Chasing bad guys among the stars of the galaxy sounds like a recipe for an epic science fiction adventure, and that’s exactly what you get with Pragmatic Play’s Star Bounty slot. The reels are in a spaceship, and you can see an alien world through the windows on either side. Spaceships and birds fly around in the dynamic background and visually the game is very pleasing to the eye. A win of up to 25,000x is theoretically possible here, and the volatility is as high as you can imagine.
The hexagonal reels are probably the first thing you’ll notice, and they add to the futuristic atmosphere along with the synth-heavy background music and sound effects. However, the reels are less complicated than they look, as it’s actually a rather standard 6×4 reel setup with 4,096 paylines. You can place bets between 20p and €100 per spin on all platforms and devices, and benefit from a tumble feature on all wins here. The RTP of 96.6% is quite decent, but beware, Pragmatic games offer customizable RTP ranges.
The most innovative thing about this game is the Missile Wild. During the hyperspace bonus round, you also benefit from multiplier wilds that combine to create massive payouts. The game is pretty balanced, although it can take a while for the free spins to trigger. We had to buy it in our 200 spins test session, as the base game kept us stuck in orbit. This type of game is like launching a space shuttle. You will either explode into the stratosphere or get burned before you can get there. You can expect a lot of dead spins along the way, but the bonus round can reward you handsomely for your patience.
What are the bonus features?
There is a Tumble feature that is triggered on every win, removing the winning symbols to make room for new winning chances to fall from the top. This is a classic avalanche or cascading win feature that you have probably seen in many other games. The process continues as long as you get new winning combinations.
In this game, there is a regular wild symbol and also a missile wild. The regular wild looks like a multi-colored gem with the word “wild” in gold letters. It lands on reels 2 to 6 and interferes with all regular symbols to form winning combinations.
The Missile Wild looks like a cracked egg with a golden vase in the center. It can only land on the 3 middle reels (i.e. reels 2, 3 and 4), and it will fire one or more missiles that will hit random symbols and turn them into regular Wilds in the base game.
Free spins in Star Bounty
The scatter symbol is displayed with an atomic pattern in the background and the word “Free Spins” in gold fonts in the front. In other words, not easy to miss, and scatters can land on all 6 reels here. You need to land 3 anywhere to trigger the bonus round, and this leads you into an answer game that determines how many free spins you will end up with.
The triggering scatters are now stuck on the reels, and only blanks and new scatters can land. You get a respin every time you land at least 1 new scatter, and new scatters also get sticky and give you 1 free spin added to your balance. So you get as many free spins as you have sticky scatters on the reels, and you can get a maximum of 24 if you fill the entire grid.
You can land multiplier wilds during the bonus round in addition to the regular wilds and missile wilds (multiplier wilds can also come from the missile wilds). The multiplier wilds can land with either 2x or 3x multipliers, and the multiplier wilds can multiply together if more than one is part of the same winning combination. You can also choose to buy the free spins feature for 75 times your bet. This will give you between 3 and 6 scatters on the next spin (not available for UK players).
Game instructions
Pragmatic Play’s setup and user interface are the same as in the Star Bounty slot. In this part of the review, we will reveal everything you should know before you start playing this game. This may be old news for players with a lot of slot experience, but newbies should probably pay some attention here.
The little hamburger menu at the bottom left opens up the game settings for you. The main option here is the Quick Spin feature, which allows you to speed up the pace of play. There’s also a battery saving mode in case you’re playing on a mobile or tablet device and don’t currently have a way to charge.
The game sounds and music can be turned on and off separately in this game. We wish all developers would include them in their games. If you want to save time the next time you load the game, you can also disable the intro welcome screen. The volume can be adjusted via the speaker icon.
Next, you can open the game’s paytable via the big “i” icon next to the hamburger menu. As always, this is a dynamic paytable from this developer. This means that the symbol values will be updated according to the bet level you choose. You win by landing at least 3 matching symbols on adjacent reels, starting with the leftmost reel. There are 4,096 ways to win in this game and up to 6 matching symbols can land on a payline.
