Starlight Riches
Imagine if every four of a kind win was automatically a five of a kind win with multipliers. That’s the basis of the gameplay in the Starlight Riches online slot. On top of that, it has a great free spins mode with all minor symbols removed from the reels.
Casinos with Starlight Riches
- Starlight Riches
An Introduction to the Starlight Riches Slot
A throwback style slot can mean a lot of different things. In a game like Money Jar, for example, it’s all about the animation style. However, in titles like the Starlight Riches video slot, it’s more about giving players an older set of symbols based on the fruit machines made popular decades ago.
Booming Games knows how to take an older motif like this and bring it into the modern era.
One way they’ve done this is with their graphical choices. This game has you looking at a set of reels in front of a space background. It looks better than most with purple auras coming from behind the golden reels. Additionally, each symbol on the reels themselves has a great look with a tremendous amount of detail. We can really appreciate this because it shows how much they’ve put into the presentation. It also shows that Booming Games wants to make a good impression in all of their titles. That’s even the case in situations like this where they could have “gotten away with” less.
The gameplay is the other side of making a throwback-style slot stand out. Again, they were able to do that in a major way. For this particular title, the way they approached this is two-fold. First, the regular game mode is different than any 5×3 video slot we’ve ever seen. Second, the features are extremely valuable and go out of their way to give you better opportunities to win than usual.
Betting and Layout
At first glance, this game looks like it has four reels. However, that’s not exactly the case. While we’ll get into the mechanics of the fifth reel and the stars on it down below, we want you to know that the basic idea of how wins happen is actually pretty easy to learn. Here’s what we think you should know about before playing:
- Even though the fifth reel appears differently, this game does have five reels. They operate pretty normally despite their appearance. You also have three rows of symbols, a number that doesn’t shift at any point in the gameplay.
- Booming Games gave this title 10 paylines. Despite this seemingly limited number of lines, the action is pretty intense because of the mechanics and features.
- All paylines only pay out for winning combinations going from left to right. You also don’t have any ability to manipulate (increase or decrease) the number of active paylines.
- The minimum wager available in this game is a simple €0.10 per spin.
- You can also pick out bet sizes that run as high as €150 for each turn. Note that some casinos or jurisdictions may limit this to €50 or €100.
Other Information
It’s somewhat rare to find 10-payline video slots that have a fairly high volatility. However, that’s exactly what we have here due to the way the features work. Large multipliers are the main culprit in why the volatility is in the medium-high range for this slot. Additionally, this means that the swings are a bit higher than normal as well. It’s not the end of the world, and they’re not excessively high like in progressive jackpot slots. With that said, you’ll definitely want to keep the higher volatility in mind.
We wouldn’t have blamed Booming Games for listing payouts based on line bet wins. However, they went with listing it by multiples of the entire wager you’ve made each spin. As such, we’ll follow along with that convention in the following when we go over the available wins. Overall, it’s probably for the best that they took this route since it’s the easiest way to make it clear how much you can win for each combination.
Gameplay and Features for the Starlight Riches Video Slot
If it wasn’t for the atypical mechanics, the gameplay of the Starlight Riches online slot would remind us a bit of Neon Light Fruits without the neon signs. The main motifs that carry over are the throwback fruit machine themes and the fast-paced action. However, since some of the mechanics are atypical, we think it’s really important for players to read the following explanations.
The Absence of Four of a Kind Wins
The first thing you need to know before you play is that this title does not have any four of a kind wins. However, you’re not missing out at all. The four of a kind wins don’t exist because they all automatically turn into five of a kind payouts.
If you look at the paylines listed in the pay table, you’ll notice that they look completely normal for a five-reel slot. That’s because they include the fifth reel by design even though that reel is a little atypical. We’ll get into the function that these stars on the last reel serve down below. However, the main thing to know is that you are playing a five-reel game, but the four of a kind prizes are forced into using the fifth reel as well.
The Wild Multiplier Reel
Now here’s where things get really interesting. The fifth reel consists of wild multiplier star symbols. What’s more is that these wild stars do not appear on any other reel. As a result, you cannot make winning combinations with the wild symbols. However, you aren’t really missing out because of the big end result of this wild setup:
Every four of a kind win turns into a five of a kind win that forcibly uses a wild multiplier.
Once you understand this mechanic, you can understand why the entire game is set up in an atypical way. The multipliers can go all the way from 2x up to the 50x level, which can lead to massive prizes. Note that this is before we get into any other goodies from the free spins down below.
Another thing to understand about this wild multiplier reel is that it’s the main reason for the volatility. Since you can hit a five of a kind win with a 50x multiplier at any time just for lining up four matching symbols on a payline, big payouts can hit you at any moment.
Starlight Riches Free Spins
While the wild multiplier reel offers a ton of value, it’s not the only feature. Players can find diamond scatter symbols on each of the first four reels. Three or more located anywhere on the game board gets you a set of free spins:
- Four of a Kind – Seven free spins
- Three of a Kind – Three free spins
You have the ability to re-trigger the free spins during the bonus round along the same lines. However, these free turns are worth a lot more than your spins in the regular game mode. That’s because none of the low-tier card suit symbols appear on the reels in the bonus game. As a result, players are given some really great opportunities to hit more wins than usual since it’s more likely to hit winning combinations (of higher values too) with fewer symbols on the reels.
Additionally, we want to point out that the wild stars do not substitute for the scatters.
How to Win at Starlight Riches
It’s easy to get tricked into thinking that this is a low-volatility title. Fruit machine throwback slots like the Starlight Riches video slot often have a lower volatility than average. That’s one reason why this game stands out so much in the throwback sub-genre. However, in this case of this slot, it actually has an above-average volatility.
The swings are so significant here because of the forced multiplier wilds that can happen so often. Each four of a kind win is able to be multiplied by up to 50x, giving massive variation in payouts.
To compensate for this, we suggest players consider a simple betting adjustment. Lowering your bet size by one level, or about 25 to 33 percent, is a great option here. The effect is that it lowers the effective volatility with respect to the amount you would have previously wagered. However, it also limits the upper end of your available payouts. As such, players need to weigh the pros and cons here and make a decision that works for them.
Payout Structure for the Starlight Riches Online Slot
This is not a game with a whole lot of symbols. For instance, the top-paying regular symbol is the red lucky seven. It offers a base prize of 8x for five of a kind. However, only two other mid-tier symbols are available after that. This includes the lemon with its 4x win for five and the strawberry with its 3x payout for five of a kind combinations. You should note that these sizes are slightly misleading sine they’re all forced to have a multiplier worth at least 2x.
Each of the four low-level symbols are card suits. You start off with 1.5x for five of the red heart and continue with 1.2x for five of the green club. Additionally, payouts of 1x and 0.8x are yours for five of the blue spade and purple diamond, respectively.
Overview
The dynamics of the Starlight Riches slot are pretty interesting to us because they remind us of another slot title. In the Legendary Diamonds game, you see a similar situation where a limited number of high-quality features drive a ton of action. Accordingly, we think that players who love one of these games will love the other.
Within the throwback sub-genre that centers around fruit motifs, we see a lot of straightforward games. Frankly, they can sometimes be a bit boring and stagnant. However, Booming Games was clearly having none of that in this game. Between the graphical style and the feature set, it’s clear that they were looking to stand out from other similarly themed slots.
FAQ
Which online casinos have Starlight Riches?
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What is the Return to Player (RTP) for Starlight Riches?
The Starlight Riches RTP is 95.5%. An RTP of 95.5% puts Starlight Riches among slots with a below-average Return to Player. An Average RTP is at least 96%, and a high RTP at least 98%.