The third episode of the Sam and Max series puts our crazy detective friends face to face with the ferocious, cruel, vicious Toy Mafia. While Sam does most of the action, Max is once again the funniest inexhaustible rabbity thing sidekick you'll ever meet. With this third addition he gets even punchier, sarcastic comment lines meant to make laugh till you drop. Nothing can scare the cute buddies, but nevertheless they're bound to need your guidance in cracking this case. While the story is pretty clear and the puzzles are rather logical in a nuts sense of way, a little help can never hurt. That's why we came out with a walkthrough to guide in your quest to infiltrate and eventually steer the water at Ted E. Bear Free-Mafia Playland and Casino. Welcome to Sam and Max: The Mole, The Mob and The Meatball. Warning: if by any chance you don't want to spoil the fun, please stick to the review!

The Office
Watch the introductory video to get your first clue on the story in this episode. Do notice that Max was playing with an Ace of Spades card. Feel free to click around the office for things that tell the Freelance Police detectives' story thus far. Once you had your fun here, just exit through the door to the left of your screen. You now get to the street. Make Sam take out the Big Gun from the inventory and shoot the One Way sign to cause an accident (if you haven't done this in the previous episodes or you want to do it again). Make your way to the beloved detectives' car - their very own DeSoto Chrysler - parked just on the left corner of the street. Head to the Ted E. Bear Free-Mafia Playland and Casino.

Ted E. Bear Free-Mafia Playland and Casino
Get greeted by Lovey Bear and than talk to him about everything and receive your first time customers' free tokens. Do notice the detectives' remark about his bear mask. Behind Lovey Bear you'll notice an arcade game called "Whack-Da-Ratz". There is also a panel with instructions on how to play. Head over there and insert a token to play. You'll need to use your inventory Big Gun to shoot at least 20 of the red colored rat cards. This should be fun. Get started as there's no strategy on how to do it. Shoot everything if you want, as you are not taken any points for shooting some innocents too. Once you hit 20 of the "singing" rodents you're awarded with a Ted E. Bear Magnet. Got it? Let's move on with the games. Go to the middle of the room (right) and notice the characters at the poker table. Accept Leonard's invitation to play. Deal a hand or two and notice that Leonard is concentrating on something. Well, there's no way to beat him at this time, so let's move on. Going a little further to the right you'll notice the back door guarded. The guard will ask you for a password. Feel free to try anything out, but you can't know the pass just yet. Towards the lower right corner of the screen notice a One-Armed Bandit slots-like machine. Insert a token to play. A clue Sherlock: the machine doesn't give you any prize, but it does make a pink headed bear come out the back door and quickly provides the password to get back in. Unfortunately you can't hear what he says. Maybe it's time to pay your old pal Bosco a visit. Exit the casino.

The neighborhood
Enter Bosco's Inconvenience. Catch up with the pal that now tries to hide under a French identity. Talk about everything and notice that he has a sale on a miniature listening device. Special prize just for you - 10 million dollars. Well, neither you nor your little white friend have that kind of money on you. But you do remember that this was the exact sum that Leonard was willing to bet at the poker table. He definitely cheated. You just need to prove yourself a better cheater. Remember the card Max was playing with at the beginning of the story. Exit Bosco's Inconvenience and enter your office. Get the Ace of Spades that felt on the floor next to the rat hole (the right wall of the office). Exit the office and take the DeSoto back to the casino.

Casino part 2
Look at the clown face that marks the entrance door. Notice the big shiny red nose. What do you know? Leonard's face is seen perfectly from here. This must be how he cheats. Use your Ace of Spades on the nose. It sticks. Wonderful. Now it's time to play poker. Leonard will think he has a better card than you as he sees the ace. So all you need to do is bet one token to get the big pot of 10 million. Once you ruin Leonard, exit the casino and head straight for Bosco's Inconvenience. Purchase the listening device. It turns out to be a bug… literally. Whee! Exit Bosco's and get back to the casino.

Head to the back door and send the "organic listening device" to stay comfortably on the nice guard at the door (he'll actually get to the wall behind the guard). Now gamble again at the One-Handed Bandit and watch the pink bear rush out the door. Once he's out of the picture get the bug back. You now have the password: "Leave the gun. Take the cannolis." Proudly tell the pass to the guard so you can enter the back office. Chuckles the pink bear greets you here. Tell him you're interested in the job. He'll point out that you must take care of 3 little favors to be accepted into the organization.

- the "Lean on" job involves you taking boxed teddies to Bosco's and display them on the front table
- the "Whack" job is all about viciously killing Sybil (they want plenty of blood to send out a message)
- the "Recover" job involves a certain famous Meatball Sandwich

Be sure to click on every assignment so they are active. Now you can leave the office and get going on these jobs. Notice the poker table is now empty. Where might that Leonard character go to? Leave the casino.

