Money Train 4 was supposed to be the end of the line. Relax Gaming even called it The Last Stand and presented it as the final chapter of a series that had grown into one of the studio’s biggest success stories. Apparently, nobody told the train.
Two years later, Money Train 5 is pulling into the station, but Relax hasn’t simply slapped a bigger max win on the side and sent it back down the same tracks. The fifth instalment represents one of the biggest departures the series has taken so far, while bringing its cast of special characters and their chaotic interactions back to the centre of the experience.
So why resurrect a series that had already been given its farewell, and how far can you change Money Train before it stops feeling like Money Train? Bigwinboard spoke with Relax Gaming’s Oscar Persson about bringing the series back from the dead, the thinking behind its new direction, lessons learned from the previous games, and whether Money Train 5 really is the last stop this time.
Daniel (Bigwinboard): Hi Oscar, good to talk you again! Now, if my memory serves me right, Money Train 4 was presented as the final stop for the series, yet here we are with Money Train 5. What changed?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): You know, I’ve played Money Train 4 hundreds, if not thousands, of times, and I didn’t even know this myself. Not until shortly before we started discussing ideas for the project. And yes, you are right, of course: Money Train 4: The Last Stand. It was supposed to be the final chapter in one of the most successful slot series of all time.
It’s no secret that sequels do exceptionally well in today’s market. But for us, the most important thing has always been to respect the legacy. No cash grab. We would only revive the series if we genuinely believed we could make a sequel worthy of the Money Train name.
So that’s where it started. Ideas went back and forth, and one of the biggest questions was how much we even want or dare to change when it comes to a game like this. After a few months, the idea that eventually became Money Train 5 was presented, and I think we all pretty much agreed that this game simply had to be built.
That said, I’m still hoping most people are like me and never really paid attention to the full title of Money Train 4 and are just excited that there’s another game in the series. And luckily, there is one pretty convenient loophole here: we have a Necromancer in the game. So let’s say they all did die in the last one… who’s to say he can’t just bring them all back?
Daniel (Bigwinboard): I’m happy to see it brought back to life again! Money Train has become Relax Gaming’s flagship series, which must make each sequel increasingly difficult to get right. When you started working on Money Train 5, what was the main thing you felt the game needed to do differently from Money Train 4 to justify its existence?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): We were following a pretty clear trend with the previous games: Money Train: 20,000x, Money Train 2: 50,000x, Money Train 3: 100,000x, Money Train 4: 150,000x. So the natural step for many would probably have been to simply make Money Train 5 a 200,000x game. But I think you have to ask yourself what actually gives the best player experience. Sure, an insane max win is very advertising-friendly, but what does that do to all the other bonus rounds where you are not winning it?
Like you said, every sequel becomes increasingly difficult to get right. Just the name Money Train means players will approach the game with expectations already set from the previous releases. At the same time, not giving the game a max win worthy of the series also felt like something we simply couldn’t do.
So I went back and started playing all of them again. A lot. And for me, it became very clear that Money Train 3 is my personal favourite in the series, followed by Money Train 2, which was genuinely an incredible release for its time. We eventually came up with a solution that I’m really proud of, and one that lets the player set the direction of the train and, to some extent, decide what kind of journey they want. But the main thing I wanted us to get right was the characters.
For me, what made Money Train so popular in the first place is the character features and the potential synergy between them. That was our focus from day one. They should be the stars of the show, and they should be what ultimately leads you towards the biggest wins.
Money Train 4 is a great game, but one weakness for me, especially around the persistent feature, is how definitive your starting feature can feel. If you buy a bonus and start with something like a persistent Adjacent Payer, for example, it can be very easy to immediately feel like the bonus is already dead before it has even started. That’s not a problem isolated to Money Train 4 either. It was one of the key things we wanted to find a solution for with Money Train 5.
I’m really happy with where we landed, because I think we managed to keep the identity and expectations of a Money Train game while giving the player much more opportunity for the bonus to evolve, change direction and create those character combinations that make the series so much fun in the first place.
“For me, that was the reason to take the bigger step rather than just build another variation of what we had already done”
Daniel (Bigwinboard): And speaking of that, Money Train 4 already took the series in a somewhat different direction with its scatter pays mechanic, but Money Train 5 feels like a much bigger departure from the traditional formula, particularly with the train moving through stations and new mechanics unlocking as you progress. What made you decide to take the series in such a different direction this time rather than simply building on what you had done before? Walk us through the new features.
Oscar (Relax Gaming): This very much touches on what I just mentioned. The moving reels are really what allow us to open up the parts of Money Train that I personally think are the most exciting. In the previous titles, you would quite often reach a point where the bonus started running into what felt like an inevitable wall. Once the values on the screen had scaled high enough, there were basically two options left: either pay out very big, or kill the bonus round. Sadly, quite often it ends up being the second one.
