Money Train slot review

Why the Money Train slot still matters

Money Train arrived in 2019, around a year after Relax Gaming began releasing its own in-house slots, and it became the template for everything the studio is now known for. The idea was simple to describe and hard to forget: rob a moving train, lock cash symbols in place during a bonus, and let a cast of outlaws collect and multiply what has landed.

That respin round, the Money Cart, turned into a franchise. Relax’s catalogue now lists Money Train 2, 3, 4 and 5, a Dream Drop jackpot edition called Money Train Origins, and four standalone Money Cart games built around the bonus alone. If you want to understand why the sequels look the way they do, the first game is where to start.

Layout, paylines and symbols

The base game uses five reels of four rows with 40 fixed paylines, so every spin covers all 40 and you only choose the total stake. A win needs three or more matching symbols on a line starting from the leftmost reel. Wilds substitute for regular symbols, and Bonus symbols carry the key to the feature.

Relax’s page introduces the gang as the leader, a debt collector, a TNT expert and a gunslinger. They are the faces of the game’s special characters, and their roles inside the bonus are explained in the game’s own help screen. Four rows rather than three give the 40 lines more space to criss-cross, which keeps small line wins ticking over between features.

How the Money Cart bonus works

The Money Cart bonus is a hold and win style respin round. It starts when enough Bonus symbols land in the base game, and those symbols stay on the grid. You get a small number of respins, and every time a new Bonus or character symbol lands, the counter resets. The round ends when you run out of respins or fill the grid.

What made Money Train different was that the symbols don’t just sit there. Character symbols act on the others: one type gathers up values from across the grid, another hands its own value to everything on screen, and another picks out symbols to boost. Some versions keep acting every respin rather than once. At the end of the round, all values are added together and paid as a multiple of your stake.

A worked example (illustrative only)

Imagine a £1 stake. Three Bonus symbols land showing 2x, 5x and 1x, and the round starts with three respins. On respin two, a symbol that adds its 3x value to everything lands: the three existing symbols become 5x, 8x and 4x. A collector arrives later and gathers all of them, so it now holds 17x. With no more landings, the round ends and pays 17x plus the collector’s own value. These numbers are made up to show the mechanic; real values and frequencies come from the game’s maths, which isn’t published in that detail.

Playing Money Train: a short checklist

1. Open the game’s information screen and note the RTP; Relax lists a 90% German version as well as the 96.2% standard figure.
2. Choose your stake. All 40 lines are always active, so the stake shown is the full cost of a spin.
3. Stay within UK limits: £5 per spin from age 25 and £2 per spin for 18 to 24.
4. Spin manually; UK rules remove autoplay and set a 2.5-second minimum per spin.
5. When the Money Cart starts, watch the respin counter and the character symbols rather than the reels.
6. Check your net position on screen after the bonus pays, and stop at your planned limit.

Money Train RTP and volatility explained

At 96.2% RTP, the theoretical cost of play is £3.80 per £100 staked. Relax describes the game as high volatility, and the structure confirms it: line wins on 40 lines are mostly small, and a large part of the return is stored in the Money Cart.

The table shows the same theoretical cost in each row because the budget is the same, but the experience differs greatly. Five hundred spins at 10p give the bonus many more chances to appear; fifty spins at £1 may never see it. That is why lower stakes usually stretch a session on a high-volatility game. Our guide to volatility explains the trade-off in more depth.

The 20,000x max win in context

Money Train’s max win is 20,000x stake: £2,000 on a 10p spin, £20,000 at £1 and £100,000 at the £5 UK ceiling. It can only realistically come from a Money Cart round where characters repeatedly multiply a full grid. Each sequel raised the ceiling, to 50,000x, 100,000x and then 150,000x, which tells you the later games also swing harder.

Relax doesn’t publish the probability of reaching the cap, and it is safe to assume very few sessions get close. Treat it as a measure of how far the game can stretch, not as a goal.

What UK players get, and don’t get

Relax’s page advertises a Buy Feature that skips straight to the Money Cart. That option isn’t offered to players in Great Britain, so UK versions reach the bonus only through Bonus symbols. Stakes are capped at £5 a spin for over-25s and £2 for 18 to 24s, and every spin lasts at least 2.5 seconds without turbo or autoplay. The demo version at UK sites opens after age verification. For the full list, see our UK slot game design rules explainer.

The Money Train series at a glance

The first three games keep the 5x4, 40-line base and add new characters and bigger caps. Money Train 4 changes how the base game pays. Each game has its own review on this site, linked in the table.

Money Train vs other Wild West slots

Wild West Gold shares the 5x4, 40-line frame but centres on sticky wilds in free spins rather than a cash-collect round. Dead or Alive 2 is far more extreme on paper. Western themes are common, but few pair the setting with a respin collection round as directly as Money Train.

Pros, cons and who Money Train suits

It suits players who like cash collect mechanics and want to see the series in its simplest form before moving to the sequels.

Where to play Money Train in the UK

Many UKGC-licensed casinos carry the Money Train series, but lobbies vary, so search the game at your chosen site and check the RTP in its help screen. The offers below come from sites that publish clear terms; bonus funds from 10bet and Casumo carry 10x wagering, and Coral’s spins are on selected games. 18+, terms apply.

18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Set a deposit limit before you play: how to set limits. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.