Journey to the Planet Moolah Slot Machine

If anyone ever tells you that slots are not a modern expression of artistic creativity, I suggest you direct them to the Journey to the Planet Moolah slot machine. They will either come back in full agreement or sufficiently confused to question how they form their opinions on anything. It’s a win-win.

Sadly, the same can’t be said for Journey to the Planet Moolah. A devilishly creative slot machine it may be, but it’s still a slot machine, after all. That said, if your idea of ‘winning’ on a slot is just having fun with the possibility of a nice payout, then Journey to the Planet Moolah is definitely what you are looking for.

Of course, that statement comes with the usual Moolah caveats. This was the third variant in the Planet Moolah series, and it is certainly a learned taste. I remember the first time I played one of them, I was more baffled than I was entertained. In fact, it took a long while for it to click with me.

That’s because Planet Moolah comes with its own quirky personality, weird world, and it asks you to appreciate them both whilst throwing a bombardment of sensory overload at you.

Anyway, let’s take a bit of a closer look at the Journey to the Planet Moolah slot machine and its glorious technicolour wackiness.

Let’s start by going over the Planet Moolah world, or universe, if you prefer. Call it an introduction for those unaware and a refresher course for Moolah aficionados.

Imagine that aliens are real, and they visit Earth, but humans are not the species they are interested in. Why? Because they are cows. Sometimes, three-eyed cows. Occasionally, they are unicows (a cow with a unicorn horn). They have travelled to the agricultural US to liberate the cows that humans have imprisoned on farmland. Still with me? Totally understand if you’re not.

Of course, humans don’t see it the same way, and they want to keep their cows. So a battle ensues between farmers with pitchforks and cows in flying saucers from, yes, the Planet Moolah.

So, that is the word in which you are inserting yourself into the moment you sit down on a Planet Moolah slot machine. Be prepared.

While the first two games in the series (Invader from the Planet Moolah and Invaders Attack from the Planet Moolah) are strictly earthbound, Journey to the Planet Moolah takes you to the alien cows’ home world. I swear I am not making this up.

The good news is that Light & Wonder didn’t mess with the unmistakable Moolah madness when they devised this game. The graphics, sounds, and feel of the game are true to its personality. That means it’s loud, it’s colourful, it’s flashy, and it’s wonderful.

In a display of slot design wisdom, Light & Wonder kept the general gameplay on the Journey to the Planet Moolah slot machine very familiar. It has the exact same base mechanic as its predecessors. That means you need four cascading wins to trigger the free games, starting with seven, and the more cascade wins you get, the more free games you end up with.

While Moolah games are wildly popular, that mechanic has become a bit of a dichotomy in that players seem to either love it or hate it. I personally went from one extreme to the other, as I think most do, and ended up loving it. I have to say, though, given Moolah’s penchant for giving you three cascade wins and then somehow finding a way to not find a fourth win, even with multiple wilds on the screen, can be maddening.

And that is basically it. Cows are wild, and some have special powers to help you win along the way. For example, some will have cash values, some will have a blast feature, which is a guaranteed cascade win, and some will spawn other wilds. You don’t use them straight away, though. The game actually saves them for when you are not getting a natural cascade, which is a nice feature.

Other special wild cow symbols will enhance the free games, like doubling the quantity or awarding the ‘moolah feature,’ which triggers a lot of cash value wilds. However, they are only applicable IF you trigger the free games; they don’t help you get them.

The ultimate special wild cow symbol is still the Mythical Unicow. If you collect it during the cascade wins, once you reach the threshold for free game,s it basically awards you everything. That makes the cascade wins stack up, and the free games get into the hundreds. Seriously. Remember, though, you only get it IF you trigger the free games.

At a glance:

• Layout: 5 x 3
• Denominations: Multiple
• Minimum Bet: $0.75 on a 1c denomination
• Theme: Alien Cows
• Return to Player (RTP): Approximately 90 - 95% but dependent upon casino and local regulations
• Volatility - Medium to High

In the Journey to the Planet Moolah bonus, it is you who jumps into a space rocket and travels to Planet Moolah. On the way, you can collect various objects that are flying past you in hyperspace. They include credit awards, progressive jackpots, and extra spins. It’s a cool way to start a bonus.

The real magic happens when you arrive at Planet Moolah, though. The whole planet becomes a wheel that spins randomly on certain spins during the bonus. It will mostly award multipliers and blasts, which are nice, but neither is what you really want.

The two that you really want are the Baby Unicow and the Cowcano Eruption. Again, I promise I am not making any of this up.

The Baby Unicow is far less powerful than its interstellar traveling parents, but it still gives you big boosts to the spin. It gives you three of them, in fact, meaning you have a great chance to get a four-cascade win and retrigger the bonus. More importantly, than that, though, it also gives you a good chance to win some good money.

The Cowcano Eruption does exactly what you’d think. Seemingly, Planet Moolah does not have volcanoes as we do here on Earth that spew out lava. No, Planet Moolah has Cowcanos that spew out loads of cows. They will scatter all over the skies of Planet Moolah, and you will collect some of them.

And that is pretty much it. The payout potential is great, but the frustration potential is also enormous. What is constant, though, is the crazy.

My best advice for anyone who plays slots in a real casino is to sign up for the players' rewards program and always use your card. It doesn’t matter if you’re a high roller or just playing a little here and there. As long as you’re logging your play, you can earn perks.

So, before you spin Journey to the Planet Moolah in your favorite land-based casino, make sure you pop your card in and start racking up points. Those points can turn into free play, discounts at restaurants, credits for drinks or shows, or even a free night’s stay.

Another tip that really makes a difference is simple: be nice to your waitress. Be friendly, tip well (around $3 to $5 per drink), and chances are you’ll see them a lot more often while you’re playing. Not every casino offers free waitress service, but many still have complimentary drinks for players on the floor. If it’s available, you might as well take advantage and enjoy the freebies.

If you love previous Planet Moolah slot machines, you will almost certainly love this one too. In fact, I would say that Journey to the Planet Moolah is my favourite version so far. It’s fun, and the addition of a wheel (who doesn’t love a wheel?!) is a superb improvement.

There are plenty of people who don’t quite ‘get’ Planet Moolah games still, though, or just can’t get the fuss. Honestly, I understand that perspective as it can be a bit of a brain-scrambler. As I said before, it’s certainly an acquired taste.

To those people, I would still suggest giving the Journey to the Planet Moolah version a try, just because the new bonus feature is such a good reinvention. It might still not be enough to convince you, but it’s definitely worth a try.