Reel Star

Reel Star

7 / 10
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

An old school yet modern looking online pokie, the Reel Star pokie by Relax Gaming will bring you a lot of flashing lights and some great bonus features. Played across 5 reels and 15 fixed paylines, this game actually boasts a high variance level. The Ladder Up and Upgrader features help to boost your wins with added multipliers, whilst the Free Spins round gives you up to 15 free spins and comes with moving wilds and even better chances to maximise your winning potential. Relax Gaming’s Reel Star comes with complete winning opportunities of 8,000x the bet and an average RTP rate of 96%. For Kiwi enthusiasts, we believe this colourful production should not be missed, although we’re not sure whether everyone will agree on this. Whichever group you belong to, we suggest you read more about this game by Relax Gaming in our in-depth Reel Star review. Please note that this new online pokie game is only available at Unibet and 32 Red Casino.

Reel Star Review

In the typical nature of humans, you have to become very good at something outstanding to be recognised as a real, or “reel” star. In this new title by Relax Gaming, online pokie enthusiasts in the country of New Zealand have a good old chance to think back to the good old retro-style games and shine with impressive wins. The software provider decided to add a modern touch to the overall gameplay, making it a unique game. Once you’re all set to spin on this casino game, you’ll find yourself looking at a purple background enhanced with shimmering lights. The upbeat electro audio helps to add a disco disco-ambiance to your casino experience. As you play we suggest you allow the Upgrade symbols to double your scatter prizes. Also, the game also has a fun free spins round which can award multipliers and moving wilds. Your casino experience will undoubtedly be a wild one and thrilling at the same time. Are you ready to travel back in time for some fun and top wins that go up to 8000x the stake? Let’s help you understand all the ins and outs of the gameplay in our New Zealand oriented Reel Star online pokie review.

Nice to know

Launched 12 December 2022
RTP 96%, 94%
Volatility High
Software Relax Gaming
Features Bonus wheel, Free Spins, FreeSpins Multiplier, Multiplier, Scatter Jackpots Feature, Scatter symbols, Sticky Wilds, Walking Symbols, Moving Wilds, Wild
Theme Classic, retro
Paylines 15
Grid Layout 5-3
Min. bet/line $ 0.10
Max win 8000x
Jackpot No

Positive points

  • ✅ Win Up To 8000x the Bet
  • ✅ Great Base RTP
  • ✅ Visually Excellent

Negative points

  • ❌ Exclusively Available At Unibet and 32Red
  • ❌ No Bonus Buy

Review Reel Star

In Reel Star you can definitely be a star. At least, that seems to be the general idea behind this exclusive launch by Relax Gaming as the game is only available on the websites of Unibet Casino and 32 Red Casino. The game’s design and layout is fairly standard for a disco pokie machine instalment, and you get blinking lights in the spacious backdrop.

Despite its exclusive character it is clear that Relax Gaming tries to please the fans of classic pokies and we get them as this is the group we belong to as well. You can upgrade your instant prizes up to 8000x your stake at best, which is just above releases in the same genre by competitors. The bonus round in the game comes with a random combo of spins, multiplier, and moving wilds, and it also comes with a fairly good hit rate of 1 in 142 spins.

How to Play

Reel All Stars by Rubyplay is a 5×3 online pokie with 243 ways to win. What really sets the Reel All Stars casino game apart from other pokies out there is the Repeat Riches bonus feature, which uses respins and colour-coded football sort of symbols to quickly boost your winnings. If that sounds interesting, then here is how to play Reel Star by Relax Gaming.

  • As always, go to an online casino that offers Reel Star and sign up or sign in. In this case you are limited to Unibet and 32 Red Casino which are both part of the Swedish iGaming giant Kindred. Once your account is set you can go ahead and launch the Reel Star game.
  • This online casino game on the whole is very straightforward and easy to learn; just make sure to press spin and wait for the football-themed symbols to line up for you and pay out when you make yourself a winning combination.
  • Click on the “Continue” button to move past the splash screen and enter the main interface of the game. It opens up to a B with the controls on the right-hand side and a scatter metre on the left. The reels use 15 paylines and pay from left to right.
  • Press the Stacked Coins icon to reveal the bet modifier. Use the +/− buttons to set the bet amounts anywhere between the values $ 0.10 and $ 100. We reckon that these Reel Star pokie bet limits should be ideal for both low rollers and high rollers.
  • Press the Spin button or push your desktop’s Spacebar to play a single game round. If you use the Stop button, it halts the ongoing game instantly.
  • Optionally, you can also activate Turbo spin mode to have the reels play faster.
  • If you have a preference to make your wagers automatically, you can also go ahead and make use of the Autoplay feature as this option is readily available for players that have a little less patience. In this case you will preselect a certain number of auto-spins. The Menu button helps to reveal the paytable and game rules.