The highest paying symbols are the 4 characters, including a male and a female bounty hunter and the 2 masked villains chasing them. The male hero is the highest payer, and the premium symbols pay between 5x and 15x your bet. The space symbols are of medium value, and you also have the regular low value royal symbols in play here.
You can scroll through the paytable to learn more about the features, and check out the game rules and statistics. You can then choose your bet level between 20 pence and €100 per spin. This is done using the plus and minus symbols on either side of the spin button. If you want, you can set up between 10 and 100 autospins or simply turn on the reels manually and spin.
The 200 Spins Star Bounty Experience
The hexagonal symbol positions positively set this game apart and made us curious and eager to get started. We knew we were in for a volatile space exploration here, so we opted for a smaller bet of $2 per spin. You can see the highlights of our trip in the video and read all about how it went below.
As we expected (and feared), the base game offered pretty much nothing but dead spins and a few small wins sprinkled in here and there for good measure. The game never felt dull or boring, however, as it has that “oddly satisfying” quality that keeps you glued to the screen. This is especially true when you enable the fast paced option, and we definitely enjoyed our session.
Of course, it would have been nice with some bigger wins in the base game, and after a while we had to throw in the towel and pay for the bonus round. We crossed our fingers for a large number of spins, but only got 5 from the reply feature that precedes the free spins round. This is the big downside to buying the feature in this game, as you don’t really know what you are paying for.
It was a bit disappointing since we paid a good 75x our bet for this one, but who knows what 5 spins can lead to, right. The rocket wild landing gave us a 2x multiplier wild on the first spin, and this gave us a 4x win. A few dead spins later we got 3 additional wilds from the rocket wild, and this gave us our biggest win of 10x our bet. We only won a total of 14x our bet from the entire feature. This is how it can go on with this kind of volatility.
Summary
The unusual hexagonal design of this game makes it look different than when you first started playing. There’s really nothing new to see here once you get past the first impression, but Star Bounty is still a solid, straightforward science fiction slot from Pragmatic. The graphics are crisp and the gameplay is smooth and fast. You can win up to 25,000 times your theoretical stake here, although this developer is known for going a bit overboard when it comes to potential.
That being said, big wins are certainly possible, although we didn’t have any of those in our test session. The multiplier wilds in the bonus round ensure this, and the bonus round is not as hard to trigger as you might think. However, as we proved above, you can get both a small number of spins and small wins, and the buy option is therefore quite risky here.
Pros
Missile Wild turns random symbols into Wilds
Free spins with 2x and 3x multiplier wilds
High volatility and 25,000x maximum win potential
Cons
The advertised potential is very theoretical
Star Bounty Slot FAQs
What is the RTP of Star Bounty slot?
The default return to player is 96.6%, but Pragmatic games have adjustable RTP ranges. This means that operators can adjust the payout percentage within certain limits. Available RTP values are 96.60%, 95.54% and 94.50%.
How volatile is Star Bounty?
This is a high volatility game, scoring 5 out of a possible 5 on Pragmatic’s own volatility scale. We certainly experienced the downside of this volatility in our 200 spins test session.
What’s the biggest possible win here?
Pragmatic claims wins up to 25,000 times your bet, but this is a very theoretical number that will most likely never manifest. Nevertheless, bigger wins are certainly possible here if you get lucky with the wild multipliers in the bonus round.
How does the wild missile feature work?
A special wild can land and fire one or more missiles at random symbols. These are then converted into regular Wilds or multiplier Wilds in the bonus round.
Is there a free spins mode in the Star Bounty slot?
Yes, and a respins game determines how many spins you get from 3 to 24. You will benefit from 2x and 3x multiplier wilds in the bonus round, and these can multiply together to hopefully give you some massive wins.
How many winning ways are available?
Star Bounty offers 4,096 ways to win and these are fixed paylines that cannot be adjusted.
Can I play the Star Bounty slot for free?
Yes, you can try out the free Star Bounty game via the demo game at the very top of this page (UK players must first verify their age).
