Basketball Star Slot Review, Demo Play, Payout, Free Spins & Bonuses

Basketball Star Review

Grab your sneakers, and let’s shoot some hoops. Basketball Star is the fourth game in the sports-themed “Star” series of slots from Microgaming. Released in November 2015, this action-packed 5 reel, 243 ways slot features Rolling Reels, Wild Reels, a Free Spins Bonus with Multiplier Trail and a maximum payout of 2400x your bet.

Inspired by the resounding commercial success of Break Away (2012), Microgaming replicated the same crowd-pleasing features from the ice-hockey classic to create Football Star in 2014, followed by Cricket Star, Rugby Star and Basketball Star in 2015. All four “Star” slots are essentially the same game with different sporting themes and a few minor tweaks to the payouts.

Basketball Star’s graphics have been designed to capture the excitement of a fast-paced major league final. The reels are set against a bright, highly-polished basketball court in a packed arena. Camera flashes and court-side lighting provide an atmosphere of energy and excitement, giving players that front row feeling.

Basketball Star features 5 high-paying symbols, 4 low-paying symbols, a Bonus Scatter and plenty of Wilds to boost your wins. The highest paying symbol is the Bonus Scatter, which pays 250x your bet for 5 of a kind. Landing 3 or more Bonus Scatters will trigger the Free Spins feature, we will discuss the bonus features in detail shortly. There are over 40 Wild symbols across the reels in the Base Game and in Free Spins. Wild symbols are stacked on reels 3, 4 and 5.

Rolling Reels is a hugely popular feature found in several Microgaming slots. Symbols that form part of a winning combination explode and disappear from the reels, making way for new symbols to fall into the place from above. With any luck, this ’rolling’ action could trigger a series of consecutive wins, giving players the potential to trigger multiple wins on a single spin.

Basketball Star is a medium volatility game, with a Return to Player (RTP) of 96.45% and maximum jackpot of just over 2400x your bet. The minimum bet is €0.50 per spin, and the maximum bet is €50.00 (depending on the wagering limits set by the casino).

What are the bonus features?

Basketball Star includes some player-favorite bonus features that offer some excellent win potential. Rolling Reels is the key game mechanic that defines Basketball Star. This feature is available in the Base Game and in Free Spins and can award up to 10x multipliers in the Free Spins Bonus. Let’s take a closer look.

Landing 3, 4 or 5 Bonus Scatter symbols anywhere on the reels will trigger 15, 20 or 25 Free Spins respectively. The “Multiplier Trail” of 2x, 3x, 4x 5x and 10x is active in the Free Spins bonus, and this works in conjunction with Rolling Reels to award some potentially impressive wins. As mentioned earlier, symbols that form part of a winning combination disappear and are replaced with symbols from above. Each successful ‘rolling’ win increases the value of the Win Multiplier up to 10x.

The Wild Shot Feature is a completely random feature that can trigger at any time in the Base Game. Up to 2 full reels (on reels 2, 3 or 4) can randomly turn Wild with a guaranteed win. The Wild Shot feature works together with Rolling Reels, as entire reels explode and new symbols drop into place, ramping up the win potential. As mentioned, this on-reel feature is totally random, and is only active in the Base Game.

How to play

You won’t need to build up a sweat playing Basketball Star. This is a simple and enjoyable game you can play on your laptop, desktop or mobile device.

Once the game has loaded, we always recommend taking a quick look at the paytable. This is where you can familiarize yourself with the symbols, payout values, features and general games rules.

Next, select your bet size. You need how much money you are prepared to wager on each spin. Remember to consider your gaming budget and never spend more than you can afford to lose.

You’re ready to hit the court. Click the Spin button to spin those reels.

Autoplay and Quickspin options are also available, you can access these advanced settings by clicking on the “+” button above the Spin button. Click the Settings button for extra personalized options. This is where you can mute the audio as well.

No special skill or player interaction is required if you trigger a bonus feature. Just sit back, relax, and the game will take care of the rest.

Where to Play Basketball Star

Basketball Star is playable on all devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and PCs. The game is optimized to load quickly and plays well across all devices. If you are ready to shoot some hoops, then we have plenty of options available. You just need to decide if you want to play for free, or for real money.

We provide a list of established and licensed casinos where you can play Basketball Star for real money and real rewards. If you are ready to start playing for real cash, click here to see a list of our trusted casino partners who offer Basketball Star as well as some fantastic welcome bonuses.

