Ticket to the Stars slot review

By Quickspin

Ticket to the Stars Slot

Ticket to the Stars Basic info

Game provider Quickspin

Release Date 2/2019

RTP 96.52%

Game Technology HTML5

Popularity Medium

Min bet $0.25

Max bet $100

Max Win bet x 9714

Gamble Feature Cascading reels, Multiplier, Freespins, Stacked wilds, Wilds

Layout 5x3

Devices Desktop, Mobile

Configurable Winlines No

Volatility High

Progressive Jackpot No

Ticket To The Stars is a slot that literally explores the idea of buying a ticket to fly to the stars. The game is set at a futuristic launchpad of rockets heading into space, with the game featuring cascading reels, free spins and stacked wilds.

A slot that was developed by Quickspin and released in 2019 is an excellent opportunity to get an idea of the quality of the games this developer releases. The game looks amazing, with some beautifully sharp and detailed drawings of various characters. The low-paying symbols on the 5-reel, 3-row playing field are simple coloured gems but they do fit the theme quite well.

The background shows us a rocket in the distance, propped up for takeoff while on the other end we see a couple that is seemingly ready for their journey. The planet they’re on also looks distinctly alien with another planet close by. It all feels like the slot is trying to evoke the sense of style that was popular during the 50s. Whenever there’s a win on 1 of the 25 paylines the tiles involved will light up before dropping away.

When it comes to the sound design the slot leans heavily into the idea of it being a special spaceport that is constantly dealing with departing and arriving flights. Players can hear an announcer talk on the intercom. The music fits the 50s style that is also present in the graphics, making it feel like a grand space adventure.

Symbols

Ticket To The Stars makes use of hand-drawn art for the symbols. These include various intriguing characters as well as random objects and the aforementioned gems. All of it looks sharp and colourful and helps make it feel like a happy, carefree setting. There aren’t many animations hidden in the symbols unfortunately and getting a win will only have the tiles light up.

The gameplay revolves around the slot’s High Volatility which means that wins are pretty hard to come by. The different symbols also have low payouts even for bigger paylines since the free spins mode works extensively with multipliers. I’ll cover that more in the Features part of the review. Players should be aware that it’s not very easy to get a win and even when they do, it probably won’t be for a lot of coins.

As always, this slot does allow a player to augment this somewhat. Players can pick a bet between $0.25 and $100 per spin. The lower the bet the longer one can play with their funds but obviously, the wins will be comparatively low. On the opposite end of that, power players can opt for bigger bets which will drain their funds faster but should potentially also help create massive wins.

The symbols in the game include:

  • Bonus: Get 3 or more Bonus symbols on the screen to activate the free spins mode.
  • Wild: Wilds substitute all other symbols except the Bonus symbol. Max. 20x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Captain: Max. 20x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Stewardess: Max. 16x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Robot: Max. 12x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Champagne: Max. 8x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Suitcase: Max. 6x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Red Gem: Max. 4x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Purple Gem: Max. 4x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Green Gem: Max. 3x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Blue Gem: Max. 3x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.
  • Grey Gem: Max. 3x your bet with five-of-a-kind on a winning bet line.

Features

Ticket To The Stars doesn’t go overboard with its features but the ones that are included do help keep the gameplay engaging. The features you’ll find here are:

  • Wilds: Wilds will substitute all symbols in the game except the Bonus symbol.
  • Stacked Wilds: Wilds appear Stacked, filling an entire reel.
  • Cascading Reels: Whenever there’s a win, the tiles involved will drop away and make room for new symbols. If another win is created, these will also drop away.
  • Free Spins: Get 3 or more Bonus symbols on the screen to activate the free spins mode. Depending on the number of Bonus symbols, players receive more free spins.
  • Multipliers: During the free spins mode, every 3 wins will increase the multiplier by 1 and add 2 extra free spins.

The game plays much like any other slot during the base game, where you will simply try to get paylines through the symbols lining up on the bet lines. Stacked Wilds can help but they don’t appear very often and can show up on any of the reels, making their effectiveness limited. The one change to the classic gameplay is the cascading reels but even that isn’t such an uncommon sight anymore.

It gets more interesting once the player activates the free spins mode. When this happens, the game will start with a 1x multiplier. If the player manages to get 3 wins, either through separate spins or the cascading reels feature, the multiplier is increased by 1. As far as I could find this goes up to a 9x multiplier. Every time the multiplier increases, the player also receives an additional 2 free spins.

Although it sounds very good, the free spins mode is very volatile. There are no features active during this part of the game that will help create wins that aren’t also active during the base game. This means that getting a win is just as likely, or unlikely, during the free spins mode. Without wins, the multipliers don’t increase and players go home with nothing. As a result, this is a volatile part of the game and even though activating the free spins mode isn’t very hard, it’s no guarantee for bigger wins.

Conclusion

Ticket To The Stars is a very nice-looking slot with some excellent ideas and great execution. The entire slot breathes the sense of 50s sci-fi with the nostalgic notion that going to space would be as easy as flying to another city.

The graphics and music are especially nice and the entire slot does a great job at immersing the player. The features aren’t as original, though, but that’s not a bad thing. The slot keeps things rather simple and most players will be instantly comfortable with what the slot offers.

Do keep in mind that the game has high volatility and that the free spins mode is not a sure-fire way at a big win. Having said that, the max. win of 9,714x your bet might be a good incentive to try it out anyway.

Leticia Miranda

Leticia Miranda

Slot Games Analyst

Leticia Miranda is a former gambling reporter who knows everything about slot games and is happy to share her knowledge. She has covered a broad swath of topics and trends on gambling and is always full of new ideas and energy. Leticia also has a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and is passionate about writing.