Stellar Ways

Overview Stellar Ways

The outer reaches of space as it turns out are not populated by small green aliens with antennas but with precious gemstones encased in snug silver cases - who knew? It should be said that not all the intergalactic symbols for this game are made up of these galaxy diamonds and rubies, there are also planets and multicoloured wilds to be seen hurtling through space.
On the face of it, Stellar Ways looks like a pretty straightforward online slot played out on a traditional 5-reel, 3-row board. When you drill into the detail a little though, you will realise that Stellar Ways is a pay both way slot game. This means that it has an attractively large number of pay lines – 486 in fact.

In terms of features, Stellar Ways provides players with one main feature which involves locking wilds and re-spins, which helps to accelerate the pace of the game when things have slowed a little. There is also a decent top payout that players should be aware of which is 1,500x your stake.

Theme and Symbols

As you have probably guessed from the title and the introduction, this slot is all about space and the valuable treasures you may find there. It is always interesting to see where designers go with space themes, as they seem to have more flexibility with space than with any other theme. This is probably because you could argue that anything or anyone might be in space.
The backdrop is effective in that it immediately places you in the starry heavens with the simple use of a few touches of white light and a dark vignette. Placed on top of this background is the playing window which has a strong sci-fi design and is backlit in glowing turquoise to accentuate the window’s borders.

The symbols for this game comprise 5 jewels or gemstones and 2 planets. The most valuable of these symbols is the blue planet which mimics the colour palette of the game’s logo. If you manage to land 4 of these symbols on the reels on a payline, they will pay out a reward of 7x your current stake.

In addition to the planets and the gems, there is also the wild symbol which is easy to spot as it contains all of the gems in a kind of multicoloured solar system jewel (it also has the word ‘wild’ written underneath it). The wild can only land on the middle 3 reels and is the key to unlocking the true potential of this game, as you will discover in the features section.

Game Play

Stellar Ways is played on a 5-reel, 3-row playing window. Thanks to the pay both ways dynamic of this game, the pay lines are effectively double what they would usually be, numbering 486 in total. The betting range for Stellar Ways is 10p and £50 per spin. To adjust their bet levels, players need to click on the button in the left-hand corner of the screen which looks like a stack of coins. The auto-spin tool is located next to the big spin button, on the bottom right-hand side of the screen. All other playing settings, as well as the paytable, are accessible via the three lines symbol directly to the left of the playing window.

To land wins in this game, players must land combinations of 3 or more matching symbols across the board on winning pay lines. These combinations can start at reel 1 or at reel 5 thanks to the pay both ways dynamic.
The return to player percentage for Stellar Ways is 96.1%, perfectly average for an online slot game. The volatility for this slot is rated at just above medium. The top payout available for Stellar Ways is 1,500 x your total stake.

Features

As far as bonus features go, this is not a well-endowed slot. However, in many ways, this is kind of refreshing, as a lot of slot designers these days seem to think the more bonuses they can pack in the better. This can sometimes just end up making the game feel convoluted and overwhelming. There is something to be said for the more stripped-down games in terms of design purity.

The main feature for Stella Ways is the wild re-spin feature. The wild as mentioned can only land on the middle 3 reels- reels 2, 3 and 4. Every time that a wild lands on one of these reels, the re-spins feature is activated. The triggering wild as part of this feature grows to cover the entire reel on which it fell – making the whole reel wild. Following this, the player is granted one free spin with this wild locked in place.

If another wild lands on the free spin, it will also expand and get stuck to the reel it is on, meaning two reels are covered in wilds and frozen as such. If you manage to land yet another wild, you are granted a free spin with all of the central reels turned completely wild. Thanks to the pay both ways dynamic, this can lead to some great payouts.

Conclusion

Although critics might say that this game is a little basic and that there are plenty of more exciting or multifaceted games out there, Stellar Ways still has a lot to be said for it. The pay both ways dynamic and medium volatility for a start mean that you should be triggering frequent wins in an addictively progressive game. In addition, the one feature that the game does have (the wild re-spins) is an excellent one and one that will add tension and excitement to any game.