Butterfly Staxx Slot Machine

Are you searching for an online slot that is such a delight to look at and play that it will lift your mood instantly? Butterfly Staxx, a recent release from NetEnt, aroused my curiosity more by being a most unusual title for a slot than by the butterfly theme.

I couldn’t imagine how having butterflies, of all things, showing up on the reels could be sufficiently entertaining to hold my interest. Was I ever wrong!

As soon as you start playing, all of your mundane cares and problems will be forgotten as you are swiftly transported to an enchanting tropical paradise.

The idyllic twilight setting is so far removed from reality that the sight of twirling flowers or a stack of butterflies leaving their temporary location and flying en masse across the reels actually makes sense.

Butterfly Staxx basics

If you play online slots frequently, seeing that this game is from NetEnt may in itself encourage you to try it.

NetEnt is one of the top game manufacturers for online casinos around the world. The company specializes in producing slots that are not only highly entertaining but surprisingly friendly to your bankroll. The company recognizes that slot players comprise a very diverse group, so its vast slot catalogue covers a wide variety of themes.

Every game, including Butterfly Staxx can be played on desktops, laptops, and iOS and Android mobile devices and at bet sizes that will appeal to all levels of players from low stakes bettors to high rollers.

Butterfly Staxx is an online video slot with five reels, four lines (instead of the usual three), and 40 fixed paylines.

Is Butterfly Staxx your kind of slot game?

Before going into the specifics, we will briefly describe the type of playing experience this game offers and the type of player who is most likely to enjoy it.

If you prefer an action-packed, adrenaline-pumping game and have the bankroll to support a wild roller coaster ride, Butterfly Staxx is not that type of game.

If  you’re really hoping for is to hit a mega-size progressive jackpot, Butterfly Staxx is not your game either.

Butterfly Staxx is a very calming game, and for some players, too calming.

The visual displays are stunning, but on non-winning spins, the soundtrack is no more rousing than what you might expect to hear while having dental work.

If you were to hit a lull in the action with a long sequence of non-winning spins (highly unlikely because Butterfly Staxx has an unusually high RTP coupled with low volatility), you could conceivably fall asleep while playing.

However, at the end of a stressful day when you simply need to wind down and relax, Butterfly Staxx is probably a perfect choice.

Get ready to enter an enchanting world filled with pink, blue, and purple flowers, and glowing butterflies. The beautiful sight, especially when you win and the brightly colored symbols become animated, will keep you glued to the screen for a long time and make you want to return often for more of the same.

Butterfly Staxx bet range

While you won’t be able to adjust the number of paylines, which is fixed at 40, the range of bet sizes is quite large. Depending on what you select as your bet level (1-10) and what you select as your coin size (1 cent to $2.00), the minimum bet per spin is only 20 cents while the maximum is $400.

In other words, this is a game that can be easily adapted to suit the bankroll and playing preferences of almost anybody.

Return to player and volatility

When choosing which online slot to play of the hundreds that are available to you, two important considerations are return to player (RTP) and volatility.

Butterfly Staxx has an exceptionally high RTP

The RTP, which is expressed as a percentage, is not necessarily a good indicator of how well you will fare during any given session. But it will tell you, in theory, the likely rate of return over the lifespan of the slot machine.

Given that no one’s bankroll is infinite, and a string of losses can occur on any game, choosing games with an above average RTP is highly recommended. You may not think that a percentage point more or less is significant, but it is.

NetEnt slots as a group have a higher RTP than those of any other slot maker. All of them have an RTP of at least 96.0%. However, Butterfly Staxx soars to the top with an RTP of 96.80%.

Very few online slots come close.

Butterfly Staxx also has low volatility

Volatility, or variance, refers to the likelihood of big bankroll swings in either direction during the course of your play. Progressive jackpot slots or other slots with the potential for enormous payouts tend to have higher than average volatility.

In return for the opportunity to possibly win big, the overall frequency of winning spins otherwise is reduced. There can be many spins in succession that come up empty or where the amount of the win is only a fraction of the bet size.

Butterfly Staxx is the opposite. Its volatility level is low.

The game does not offer a jackpot of any kind, and while big wins are certainly possible, for the most part, payouts are modest to moderate in size but frequent.

Even during a losing session, a bankroll of 50x your bet size should be more than adequate.

The only downside to playing a low volatility game is the high degree of predictability, which makes the game less exciting. But for anyone with a limited playing bankroll, keeping risk to a minimum should be a priority.

Butterfly Staxx symbols

One of the reasons why playing Butterfly Staxx is so enjoyable is that every spin, win or lose, produces a symphony of colors. But winning spins are especially delightful. All of the symbols contributing to the win become animated, and the music momentarily becomes more upbeat, too.

Regular symbols

As in most slots, winning combinations are formed when three or more like symbols line up on adjacent reels horizontally or diagonally starting with the reel farthest to the left.

The higher paying regular symbols are the pink, purple or blue flowers. The payouts are 10 coins for three of a kind, 20 coins for four of a kind, and 40 coins for five of a kind.

The lower paying regular symbols are the playing cards J, Q, K, and A. All four appear in green and have the same value. Three of a kind will pay 5 coins, four of a kind will pay 10 coins, and 5 of a kind will pay 20 coins.

Special symbols

Butterfly

The butterfly is listed as a special symbol for several reasons. For starters, it is the symbol with the highest value.

