Even as an adult I learned that the company who made these never meant for kids to get a free sucker if you turn this in.
Yet when I was a kid our local convince store did honor this. If you got the Native American with the star I could turn it in for a free one.
Just bit of an edit. I have 65 pack of these an so far if the star not there neither is the Native American on the wrapper. Which just goes back to for what reason the two are connected.
I've seen the story many times that the company never intended for the star to mean you won a free sucker, but I have yet to see an explanation for why the star is there on some, but not on others.