Energy Stars

Bee-Fee’s Energy Star is the latest in this company’s line of medium-quality, reliably formulaic slots. Setting the traditional fruit gaming symbols in outer space, this slot is ruled by its titular star gaming symbol, which appears stacked as is the key to this game’s top payout of 100,000x.

Theme

The radiant cosmos provide the background for this title, with the reels set in outer space against the purple glow of galaxies and distant stars. Gaming symbols include most of the classic images of a slot game: watermelons, oranges, plums, lemons, and cherries make up the low-value symbols; a ripe blackberry offers the highest value of the standard symbols; golden bells, appearing stacked, act as scatter while offering a 500x payout for five of a kind, while a shining star acts as wild. Sound design is remarkably upbeat, with soothing, syncopated strings and a beat that sneaks in from nowhere.

Betting Options and Functions

Outer space may be filled with mysteries, but 20 adjustable paylines. The per-spin bet is set simply from 0.01–2.50, for an overall betting range of 0.05–50.00 times the betting currency. Autoplay can be toggled on or off, a trope of Bee-Fee games that deviates from the norm in slot play, where this feature is selected for a finite quantity of spins. Detailed paytable information and sound options are available at the lower corners of the game screen. Unfortunately, information regarding the overall theoretical return to player ratio is not available – this usually indicates worse-than-average odds for players.

Features

This slot keeps its eye on a truly minimalist design – as such, there are no bonus features of any kind, and no free spins to be had. There is, however, as usual for Bee-Fee slots, a double-or-nothing gamble feature. Players are taken to a separate screen, where correctly predicting the color of the next card from the deck will double the size of the win; the incorrect choice will drop the win size down to zero. Players can go double-or-nothing multiple times in a row for any win.

Even without special features, though, the Bee-Fee design team keeps major bonuses within reach on every spin. The star wild symbols appear stacked on every reel – as such, it’s possible for all 15 gaming positions to turn up wild, triggering the game’s top payouts of 100,000x. Stacked wild symbols can offer major wins when filling only one or two reels, which makes Energy Star a medium-high volatility slot: other symbols appear stacked, too, which means that it may take more spins to see wins… those wins are likely to be larger than usual, however.

Our Take

As far as minimalist slots go, this one is better-designed and more visually stimulating than most. Still, modern players have come to expect more than just gamble features to break up the monotony of endlessly spinning reels, and it’s hard to image Energy Star entertaining the average gamer for very long.