We recommend trying the free demo first. This is the best way to decide if Basketball Star is the game for you, without spending real cash. You can play the free version right here at SlotCatalog. No sign-up or registration is required, and players are offered unlimited spins. Play play the free demo of Basketball Star now.

The 200 Spins Experience

We are very familiar with the Break Away, and we’ve also played the other 3 games in the “Star” series, so we know exactly what to expect from Basketball Star in terms of features and game mechanics (since they are all essentially the same game). Apart from the obvious change in theme and graphics, the payouts have been tweaked slightly in Rugby Star and Basketball Star. These games offer a maximum payout of 2400x your total bet, while Break Away, Football Star and Cricket Star offer a payout of 2000x your bet.

The game loaded quickly on a desktop PC, and after checking out the paytable we were ready to spin. We left the bet size at the default setting of €5.00 per spin.

We immediately benefited from the stacked Wilds on reels 2, 3 and 4, bagging a 5 of a kind win (with the help of stacked Wilds on reel 3) on our very first spin. Six spins later we filled reel 4 with stacked Wilds and hit another 5 of a kind win, with an extra win courtesy of Rolling Reels, and scored a 9x slam dunk.

The rest of the play session was lackluster, until we triggered 15 Free Spins by landing 3 Bonus Scatter symbols on reels 2, 3 and 5. The highlight of the Free Spins feature is of course the Multiplier Trail. We triggered two 5 of a kind Rolling Reels wins on the second free spin, bagging €50.00 with the help of a 3x multiplier. Our total win in the Free Spins Bonus was €98.50. Unfortunately, we didn’t trigger the Wild Shot feature in our gameplay session.

Our overall impressions if the game were favorable. The artwork and sounds are good, although it is starting to look a little dated. The style of the “Star” brand is consistent with the other games in the series.

Review Summary

Riding on the phenomenal success of Break Away, Microgaming launched the “Star” sports-themed series of games back in 2014. Football Star was the first game in the series, followed by Cricket Star, Rugby Star and Basketball Star in 2015. All these games share the same tried-and-tested features that made Break Away so successful; Rolling Reels, Stacked Wilds, Wild Reels, and up to 25 Free Spins with a Multiplier Trail. The last two games in the series, Rugby Star and Basketball Star have slightly improved maximum payouts of 2400x your total bet.

There was some criticism from some players about creating a series of games by cloning Break Away. This was clearly a calculated ‘quick-win’ move by Microgaming to capitalize on marketing opportunities in global sporting events and culture.

Basketball Star is a great game that will appeal to basketball fans across the world. This high-energy 243 ways game offers Rolling Reels in both the Base Game and Free Spins, with the added benefit of a Multiplier Trail in Free Spins. The Wild Shot feature triggers randomly at any time in the Base Game, and turns up to two reels Wild, adding plenty of excitement and anticipation to regular gameplay. Basketball Star takes an internationally popular sport and combines it with a successful feature-set. With an accessible minimum bet of €0.50, wins of up to 2400x, and over 40 Wild symbols positioned in stacks across the reels, it’s certainly worth a spin.

Pros

• Rolling Reels in Base Game and Free Spins
• Wild Shot Feature, randomly turning up to 2 reels Wild in Base Game
• Over 40 Wild symbols in stacks across the reels
• Up to 25 Free Spins
• Multiplier Trail in Free Spins (up to 10x win multiplier)

Cons

• Direct clone of Rugby Star, Cricket Star and Football Star
• Graphics are looking dated

If you enjoyed Basketball Star, why not try these other games

Break Away The ice hockey game that inspired the “Star” series. This is one of the most popular games in the Microgaming portfolio, featuring Rolling Reels, Smashing Wilds, Stacked Wilds, and up to 25 Free Spins with a Multiplier Trail.

Gonzo’s Quest This 5x3, 20 payline NetEnt game includes an avalanche feature (similar to Microgaming’s Rolling Reels) with increasing multipliers, Free Spins and 2500x max payout. The graphics, animations and exciting features have all helped Gonzo’s Quest slot to become one of the world’s favorite online slots.

Bonanza is one of Big Time Gaming’s most successful releases to date with the combination of Reactive Reels (Rolling Reels / Cascading Reels) and MEGAWAYS. This 6 reel high volatility slot offers up to 117,649 ways to win. The Free Spins feature includes expanding multipliers with 10 000x win potential.