At First Glance
The universe has bestowed upon us the most incredible and most gigantic slot ever. With a whopping 117,649 ways to win, this new slot, StarQuest is the craziest slot we’ve ever seen in our years as slot reviewers and players. It’s a Megaways™ slot, a trademarked slot algorithm that is invented by Big Time Gaming. You can expect really stunning win sequences that go on for well over a minute, huge bursts of cash and good fun all around.
Game Basics
So, how does the game deliver 117,649 ways to win? First of all, the game has 6×7 reel setup, instead of the usual 5×3. Secondly, the game pays both ways, meaning that wins can start from both the left and right hand side of the board. Finally, the game’s Wild symbols come coupled with multipliers, which further increase the number of ways to win.
The game accepts bets between 20p and £500 per spin. It’s quite a volatile slot too. This means that you can expect a few dry spells with very few wins and sudden bursts of huge wins. Contrast this with low-volatility slots, such as Foxin Wins, that deliver a steady stream of small wins and consequently, less suspense. The choice between both types of games really depends on each player’s preference and risk appetite. In my opinion, games like StarQuest aren’t nearly as much fun with penny bets.
You’ve got to put a lot of yourself out there, place as large a bet as you can afford and create opportunities for yourself to earn big wins. Of course, this strategy must be coupled with a healthy dose of common sense. Watch your casino balance and always stop while you’re ahead!
There are 10 different symbols that you can line up, including a few jewels and the usual 9, 10, J, Q, K and A. The most desirable symbol of the lot is the StarQuest logo symbol; this one multiplies your wager by 300x.
Bonus Features
As if the Megaway™ feature isn’t appealing enough, the designers of StarQuest continued to design even more ways for players to win. There’s an insanely good Full Reel Wilds feature. The symbol you’re looking out for here is the female astronaut. It functions much like a Stacked Wild, in that it takes up the space of five symbols and boosts your chances of scoring a winning payline. At the same time, each Full Reel Wild symbol comes with a multiplier (up to 5x) and this will jack up your winnings even further.
What’s better, a few Full Reel Wilds can appear in a single spin (essentially covering your board with Wild symbols!) When this happens, the individual multipliers will be compounded together. For example, two Full Reel Wilds with 2x and 3x multipliers would result in a 6x multiplier applied onto all winning combinations.
The craziness doesn’t stop there. Every instance of the Full Reel Wild triggers a free re-spin. The re-spins can be re-triggered too, If you land another Full Reel Wild on the re-spin. On all subsequent re-spins, the wilds are held and the multipliers are increased. It all makes for a really exciting, really profitable win sequence.
How Does The Game Perform?
I was very relieved that the game doesn’t have annoying Star Trek music to accompany this space/sci-fi themed game. Instead, the sounds are quite subtle. The graphics of the game are slightly dated and not quite as futuristic as I would’ve liked. For example, the planet in the background looks like an illustration you’d find in my childhood encyclopaedia rather than a photograph from NASA. You could say that the game designers focused on function rather than form. At least the aesthetics aren’t a deal breaker, merely complementary to the main Megaways™ attraction.
The Feature That You Should Look Out For
The game doesn’t actually activate all 117,649 paylines at a time. The number of rows on each reel actually vary on each spin. Sometimes, a reel can contain only two symbols; at other times, the reel is filled to the brim with seven symbols. This means that the number of paylines alters on each spin. Only when the game falls into the maximum 7×7 configuration, the game hits the crazy 117,649 payline setup.
This does not happen very often; if it did, the game would have amazingly high payouts that cut into the casinos profit margins. However, the very possibility of activating so many paylines at a time adds weight to the StarQuest and Megaways™ brand. It is so exciting and rare, and it generates an intrigue amongst players and the slot community.
And Finally…
The game only gets really exciting when the Full Reel Wilds are activated. When that happens, you can then just buckle up and watch the show. Otherwise, StarQuest is like any other good slot. If you’re a fan of the theme but StarQuest is too volatile for you, don’t forget to check out NetEnt’s Starburst instead.
