Sam & Max: Episode 3 - The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball

The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball is the third installment in the episodic adventure game series. At the end of the previous episode, Situation: Comedy, the duo discovered that TV host Myra was kept under hypnosis by a teddy bear. The commissioner sets up an underground operation at the Ted E. Bear Mafia-Free Playland and Casino, but the mole he sent is no longer in contact. Sam & Max need to infiltrate themselves and become members of the Toy Mafia.

Cheating their way through the back room at the casino, they need to perform three tasks to gain the trust of the organization: display a teddy bear in Bosco's store, kill Sybil Pandemik, and recover Ted E. Bear's Original Meatball stolen sandwich. After gaining the Toy Mafia's trust, Sam and Max need to discover the purpose of the hypnotic teddy bears. The game relies on the familiar cast, and adds new faces such as card player Leonard Steakcharmer and Secret Agent Chuckles.

The gameplay is identical to the previous games in the series, including an interactive driving scene. The game is entirely in 3D and the player controls Sam. Sam can interact with the environment through mouse-based actions. He can talk to other characters, examine the environment, pick up items and use them with other objects. The inventory is shown as a cardboard box at the bottom of the screen.