Chunky Carlo’s Money Mania

Chunky Carlo's Money Mania: Slot Overview

Veteran game maker Play'n GO takes a walk on the wrong side of the law in its crime-and-cash-themed online release Chunky Carlo's Money Mania. The slot introduces players to Carlo's questionable business empire, and while the precise nature of the business is not disclosed, cash, explosives, and shady characters are all part of the daily operation. Operating on the mechanical side is a cluster pays slot, climaxing in a fairly basic hold 'n' win bonus round. Chunky Carlo's Money Mania attempts to lure gamblers by dangling a big ol' max win carrot in front of them, though whether it's enough to keep Carlo in business or make him go bust remains to be determined.

Chunky Carlo is a mouthy boss who likes to yap through the game. He's got a sort of kind uncle gangster appeal, but the endless commentary gets repetitive; such is the danger of adding voice-overs to a game. Visually, Chunky Carlo's Money Mania has a personality, cartoonishly presenting a picture of a business built on crime using a sort of Disenchantment, Inside Job, Rick and Morty kind of art style. Crime doesn't seem to be paying particularly well in this case if the base game is any sort of guide. This part of Chunky Carlo's Money Mania is held in a mundane basement-type room, though the wads of cash and boxes of dynamite hint at danger. The bonus round spins symbols next to a big vault door, which presumably is full of even more wads of cash. For some people, there really is no such thing as too many wads.

Wins are achieved in Chunky Carlo's Money Mania by landing 4 or more matching symbols connected to each other vertically and/or horizontally. Winning symbols are removed, and symbols fall down into the gaps. This takes place on a 5x5 gaming area in the base game only, before the bonus round switches to hold 'n' win mode. Low volatile, players may stake $/€0.10 to $/€100, and have a theoretical RTP of 96.2% on the highest setting.

Seven pay symbols hit on the reels, made up of dice, masks, necklaces, cigars, and three character symbols. A 4 OAK win pays 0.1x-1.2x, while the largest clusters are 10+ OAK in size and pay 20x-750x the stake. Wild bundles of cash symbols substitute for anything except Coins and Lighters.

Chunky Carlo's Money Mania: Slot Features

Chunky Carlo's potential money makers are Coin symbols, a Lighter Collection system, and a Big Heist hold 'n' win round.

Coin Symbols

Coin symbols are collected in the base game when they land, causing a cascade. Each Coin has a chance to trigger an Instant Prize. When an Instant Prize is triggered, players win the 5x Mini, 10x Minor, 25x Major, or 100x Mega.

Lighter Collection

Lighter symbols are also collected when they land on the grid. They come in three colours, and each collected Lighter fills its corresponding Lighter progress bars by 1. When a progress bar reaches 4, the related Lighter ability activates and the progress bar resets.

• Red Lighter Ability - Mob Hit selects a random character symbol or a random symbol if no characters are in view and symbols around it are removed to trigger a cascade.
• Green Lighter Ability - Magic Money transforms 3-5 symbols into wilds.
• Purple Lighter Ability - Cancel removes all instances of the most common symbol on the grid.

Big Heist

Big Heist is triggered by collecting 6 or more Coin symbols on a spin. Three spins are awarded to land Coin and Time Bomb symbols, resetting the spin count on each hit. Coin symbols land with values of 0.5x-25x the bet. The grid starts empty with a Time Bomb in the centre of it. When the feature ends, Time Bombs explode, multiplying Coin symbol values on orthogonally adjacent spaces by x2-x10. If there is more than one Time Bomb, their multipliers multiply each other when affecting the same positions.

Chunky Carlo's Money Mania: Slot Verdict

Chunky Carlo might talk up a big game, but Chunky Carlo's Money Mania the slot feels like small fry a lot of the time. Play'n GO has created a nifty wee crime world, and filled it with a charismatic main character, though it might have been nice if his mouth had an off button. His voice fits the theme well, and the actual words he speaks are fine; it's just the endless repetition of them grates after a while. Another observation was that after reviewing Shady Lady's Pissed the day before, and witnessing a studio fully commit to its thematic idea, Chunky Carlo's Money Mania might have benefited from Play'n GO dropping the restraint and pushing the theme even harder. What's here is fine enough, but could have hit harder with a dash more daring enthusiasm.

Beyond the skin, Chunky Carlo's Money Mania was a slow-burning slot, though on the plus side, clusters only need 4 or more matching symbols to make a win, so they keep the pace ticking along. The Lighter collection and features system was a bit weak, though the symbol removals and wild adds it can provide might lead to something nice. The bonus round, too, was underwhelming. Chunky Carlo's Money Mania boasts winning potential of 25,000x the bet, but the Big Heist struggled to feel anywhere near big. Coin values are limited to 25x at best, so Time Bombs a-plenty are required to push this thing remotely near top gear.

Play'n GO has created some of the most memorable cluster paying slots in the industry such as Reactoonz and Moon Princess, though Chunky Carlo's Money Mania doesn't seem destined to take its place amongst them. Its impressive win figure, while technically possible perhaps, feels tacked on to make up for the gaps in the gameplay, namely slow pacing, so-so base game features, and a fairly unexciting hold 'n' win round. Are gamblers going to be tearing out their eyes after playing Chunky Carlo's Money Mania? No, but it doesn't seem the sort of slot that will have them flocking back in great numbers either.