Starburst Galaxy slot
Starburst Galaxy is NetEnt’s 2024 sequel to its classic Starburst, rebuilt on a 5x5 grid where three or more matching symbols in a straight line, across or down, make a win. Wins clear away and leave a wild at their centre, and five features earned through a run of wins lead to the Galaxy Star, which stretches the grid to 7x7.
Editorial note: this guide explains how Starburst Galaxy works. Rules, features and payout figures are set by the studio and can differ between operators and game versions, so check the game’s information panel before you play. Slots are games of chance, and nothing here predicts results. Availability at Fortune Games can change.
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Starburst Galaxy: key facts
| Studio | NetEnt |
|---|---|
| Reels and pays | 5 reels, 5 rows (7 by 7 during the Galaxy Star); wins for three or more matching symbols in a horizontal or vertical line |
| Avalanche | Winning symbols disappear and the gaps refill |
| Wild | Placed at the centre of each winning combination as it clears; substitutes for all symbols except scatters; 3, 4 or 5 wilds in line pay the top prize on the paytable |
| Feature Generator | One feature for every five consecutive wins: Destroy, Random Wilds (3 to 9 wilds), Expanding Wilds (each wild becomes three stacked), Line Transform, Upgrade |
| Galaxy Star | Starts with the fifth feature; grid grows to 7x7 with a 3x3 Starburst Wild; after wins, 4 to 8 regular wilds appear |
| Galaxy Metre | Fills with each win once the 3x3 wild is in play; at 50 the Galaxy Star is awarded again |
| Mega Star | Three scatters in one spin: a 2x2 Starburst Wild, then 2 to 5 regular wilds after wins |
| Multiplier Collect Metre | Scatters in Mega Star can carry x2, x3, x5, x10 or x25; collected multipliers apply to all wins for the rest of the round |
| Autoplay and turbo | Not available at sites licensed in Great Britain; UK rules require at least 2.5 seconds between the start of one game cycle and the next |
| Stakes | From 20p a spin in the studio’s range. UK rules cap online slot stakes at £5 a spin, or £2 if you are 18 to 24 |
| RTP | Shown in the game’s information panel |
| Series | Starburst (compared below) |
All values (Bet Levels, Maximum Wins etc.) mentioned in relation to this slot game are subject to change at any time.
How Starburst Galaxy plays
There are no paylines in the usual sense. A win is any row of three or more identical symbols touching in a straight line, read across the grid or down it, and each one sets off an Avalanche, the studio’s name for its cascading reels: the winning symbols vanish and new ones drop in to fill the space. What makes the sequel its own game is what gets left behind. Wherever a combination clears, a wild is placed at its centre, so one win can seed the next. These wilds stand in for every symbol except the scatter, and if three, four or five of them end up in line with nothing else, they pay as the highest prize on the paytable.
Starburst Galaxy: 5 reels, 5 rows (7 by 7 during the Galaxy Star); wins for three or more matching symbols in a horizontal or vertical line. Wins drop away and new symbols fall in, so one spin can pay more than once.
The Feature Generator
Every win in the main game also moves the Feature Generator on. For each five consecutive wins, it hands out one of five features: Destroy clears one or more symbol types from the grid; Random Wilds turns 3 to 9 paying symbols into wilds; Expanding Wilds makes every wild on the grid a stack of three; Line Transform fills a whole row or reel with one paying symbol; and Upgrade lifts a symbol type to a better-paying one. A long chain of Avalanches is what keeps the count rising, since the wins have to come one after another.
Galaxy Star and the Galaxy Metre
The fifth feature in the Generator brings the Galaxy Star. The play area opens out to seven reels by seven rows and a 3x3 Starburst Wild drops into a random spot. Once wins are counted, the winning symbols vanish and 4 to 8 ordinary wilds appear. When the Galaxy Star finishes, any features still waiting in the Generator go off. The arrival of the big wild also switches on the Galaxy Metre, which fills with each win; at 50 it awards the Galaxy Star a second time.
Mega Star and the Multiplier Collect Metre
Three scatters in the same spin start Mega Star, which places a 2x2 Starburst Wild somewhere on the grid and follows the next win with 2 to 5 regular wilds. Some of the scatters that land can carry multipliers of x2, x3, x5, x10 or x25. Those values go into the Multiplier Collect Metre and then apply to every win for the remainder of that game round, so a x5 collected early boosts each win that follows in the same sequence of Avalanches.
Starburst Galaxy compared with Starburst
The original Starburst is a 5x3 game with 10 paylines, and its wild works differently: it expands to cover a whole reel and triggers a respin. The Galaxy sequel drops paylines for straight-line matches on a 5x5 grid, places its wilds where wins clear rather than letting them land, and builds the Feature Generator and the scatter-driven Mega Star on top. Players who know the original will recognise the Starburst Wild by name, but the space it covers grows from one reel to a 3x3 block during the Galaxy Star.
| Game | Grid and lines | How wilds arrive |
|---|---|---|
| Starburst | 5x3, 10 paylines | Expand over their reel and trigger a respin |
| Starburst Galaxy | 5x5 (7x7 in the Galaxy Star), lines of three or more across or down | Placed where winning combinations clear, plus 2x2 and 3x3 Starburst Wilds in Mega Star and the Galaxy Star |
All values (Bet Levels, Maximum Wins etc.) mentioned in relation to this slot game are subject to change at any time.
Starburst Galaxy at Fortune Games
Look for the Galaxy sequel among the video slots in our lobby (18+), where the original Starburst and Slingo Starburst are listed too. The UK caps in the table apply to every player. There is no autoplay or turbo mode, as at every site licensed in Great Britain. Fortune Games has an app on the App Store and Google Play.
Frequently asked questions
How do you reach the Galaxy Star in Starburst Galaxy?
There are two routes. The usual one is to keep winning in the main game until the Feature Generator reaches its fifth award, which brings the 7x7 grid. The second only opens after that, because the Galaxy Metre switches on with the 3x3 Starburst Wild and needs 50 to award the Galaxy Star again.
Is Starburst Galaxy a cluster pays slot?
Not quite. NetEnt’s rule is that three or more matching symbols must line up in an unbroken horizontal or vertical row, so an L-shaped or zig-zag group does not count the way it would in a true cluster game. Wilds still help, filling in for any symbol except the scatter, and they are placed at the centre of each line that clears.
How is Starburst Galaxy different from Starburst XXXtreme?
NetEnt released Starburst XXXtreme in July 2021 on the original 5x3 shape, with Starburst Wilds on reels 2, 3 and 4 that expand and award a respin, plus Random Wilds that carry multipliers of up to x150. Galaxy moves to a 5x5 grid of straight-line matches instead, and its multipliers come from Mega Star scatters, which top out at x25.
Related guides
Checked on 15 November 2026 against NetEnt’s game pages for Starburst Galaxy, Starburst and Starburst XXXtreme, the OLBG game records for all three, and the Gambling Commission’s stake-limit guidance and game design rules. How we research and check our guides: our editorial policy.