Money Cart 3

Money Cart 3: Slot Overview

Remember when Money Cart 2 came out, and it was like, hey, what's going on here? What happened to Money Cart 1 (which came a bit later)? Then the game dropped, and it became clear that maker Relax Gaming had made a sort of 'lighter' version of its steam roller hit Money Train 2, mainly as an alternative to UK punters lacking access to bonus buys. Now the enigma has evaporated, players familiar with the series should be in little doubt about what to expect from Money Cart 3. That is, a remake which is again in some ways 'lighter' than the slot it morphed off, but one still well and truly capable of setting its gaming grid on fire.

As before, the audio-visual experience of Money Cart 3 isn't hugely different to Money Train 3, with one major exception. This time around, there is no real base game as such, so players spend zero time inside the futuristic laboratory or whatever it was. Instead, the action starts outside and remains there during all facets of play. Put briefly, the Money Cart range of slots is bonus round focused, and when compared to their Money Train counterparts, players tend to spend a lot more time in the re-spins section where those critical Special symbols may get to strut their stuff alongside regular money symbols.

Make no mistake, though, just because the re-spins feature will likely trigger a lot more often than it does when playing Money Train 3, Money Cart 3 is by no means an easy or soft game, at all. It is, however, available on any device and takes bets of 10 p/c to £/€100 per game round. The math model is highly volatile, as fans of the franchise have come to expect, and the game possesses a theoretical return to player value of 96%. Solid, but noticeably less than Money Cart 2's eyebrow-raising 98% figure. Still, nothing to get overly worked up over. Since there's no real base game when compared to the original, there are no regular pay symbols to go over either. On with the show.

Money Cart 3: Slot Features

The goal of Money Cart 3 is to land at least 3 symbols on its default 5-reel, 4-row clanking mechanical game grid. When activated, 3 re-spins are awarded, and the triggering symbols are locked into the position they landed in. If fresh symbols land on a re-spin, they lock in place as well while resetting the re-spins count back to 3. If a whole reel is covered in locked symbols, an extra reel is added to the gaming grid. Up to 2 new reels can be added in this way. The round ends when respins run out, or the win cap is achieved.

The symbols in respins are either regular money symbols called Normal Symbols worth 1 to 10 coins each, or the following Special Symbols:

• Collector – collects all values in view on the reels and adds them to itself.
• Collector/Payer – picks 3 to 5 symbols to be targets, then adds their values to itself, then pays out this value to each of the targets.
• Sniper – doubles the values of from 3 to 8 other symbols. It may act on the same symbol more than once.
• Necromancer – revives 2 to 7 already used Special Symbols that are non-persistent. It can do this to the same symbol more than once.
• Absorber – absorbs all of the Normal Symbols, removing them from the reels. Special Symbols are not absorbed.
• Tommy Gun Sniper – picks one random symbol, then doubles its value 2 to 6 times.
• Tommy Gun Payer – reveals a coin value of 5 to 100 and targets a random symbol, adding the value to it 3 to 10 times.
• Persistent Collector – collects all values in view on the reels and adds them to itself on that spin and each following spin. It does not collect its own value.
• Persistent Sniper – doubles the values of from 3 to 8 other symbols on the current spin and each following spin. It can double the same symbol more than once.
• Persistent Collector-Payer – picks 3 to 5 symbols to be targets. At the end of the spin and on each following spin, it adds their values to its own and pays the new value to the targets.
• Persistent Necromancer – revives 1 to 7 used Special Symbols, which are non-persistent. This it can do to the same symbol more than once.
• Persistent Shapeshifter – becomes a different Special Symbol after each spin. (Collector, Collector-Payer, Sniper, Tommy Gun Sniper, or Tommy Gun Payer).

Money Cart 3: Slot Verdict

Money Train 3 garnered Bigwinboard's first natural 10 out of 10 score, and that really says it all. It had massive boots to fill, following on from Money Train 2, which had already rolled through town, raising heck, changing the online gambling landscape in its wake. Sometimes, in a wide range of creative endeavours, an artist or group of artists are able to turn inspiration into triumph. From Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Da Vinci's painting of a lady whose eyes somehow seem to follow viewers around the room, to Auguste Rodin's ponderous The Thinker. In the slot world, we've got the Train.

Okay, there might have been a certain amount of hyperbole in that previous paragraph, but you get the point. From the moment it reared up, Money Train 3 felt like a slot-of-the-year contender. Coincidentally, it went on to become Game of the Year at the 2022 Bigwinboard Awards. Money Cart 3, like the two Cart games preceding it, doesn't possess as much punch, clout or heft as the slot it came from, but it does provide an alternative approach which some players may actually prefer, particularly UK punters without access to bonus buy. Without the base game, re-spins did trigger a lot more often, and the Special symbols have returned to weave their magic, potentially, maybe.

They won't weave anywhere near as much magic in terms of max win compared to Money Train 3, best to be clear on that. Money Cart 3's win cap is 100,000 coins, and since each coin is worth 0.1 times the bet, the most that lucky players will be able to scoop here is 10,000 times the bet. Not a bad haul, though, and with the way we've seen Money Train slots crush their max wins in the past, it would be hard to deny it's possible here, too, should this locomotive pick up enough steam.