5 Star Knockout Slot Machine – Free Play & Review

If you don’t care that much about the classic genre, and its all too common type of design, then 5 Star Knockout might not be a good fit. The design of this slot machine is about the least interesting thing about it, and it’s both because of its choice of symbols, and its rather boring design style. The presence of those symbol meters at the bottom makes it look somewhat intriguing.

As its major symbols, we find that it uses the four card suits initially, moving on to three types of Sevens next, and finally to the 5 Stars logo. As you can see, nothing too interesting there.

Developer

Launched by Microgaming and Northern Lights Gaming, 5 Star Knockout is not the best release that the two had together. Some of their other slots to check out would be titles like Aztec Falls and All Star Knockout.

How To Play It

The wager selection is done from a different screen, access via the Bet button. On it, 15 different bet values will be listed, ranging from $0.20 to $50.

5 Star Knockout is a basic game at its core, though it does get more complicated through its features. The regular combinations are easy to figure out though, as 3 to 5 matching symbols need to land on one of the 20 paylines which are active on 5×3 reels.

Special Features

The Star symbol is particularly interesting in this case. It’s going to land on all reels, with up to 5 possible per spin, and it will be collected in a random Star Meter, associated with one of the regular symbols.

Once you fill a symbol’s meter, the free spins will be triggered. Whatever meters were filled that round, will decide which symbols are removed from the reels for this feature.

It’s important to note that the Star Meter progress is saved for each bet level, so if you’re forced to change the wager, you will have to start over from scratch.

Still, an empty award board doesn’t stay that way for long. The game adds Bonus Stars at random, to the meters, but only when the board is completely empty.

One more feature that could be interesting, will bring you random Win Spins, which keep going for as long as you keep getting new wins.

If you managed to trigger the free spins, you get 5 rounds from the first meter that you filled that spin, and an extra 2 for each additional one (both during the triggering spin and once the free spins get going).

Random multipliers of up to 5x get applied to wins you form in this mode. As mentioned above, the symbols with full meters are removed, and you have better odds of forming winning combinations, since there are fewer types of symbols that can occupy positions on the reels.

Maximum Payouts

5 Star Knockout’s top jackpot can go up to 4,500x the stake. That’s mostly thanks to the free spins, and the multipliers of up to 5x that one can claim there. Given the medium volatility announced for this slot machine, I declare myself satisfied with the risk/reward ratio in its case.

You can rest assured, the RTP of 5 Star Knockout can go up to 96.09%, so it’s a fair slot machine. I’d still recommend you double check this figure, since Microgaming has started offering games with RTP ranges lately.

Summary

5 Star Knockout doesn’t do much to leave you with a good first impression, but luckily it does better via features and the prizes that it can pay. If you don’t mind the classic theme that much, then it’s an OK option.