[Slot review] Basketball Star Deluxe — Microgaming

Overview

Basketball Star Deluxe is a video slot Microgaming released on 6 May 2019, a revision of Basketball Star from 4 November 2015. In this industry 'Deluxe' usually marks an edition that keeps the original frame while reworking presentation, features or maths. What was reworked, though, should come from the spec sheet rather than the title.

That spec comparison is this review's focus. The two titles don't even publish the same number of fields: the original lists RTP, volatility and bet range, while Deluxe lists only RTP and volatility. Neither publishes a max win.

Layout and rules

The format field reads 'Video slot', identical to the original. With no reel layout or feature list recorded, whether Deluxe changed the structure can't be judged from the catalogue. The same label doesn't guarantee the same build, and there's no evidence of a different one either.

The blank bet range is worth pointing out. The original published 0.5 to 125, but there is no basis for assuming Deluxe inherited it. This site leaves the field as not published rather than borrowing the original's value.

Original versus Deluxe, by the numbers

The clearest published change is RTP: from the original's 96.45% to Deluxe's 96.88%, a rise of 0.43 points. Both carry the same High volatility grade. So the only 'Deluxe' difference the published data confirms is the theoretical return; the grade describing how widely results spread stays put.

It matters not to over-read 0.43 points. RTP is an average over a very long simulation, and a gap this size can't be felt in a short session. Two titles in the same grade can still have differently shaped distributions, but those distributions aren't published.

Across the whole series, Deluxe's 96.88% is the highest of the RTPs published. Wilds sits at 95.18% and on Fire publishes none. The comparison also shows that later entries in a series did not always ship with a higher RTP than the original.

Presentation

Where the original's cover led with a player, Deluxe floats a lone ball before a hoop with flames around the rim. With no thrower it reads more like a logo than a moment in a game. The shift from person to object signals a revised edition.

A demo is available, so opening it alongside the original's demo lets you compare the structural differences the spec sheet doesn't state. With the published data differing only in one RTP line, an on-screen comparison is particularly useful.