The Office part 2
Go to your own office as you remember there was something fishy about Jimmy Two-Teeth. As you enter the office you notice Leonard trying to negotiate the sale of the sandwich to Jimmy. As Sam tries to convince him to lay down the weapon, click on the Max dialog icon to notice that the gun is actually a fake. Now that you tied the cheater to the chair it's "Yo' Mama's" jokes time. Ok, so it's more like matching time. Here it goes. Yo' Mama's…

… so fat - she's got more folds than an origami accordion!
… so radiant - if she fell in nuclear waste, no one would notice!
… so perky - the only time she's low is at a limbo contest!
… so thrifty - she brings coupons to the penny arcade!
… so vulgar - her mouth would make a longshoreman blush!
… so punctual - she showed up early for her own funeral!

Leonard finally cracks and he points you out that he hid the sandwich in the One-Armed Bandit slots machine and removed his arm. You get the arm and live him all tied up in your office. One job is half-done.

Bosco's Inconvenience
Notice Cuddly Bear (the dealer) pretending to read the newspaper by the entrance door of the store. He ignores you if you try to talk to him. Enter Bosco's. Tell Bosco the Toy Mafia is just outside. He'll get all distracted with creating fantastic theories on that while watching the guy through his goggles. Place the Teddy Bear box on the display table in the front to see how the alarm goes off and the box is sucked in and thrown out on the street by Bosco's newest Anti-Delivery System B-Tad part 2. Don't worry, Max gets the box back. Time to use your Ted E. Bear Magnet on the surveillance camera (slightly to the left). As you place the magnet, the camera gets sucked in. And out it goes. Now you can safely place the toy box on the front table. Watch the hilarious video that follows.

Sybil's
As you enter the place notice the small webcam on the cactus to the left of the door (bottom left corner of the screen). Go to Sybil's desk and notice she's drinking coffee, but she's totally distracted from this action. She just drinks it "mechanically". Take the cup of coffee and talk to Sybil about her new job and everything. Exit her place and head to Bosco's. Go to the back (upper left corner of the screen) and fill the mug with ketchup. That should cover for the "plenty of blood" effect. Exit Bosco's and get back to Sybil's. Use the ketchup-filled cup on her. As she takes the cup to drink shoot the mug with your Big Gun (the Cap Gun won't do). Your actions are viewed on the webcam. Then Max eats up the webcam so the Mafia doesn't notice Sybil is coming back.

Casino part 3
Time to get the third job done too. Head to the back and put the bandit arm back on the One-Armed Bandit. Use the tokens to gamble. Surprise! Here comes the renowned sandwich. Chuckles shows up and if you already completed the other two tasks he invites you to the back office.

Huge surprise here. Don Ted E. Bear turns out to be the mole. As you say the code phrase he'll just let you know that he decided to switch sides. A car chase starts. The gangsters seem to have bullet proof tires, so it's useless to fire at them. Luckily there's an advertising panel hanging just above the street from place to place. Shoot it to cause a small bear accident. You're now returned to the back door office to take out the mole, but the office is empty. Time to search for clues or just head directly to the Sinister Door labeled "Do Not Enter".

The Toy Bear Factory
A short animated sequence follows, which makes you aware that you are supposed to pretend to be hypnotized by the small toy bear. Fortunately, Harry the Mole doesn't know that Sam has an anti-hypnosis device on his head ever since episode 1 and that Max, for some unknown reason cannot be hypnotized. Obey the Master as he asks you to shoot Max, just use the Cap Gun instead of your regular Big Gun. More funny animations follow. Harry is reading comics, so you have plenty of time to figure out a way of destroying the machine and take him down at the same time.

Get the screwdriver from the table with the One-Armed Bandit slots machine (bottom left corner of the screen). Remember the "You're on fire" phrase that it used to tell as you won. Use the screwdriver on the bandit machine to get a voice box. Now get to the upper right corner of the screen where you can see a hopper filled with all the voice-gizmo's for the teddy bear toys. Place the voice box here and notice as a "special custom made bear" drops from the assembly line. Get the altered Teddy Bear and use it on Harry. As he gets hypnotized to think that he's on fire, he heads to the fire extinguisher. The Toy-Mafia seems to have been kind of cheap as the fire extinguisher is also a fake. But it got Harry right under the waste tube. Remember how it almost overheated the machinery as Max took the journey up the waste tube? Let's see what happens to Harry. Pull the lever Sam!

As you watch the final video, you'll have one more surprise that will keep you on the lookout for the next episode. The overall story gets better and better if you ask me and I'm just dying to find out what "Plan B" is. Aren't you?