyone who hit big early with bonus funds and still has hundreds or thousands ahead to wager... 

 

One more thing though... It seems like there's something really 'magical' around this game. I know it sounds weird, but I've heard and seen many unbelievable stories about players getting 'back' literally from scratch playing Starburst with their last cents. I personally know one of these guys , you may even read his incredible story below...

 

From 0.01 to 900.01 OR How Guru met Lady Luck again!

[raverbabe]

The reasons?... It's rather easy actually, the truth is that what makes this game ultra popular is that most players do not associate its name with big losses. Short or long sessions, small or high bets, 9 out of 10 times you will finish near or just a little above or below the starting balance. And that's the perfect choice for anyone who hit big early with bonus funds and still has hundreds or thousands ahead to wager... 

 

Here's the crazy thing, I've heard other people say the same thing about the game, that it makes light work of any amount of wagering requirement for example but my own experience has been completely the opposite of that - when I burnt through a £40 balance with tiny 10p spins for example I assumed I had just been extremely unlucky but I gave the game chance after chance during the past 18 months when I had a big bonus to play through and I even joined in a group test of the game over at another forum where around 10 of us each played at least 1000 spins to see if we could manage to see the jackpot spin of a whole screen of BAR symbols - nobody got it and infact there was only a single screenshot posted of a win over 400x stake. 

 

And to put the cherry on the top as it were, the game is just SO dull too isn't it? Who decided not to include a bonus round ?! The "Starburst Wild" doesn't even come close to making up for it, I can only remember seeing all three onscreen ONCE... and it still paid badly as I didn't match any symbols on the left and right

But I respect your opinion ValDes, and that story of turning 0.01 into 32.05 is completely insane! I've had Dead or Alive turn 0.62 into over £200 (from 10 wager-free free spins at Videoslots too.. .that was a sweet day!) but if that happened on Starburst I think I'd probably die of shock

[zerooo]

i hate it just because i never won much from it.. i rather play other NetEnt games which have bigger potenital on winnings. so i stay away from it - the only time when i open and play it is when i claim some bonuses which have free spins on Starburst..

[Fiekie247]

Okay so here's my 2 cents worth

 

I don't LOVE it but I certainly don't hate it.

 

If you had asked me maybe 18 months ago I probably would have told you I love it and it's one of my favourite slots and here's why. This game at 10p a spin I agree is completely useless, yes its okay to try and get your balance up a bit if you've gone under a fiver but that's about it.

 

There was a time when I was playing Starburst all the time betting between 30p - 60p a spin and the game was very successful for me over and over again. It helped me out with a lot of withdrawals £300+ and the best thing about this slot at that betting range is it smashes any wagering. This used to be my main slot for wagering. I'd leave it at 200 auto spins a time come back and more often or not I would be in profit. Obviously this didn't happen every time but I kept playing it because I liked it for the reasons I have mentioned.

 

I've played this game at £1 a spin a lot too but never found that it's been as good as with the lower bets. As with any game that you play continually over and over again day in day out it starts to become "not so good". Mainly because I had so many awesome wins, probably the most I was going to get out of the game so unless I was willing to raise my bets more I wasn't going to keep being impressed by the amount of win,

 

So as anyone else would do I gradually moved on to other games and Starburst is now just a game I play now and again.

 

Did I used to love it? YES

 

Do I love it now? NO

 

But I'll always like the game!

Okay one Question Coco..

 

Starbust or Twin Spin?

[Afi4wins]

Okay one Question Coco..

 

Starbust or Twin Spin?

 

If it's all on free spins, it's Twin Spin for me.

If on real money, none of the two...but I'd rather give Starbutts a go or two.

 

Twin Spin has been no different for me, sadly enough.

Both have 'twins' in the game...twin reels and twin starbursting are just not good for me.

Don't know about twin girlfriends though. 

[Fiekie247]

If it's all on free spins, it's Twin Spin for me.

If on real money, none of the two...but I'd rather give Starbutts a go or two.

 

Twin Spin has been no different for me, sadly enough.

Both have 'twins' in the game...twin reels and twin starbursting are just not good for me.

Don't know about twin girlfriends though. 

Free spins i prefer twin spin as well, and lately i become to love Twin Spin so much. Cannot get enough of it.