Guide to Using the Bank in Mafia Wars
In the popular Mafia Wars by Zynga, also the creators of Farmville, using the Bank option comes with a steep price. Ten percent (10%) of anything you deposit in the bank disappears into the pockets of some Zynga launderer as a fee. When should you use the bank? Why should you use the bank? Should you use the bank at all? These are all questions that new players—and even some old players—struggle with on a consistent basis. The answers are quite simple and broken down by city.
New York: Should I Use the Bank?
Sometimes you should use the bank. Money comes easily very quickly in New York. Using the bank early can be beneficial for players who get attacked frequently or players who plan to fight a lot. There are two reasons to use the bank while under level 25. First, money can be quite hard to come by at this point. You can lose up to $100,000 per fight at the higher levels, but you are quite safe from that at the lower levels. The lower levels, however, is when every dollar counts because you actually learn so little from the early jobs. In addition, you have to buy gear, so money is very important.
New York: How Should I Use the Bank?
The first lesson in banking is to spend everything you can before you start banking. You want to only put your leftover money into the bank. This serves to keep it from being stolen as well as to keep you from being attacked. Some people play with the intent to keep a high percentage of Fights Won to Fights lost (found in your profile), and keeping cash on hand can incite a more powerful mafia to hit you repeatedly. Not only do you lose money, you become a known target that keeps money on hand. Dump all the money you can into gear and buying up businesses before you start putting money into the bank. I recommend investing heavily in rent houses early on simply because they cannot be robbed.
New York: When Do I Stop Using the Bank?
Starting at level 15-17, you get jobs that pay you over $2,000,000 at a time as well as a good chunk of XP. At this point, you will have also invested heavily in your properties, and that should begin paying you well. At this point, very few people in your Fight tier should be preying on you just for money, so you should be able to keep money on hand without putting up an “Attack me repeatedly” sign. Now you can wait until you have $1,000,000 and bank it all at once to get an achievement. You can also start investing in some of the more profitable properties after you have made sure that your entire mafia has gear. You can only get hit for $100,000 at most, and that quickly becomes pocket change. You should still bank any extraneous extras, but by level 50, you should stop using the bank in New York for anything other than gaining achievements.
But What About Cuba?
Cuba should be played very differently from New York in Mafia Wars. The island becomes available at level 35, and you start off with one pitiful business. It pays C$200 every three hours, and your first available job pays only C$227. The maximum you can lose in Cuba is still C$100,000, and with every business fully upgraded, you still make no more than C$350,000 a day assuming that you collect regularly and do not allow your production to max out. Money is extremely valuable and should be spent as soon as possible for upgrading and buying businesses. If you keep Cuban cash on hand, you will be hit repeatedly when someone eventually finds you on the Fight list. They will likely write you down on a list and come back for more. Not only can this annihilate your Fights Won to Fights Loss ratio, you will also be completely broke in Cuba. A broke mobster is a useless mobster.
Summary
The bank should be used strategically in MW. If used in the manner described, not only can you save yourself from being snuffed repeatedly by money mongers, you can quickly and effectively grow your empire without taking unnecessary hits from the money launderer’s needed to clean your dirty cash before it goes into the bank. A good mobster is a smart mobster, so bank your hard-earned cash in a responsible manner.