The story behind Starvellan

Why an observatory

The name is a small piece of word-play. Before star charts were printed, they were inked by hand onto vellum, a fine parchment, and we liked the picture of a sheet of vellum covered in stars. Put the two words together, round off the corners, and you get Starvellan. It is our own invention rather than an old word, and we are happy to admit it.

The observatory followed naturally. An observatory is a calm place where people stay up late, look at something beautiful and keep careful notes, and that is roughly the mood we wanted for a games site. No shop, no offers, no pressure to return at a set hour: just the pleasure of reels settling, a grid clearing and a card turning over in the dark.

Everything here is played with Glints, a points score with no cash value that is never sold. Any game can be opened in demo mode at once, and a free account keeps your progress between visits.

Vela, our host

Vela is an adult red fox who keeps the observatory on the night shift. She wears a midnight-blue frock coat, looks after the brass instruments and has strong opinions about tidy star charts. Her name comes from the sky: Vela is a real southern constellation, the Sails of an old ship, which suits someone who spends her nights navigating by the stars.

You will find her in the Observatory, where she runs the Compass Wheel, the Star cards, Missions and your Orbit meter. When you reach a new level she leaves a gift of Glints on your chart, and if your balance runs dry she tops it up for free. She never counts down to anything and never asks you to hurry.

Our Club tiers borrow from her night sky too: Spark, Glow, Comet, Nova, Pulsar and finally Galaxy.

The games

The lobby holds 24 games, and all of them are ours. We write the rules, draw the artwork, record the sounds and write the code ourselves. Nothing is licensed from an outside studio, and nothing is a copy of a game you might know from elsewhere.

• Slots: five-reel line games, from steady classic reels to wild skies and dragon caverns.
• Hold & Spin: special symbols lock in place and the rest of the board respins around them.
• Cascades: cluster grids where matching pieces clear and new ones fall into the gaps.
• Instant games: one quick result from a wheel, a drop, a hop across a grid, a roll of the dice, a scratch card or a keno-style pick.
• Table games: twenty-one, single-zero roulette and hi-lo.

Every game has its own rules page listing everything it pays, and every result is drawn by your browser's random number generator. The details are in how results are made.

Lines we do not cross

• Nothing is for sale. No purchases, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions, no paid extras.
• No real-money gambling, and no way to withdraw, transfer or exchange Glints for money or anything else.
• No prize draws, sweepstakes or competitions. Nothing on the site is a prize.
• No adverts, no analytics, no tracking pixels and no third-party scripts.
• No links to gambling sites and no promotion of other games or apps.
• No account data on our server. Your account stays in your own browser.

Who should play

Starvellan is meant for adults aged 18 or over who live in the United Kingdom and enjoy casino-style games as a light, free way to pass an evening. It is not for children. It is also not a training ground for gambling: playing or success in social casino gaming does not imply future success at real-money gambling.

If the games start to take up more of your time than you intended, every account has a time reminder and a Take a break setting. The Safer play page explains both and lists UK organisations that offer free help.

Who operates the site

Starvellan is run by Noti Digital Monoprosopi IKE, registered in the Hellenic Republic under G.E.MI. no. 168204703000 (VAT: EL801924756), with its registered office at 56 Stereas Ellados Street, Nea Penteli 152 39, Greece.

Write to us at hello@starvellan.co.uk or through the contact form. A person reads every message.