Berryburst Slot Review

Berryburst Slot Overview

When I first fired up the Berryburst slot from NetEnt, it was clear they were pitching this as the follow up to Starburst. You get a 5 by 3 grid, Cluster Pays instead of pay lines and a bright fruit theme that feels instantly familiar. I can play it on desktop or mobile, and the game is all about fast spins, steady hits and those icy wild respins.

On the numbers side, Berryburst runs with a return to player figure in the mid ninety sixes, usually quoted around 96.23 to 96.56 percent, and it plays as a medium variance slot with a high hit rate. Over time I see plenty of smaller clusters landing, with the top prizes coming when wild reels stick, raspberries pack the screen and the game pushes towards wins around eighteen hundred times stake.

Game Design and Stylistics of Berryburst

Visually Berryburst sits close to classic fruit machines, only wrapped in that clean NetEnt style I like. The reels float in an ice cold summer drink, with coloured light shining through the liquid while limes, raspberries, grapes and tangerines bob about alongside card suit symbols. The graphics feel juicy and crisp, the animations are smooth and the modern soundtrack adds a light upbeat rhythm that fits the quick fire gameplay.

Game Mechanics of Berryburst Online Slot

Berryburst breaks from standard pay line slots because there are no lines at all. Wins come from clusters of matching symbols that touch horizontally or vertically on the 5 by 3 grid. I need at least five identical icons connected in this way for a payout, and the biggest possible cluster is fifteen symbols when every position on the screen is filled with the same berry, suit or wild.

Because diagonal connections do not count, I find myself eyeing up straight lines of fruit and gaps that might link clusters together. The hit rate feels high for a medium game, so I often see several small or mid sized clusters on one spin. When a large group lands in the middle of a respin round, the way the Cluster Pays engine adds everything together can throw up surprisingly strong totals.

Berryburst Betting

In Berryburst you always spin with ten credits per round, and you set the coin value and bet level to decide your real cash stake. Coin sizes run from a penny up to two pounds, and higher bet levels simply multiply that total, so level ten means ten times the base bet. That range lets me play from low stakes up to serious spins that can test any bankroll.

From a risk point of view, the slot sits in what I would call classic medium territory. The official maths gives a theoretical return to player around 96.23 percent, though you will also see figures of 96.56 percent quoted in places, and the max exposure is listed around 1,868 times stake from the wild respin feature, even though a full raspberry cluster is rated at five thousand credits.

Berryburst Game Symbols

The symbol set in Berryburst is simple yet effective. At the low end you have card suit symbols, and clusters of five hearts, spades or diamonds barely move the needle at five credits, even if a full set of fifteen matching suits does step up to one thousand credits. Where the slot starts to pay properly for me is on the fruit, with tangerines, limes and grapes delivering stronger returns.

The raspberry is the star and it carries the top regular prize. Land fifteen raspberries in one huge cluster and you are looking at five thousand credits, which at higher settings can mean five figure sums. On top of the standard icons there is the wild ice cube, which appears on any reel, substitutes for all paying symbols and, more importantly, triggers the expanding wild respins feature that drives the big hits.

Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	15	x500
	14	x250
	13	x150
	12	x100
	11	x50
	10	x25
	9	x20
	8	x15
	7	x10
	6	x5
	5	x3
	15	x300
	14	x200
	13	x100
	12	x50
	11	x25
	10	x16
	9	x11
	8	x8
	7	x6
	6	x4
	5	x2
	15	x250
	14	x150
	13	x100
	12	x40
	11	x20
	10	x15
	9	x10
	8	x5
	7	x3.5
	6	x2
	5	x1
	15	x250
	14	x150
	13	x100
	12	x40
	11	x20
	10	x15
	9	x10
	8	x5
	7	x3.5
	6	x2
	5	x1
	15	x100
	14	x50
	13	x20
	12	x10
	11	x7
	10	x4
	9	x3
	8	x2
	7	x1.5
	6	x1
	5	x0.5
	15	x100
	14	x50
	13	x20
	12	x10
	11	x7
	10	x4
	9	x3
	8	x2
	7	x1.5
	6	x1
	5	x0.5
	15	x100
	14	x50
	13	x20
	12	x10
	11	x7
	10	x4
	9	x3
	8	x2
	7	x1.5
	6	x1
	5	x0.5
	Wild

Wild Respins in Berryburst

In place of a separate bonus game or free spin round, Berryburst leans heavily on its Wild Respins feature. Whenever one or more wild ice cubes land, they expand to cover the entire reel and lock in place. The game then awards a respin, with the expanded wild reel held and all other positions spinning again, making it much easier to form those chunky fruit clusters across the middle of the grid.

If a new wild symbol drops in during that respin, it also stretches to fill its reel and the slot hands out another go, with both wild reels now frozen. The process can repeat as long as fresh wilds appear, so in theory you can reach a point where all five reels are fully stacked with ice cubes and you have squeezed as many respins as possible out of a single paid spin.

In practice the respins bring a nice flow of medium sized wins, with the dream scenario being a screen full of wilds wrapped around high paying raspberries. The official figures cap the feature at around 1,868 times stake, yet even modest clusters over two or three frozen reels can throw off satisfying hits. There is no progressive or local jackpot here, but I rarely miss it once the feature starts rolling.

Berryburst - Slot Verdict

After many sessions I see Berryburst as a fast, fun fruit slot that wears its Starburst heritage on its sleeve without quite topping it. The Cluster Pays system and expanding wild respins give enough action for me, though high rollers might find the potential a touch capped. It runs smoothly on NetEnt Touch across my phone and tablet, and as a laid back cluster game it earns a regular spot in my rotation.

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