Symbol Wins

Relax Gaming refers to the Reel Star as an online pokie that has a ‘classic retro style, but comes with a modern twist’. Whilst we find that this description is in line with our own interpretation of the game, we’re not quite sure if it also does justice to how much fun this pokie actually is. From our perspective, the game theme falls somewhere between a retro 1980’s and some random Saturday night TV show. The upbeat audio that comes with the game fits the rest of the pokie’s look and feel.

All together, the design of this online pokie really raises the vibes and we found it to be very pleasing. Having a closer look at the symbols, there are six regular symbols on the reels, which includes bells, horseshoes, four-leafed clovers, pink gems and crowns. Out of these symbols, the piggy bank is the most lucrative symbol, awarding winners 15x the stake for combinations of 5-of-a-kind. Reel Star also has some wild symbols. These substitute for all other regular symbols in the game, paying up to 50x the bet. Special symbols in the Reel Star pokie game include the stars, scatters and upgraders. Here is some more information about how the different symbols in Reel Star by Relax work:

Symbol Payout for 3 Payout for 4 Payout for 5
Bell 0.3 1 2.5
Horseshoe 0.3 1 2.5
Clover 0.5 2 5
Gem 0.5 2 5
Crown 1 4 15
Piggy Bank 1 4 15
Wild Up to 50x bet and substitutes for all symbols
Star Symbol 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 = Multiplier of 1, 3, 15, 50, or 250x bet
Upgrader Symbol Doubles the multiplier value of Star symbol

Bonus Features

The features in Reel Star make sure that this classic pokie machine gets a modern twist. Relax Gaming tries to do this with wild symbols, a ladder up feature, an upgrade feature and a free spins round. We will dive into the three features in detail below:

Wild symbols

There are several special symbols in Reel Star, including the wild symbol. This symbol, identified by the letters “WILD” on it, can land anywhere on the playing field. When this happens, the wild symbol can replace any normal symbol. The wild symbol also helps you to complete or extend combinations making sure you will make bigger wins.

Ladder up

When this feature gets activated you can see a prize ladder on the collection of the grid. On each step of the ladder are a number of stars and a number. There are also star symbols in the game, with which you can win prizes from the ladder. If you manage to land many stars on the ladder you will win the prize that goes with it in Reel Star. After each spin, the number of stars resets and you start again at the bottom of the ladder.

Upgrade Feature

The third special symbol in Reel Star is the upgrade symbol. This symbol consists of an upward pointing arrow and is easy to recognise as well. Landing an upgrade symbol and a star at the same time will double the value of the stars.

Reel Star Free Spins

Finally, the Reel Star online pokie also has a scatter symbol. This symbol only lands on the reels 2, 3 and 4 so this is where you should pay some extra attention to. When you manage to land each of these reels one scattered, you will gain access to the free spins round. To determine how many free spins you get, you must first take a spin on the middle 3 reels. The first reel determines the number of free spins, the second indicates which win multiplier will be triggered and the last reel determines the number of wilds that will participate in the free spins feature. This number of wild symbols will be available on the grid with every free spin, but they will need to swap places alternately. Do note that you cannot reactivate the free spins round of Reel Star, which also means that no more scatters will appear on the playing field during this phase of the game.

Payout Metrics

Reel Star has an RTP rate of 96%, which is bang on average for online pokies out there. Please note that there is also a lower RTP version of the game, so make sure you’re only playing the highest one for the best online casino experience. As there are only two casino Kindred brands that offer this game, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find yourself to keep control of this. The Unibet and 32 Red exclusive Reel Star has a high volatility rating of 5 out of 5 and top wins of 8,000x the bet. The biggest wins are usually found in the Upgrader feature so this is when more attention is required. The bonus round in Reel Star comes with a random combo of spins, multiplier, and moving wilds, all together giving players a pretty decent hit rate of 1 in 142 spins.

Summary

We understand that this is an exclusive release for the online casinos of 32 Red and Unibet, so Reel Star by Relax Gaming is meant for a somewhat limited audience. The real question is whether it is worth playing for New Zealanders that have an account at these offshore online casinos. We have to say that Reel Star performs a little less well for a game from Relax Gaming. The speed is kind of slow even with the turbo mode activated, so this one might be a bit too slow for the most seasoned players amongst us.

It doesn’t look like Relax Gaming has put their top producers on this game, although the disco-disco presentation always seems to be popular amongst players and feels like a relaxed and laid back setting. At the same time it is kinda cool to be able to upgrade instant jackpots whilst the 8,000x top prize is cool as well. The bonus round comes with tried and tested extras, which may or may not be to the liking of players. This game uses standard features and blends it into a different game theme. Our bet is that most players don’t mind this and will still enjoy this Relax Gaming pokie. The gameplay is perhaps a bit simple for some players, although we believe there are a number of features to add some extra thrills to the excitement. We found the upgrade and ladder up feature to be fun and quite original, while the Reel Star bonus round does its job as well.