The moving reels give the whole mechanic a new fluidity that, in my opinion, we haven’t really seen in the series before. It allows the bonus to keep evolving through features and progressive upgrades, rather than everything being tied directly to how large the coin values currently visible on the screen have become.
That is where the stations come in. As you collect tickets and move the train forward, you reach new stations and unlock new upgrades along the journey. So instead of the bonus simply becoming about bigger and bigger numbers, you are also progressing mechanically. The further you travel, the more the game itself starts to change.
In Money Train 5, players will once again meet many of their favourite characters from previous games, but there are also some new faces. I don’t want to spoil too much because I would much rather let players discover what they do themselves, but I can give you a few examples.
- Ticket Master – a fun new take on the Collector/Payer concept.
- Pyromancer – leaves behind a static hot zone on the reels, opening up some really interesting possibilities as the bonus progresses.
- Bomber – probably the easiest way to describe her is a sniper on steroids.
And then, of course, you have the tickets, stations and the progressive upgrade system tying everything together. That is really the backbone of Money Train 5 and what allows us to bring more characters, more interactions and more potential synergy into a single bonus round without simply inflating the values on screen.
For me, that was the reason to take the bigger step rather than just build another variation of what we had already done. If we were going to make Money Train 5, we wanted it to feel unmistakably like Money Train, but also give players something they genuinely hadn’t experienced in the series before.
What do you think, Daniel? Do you have a favourite among the new characters so far?
Daniel (Bigwinboard): I’d answer Pyromancer, probably. I can relate to leaving a trail of destruction behind me and hoping it somehow turns out profitable haha. Now, regarding the base game, it gets some love as well with Nuclear Wilds where bombs can turn as many as five reels fully wild. Money Train has traditionally been overwhelmingly associated with its bonus round. Was making the base game capable of producing more memorable moments a specific priority for Money Train 5?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): This was actually one of the trickier parts to get right. And I think people would probably be surprised if they knew the actual percentage of RTP allocated to the respin feature in some of the previous games. For us, the bonus round is still the main event, and I think it should remain that way. That is what Money Train is known for. We never wanted to shift too much focus away from it just for the sake of making the base game more feature-heavy. But at the same time, I do think the base game could feel a little flat in the previous titles between those bigger moments.
The Nuclear Wilds felt like a really nice addition in that sense. They give the base game the ability to suddenly create something much more memorable, with bombs potentially turning up to five reels fully wild, without changing the core identity of the game. I think we found a good balance where the bonus is still very clearly the focus, but the journey towards it feels more exciting and less like you are simply waiting for the main feature to arrive.
And finally being able to play Money Train with Enhanced Spin active is also a small but lovely upgrade in my opinion. It might not be the headline feature, but as someone who has played a ridiculous amount of Money Train over the years, it is something I personally really appreciate.
Daniel (Bigwinboard): Money Train 5 introduces Standard and Ultra modes, with max wins of 50,000x and 100,000x respectively. What exactly changes under the hood when switching to Ultra? Is it primarily a mathematical difference, or should players actually notice that they are playing a more extreme version of the game?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): The main difference is mathematical. Standard Mode has a 50,000x max win, while Ultra increases that to 100,000x. The core game, characters, progression and features remain the same. Ultra simply gives players access to a more extreme mathematical profile with a higher ceiling.
Some players are looking for the most powerful version of the bonus and don’t mind spinning longer to get there. Others would rather reach the bonus more frequently. The two modes let you choose depending on your bankroll, your preferred playstyle, or simply whether you’re feeling really lucky that day. That choice also carries through the entire game, including Bonus Buys and Upgrade Spins.
Daniel (Bigwinboard): You’ve now had years of player feedback and data from Money Train 2, 3 and 4. Was there anything players consistently loved, disliked or misunderstood in the previous games that directly influenced the design of Money Train 5?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): The two things that immediately come to mind are a sometimes flat base game and bonus rounds that could become a bit predictable. The bonus round part especially is something I’ve heard a lot over the years from streamer friends who have played an enormous amount of Money Train. Once a round develops in a certain direction, you can sometimes get a pretty good idea of where it is heading.
Both of those things definitely influenced Money Train 5. We wanted more memorable moments in the base game, but more importantly, we wanted the bonus to feel more dynamic and leave more room for it to change direction as you progress. At the same time, all four Money Train games are still performing really, really well for Relax to this day. So it has been an honour to help shape the next chapter of something that players clearly still enjoy this much.
Daniel (Bigwinboard): Finally, you fooled everyone once by suggesting Money Train 4 was the end of the line, so we’re probably not going to believe you this time. Is Money Train 5 actually the last Money Train, or should we expect this thing to somehow find another station?
Oscar (Relax Gaming): Haha, I think it’s probably best if I just don’t answer that question this time. We’ve learned our lesson about calling anything the last stop.
Thanks for the great questions, Daniel. Always a pleasure speaking with you.