Secondly, all you need to have a winning combination is for at least two butterflies to show up on adjacent reels starting with reel 1, not three, as are needed for the flowers and playing cards. Two adjacent butterflies pay only 2 coins, while three in a row pay 15 coins, four pay 30 coins, and five pay 50 coins.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the butterflies can land on the reels either individually or stacked. That’s why the game is called Butterfly Staxx slot.

While a short stack of butterflies (two or three on the same reel) won’t do anything for you, a stack of butterflies covering an entire reel (all four visible positions) is another story. A reel consisting entirely of stacked butterflies activates the re-spins feature, which is described in detail below.

Wild symbol

The wild symbol, which is instantly recognizable by the word “Wild” on it, can appear anywhere on the reels at any time–in the main game as well as in the re-spins and free spins. It substitutes for all symbols except the scatter symbol to help form or add to winning combinations.

Scatter symbol

The scatter symbol, a purple flower with the word “scatter,” can appear anywhere on the reels in the main game. Anytime two scatter symbols land on the reels before the spin is completed, the normally soft background music builds to a crescendo while you wait in suspense to see if at least one more scatter symbol will show up.

More often than not, it won’t.

You need a minimum of three scatter symbols to land on the reels simultaneously to trigger the potentially lucrative butterfly spins bonus round.

Butterfly Staxx special features

Re-spins feature

Whenever a stack of butterflies covers an entire reel outside of reel 1, it is a sight to behold.

After you get paid for any winning combinations, the stacked butterflies all fly across the reels in unison as far left as they can go on the same row to a position not already occupied by another butterfly.

Also, if any other butterflies have landed to the right of the full stack, they fly across the reels, as well, and reposition themselves next to one of the stacked butterflies.

That’s what you hope for because as long as two or more butterfly symbols appear adjacently starting with reel 1, you get paid.

In any case, once they are settled into their new spots, all of the butterflies spread their wings. And that’s where they remain for the free re-spin you have just earned.

But wait – if more butterflies show up on the re-spin, they fly across the reels to settle in next to the other butterflies, and the wins and re-spins continue. And so it goes until no new butterflies visibly land on the reels.

On the other hand, another possibility is that you win nothing. At least one butterfly has to land adjacent to a stacked butterfly to produce a win.

Butterfly spins feature

As mentioned, whenever three or more scatter symbols land anywhere on the reels on a single spin in the main game, that triggers the butterfly spins feature. Depending on whether 3, 4, or 5 scatter symbols show up, you trigger 5, 6, or 7 free spins respectively.

During the butterfly spins feature, cocoons are the only symbols. Some will remain dormant while others immediately turn into butterflies, which then fly across the same row to the reel farthest to the left not already occupied by another butterfly.

All butterfly symbols that occur during the butterfly spins feature remain in place for the duration of the free spins. If new butterfly symbols land during the free spins, they fly across the reels, too, and take their new position on the same row next to a butterfly already there.

Butterfly spins are played at the same bet level and coin value used on the spin that activated them. When the feature ends, all wins from the butterfly spins are added to the previous total. The butterfly spins feature cannot be re-triggered. However, even a single occurrence can produce sizable winnings.

How I fared playing Butterfly Staxx in demo mode

I played Butterfly Staxx three times in demo mode. In the first two sessions, I bet $4 per spin, and in the third, I bet $10 per spin. These are the results.

Session 1: +$101.80

I was down $89 when three scatter symbols landed, awarding me five free spins, I then I won $190.80 to put me $101.80 ahead when I ended the session.

Session 2: + $90.60

This time I was down $110 when I triggered the butterfly spins. But because four scatter symbols showed up on the reels, I received six free spins. However, the extra spin didn’t make much of a difference. I won $199.80, for a net win of $90.60.

Session 3: +$1,094

Although I did increase my bet size, I certainly didn’t expect the difference to be anywhere near as dramatic. It must have been my lucky day.

For starters, instead of losing money in the base game and not being able to recoup my losses until the free spins, I pulled ahead early on. I even had a very surprising “mega win” of $637 in the base game, at which point I was $655 ahead. Rather than quit then, however, I continued to play, hoping to trigger the free spins and win even more.

I finally did but not before giving a good chunk of my winnings back. Starting my five free spins, I was still up $390. After winning an additional $704 in the free spins, I ended the session ahead $1,094.

The bottom line

Even though Butterfly Staxx is a game with 96.80% RTP, low volatility and I won playing in demo mode three sessions in a row, don’t take that to mean you will win every time you play. As with every slot, you will inevitably experience both ups and downs.

The Butterfly Staxx slot machine lacks the bells and whistles, multiple bonus features, and other fanfare of some online slots. But the brightly colored symbols are beautiful to look at, especially when your clear your mind and focus on the moment so you can fully appreciate the wonder of it all.

Every time you get to feast your eyes on a big beautiful bouquet of dancing flowers, tiny buds to the left of the reels burst into bloom, or dormant butterflies suddenly come to life and fly across the reels, it’s magical. It’s like the weight of the world is being lifted from your shoulders.

This is a slot that will lift your spirits but also relax you. The soothing soundtrack and low volatility complement the tranquil but breathtakingly beautiful visual experience.

Butterfly Staxx is nowhere near as exciting to play as some online slots, but it is different from any slot game you have ever experienced. So why not satisfy your curiosity and give it a try? The cherry on your sundae could be your excellent chance to pick up some extra “staxx” of cash.