ATMs round Malta: your savings without a bank visit in Malta Living

There are ATMs round Malta now in Malta Living, the free life sim played in your browser. Your easy-access savings at Harbour Bank are no longer stuck in Valletta: take money out or put it in from the street, wherever you are on the island.

Where the ATMs are

One stands outside Harbour Bank on Republic Street, and there are street machines in Paceville, Sliema, Mosta, Paola, Qawra and Msida. Each machine has a small 🏧 pin on the map, along the street from its place. Tap it from anywhere and you walk there; tap it when you're there and the machine opens. Its card also shows on the panel of the places round it: Tokyo Club or Club Shady for Paceville, the promenade or SOHO for Sliema, and so on.

What they cost

• Harbour Bank's own machine is free.
• Street machines cost €2 a go, as real ones off your bank's network often do.
• €1,000 a day through ATMs, in and out together. Bigger sums need the counter, which has no limit.

How to use one

Walk to a place with an ATM and its card shows on the place's panel, under the things to do there. It says whose machine it is and what it costs, how much you have in savings, and how much more you can move through ATMs today. Pick Withdraw or Deposit, then tap an amount. Withdraw moves money from your savings into your account, ready to spend; Deposit moves it the other way, so it earns the savings rate. The amounts on offer never go over what you have saved or what's left of today's €1,000.

Every move happens once. If your connection drops halfway and you tap again, the game sends the same request, so nothing moves twice and the fee is never charged twice.

Paceville at night

From 22:00 to 06:00, a withdrawal at the Paceville machine can turn into "Someone's watching you". Read what's going on, because the clue is in what you see, and pick: hide it and walk off fast, or a straight face. It's never the same answer every time. You have a few seconds. Get it wrong, or freeze, and they take up to a fifth of what you took out, €300 at most. Only euros you earned in the game can go: euros you bought are never taken. There's no heat, nobody gets hurt, and in daylight, or at any other machine, nothing like it ever happens.

Want more from your money? Read about savings and fixed deposits, the Harbour Bank job, or start with the Malta life simulator guide. Real Malta has its own warnings about card skimmers and shoulder-surfers (Wikipedia: shoulder surfing).

Questions people ask

Can I use an ATM for a fixed deposit?

No. ATMs move easy-access savings only. Fixed deposits and the bond are at the counter or in the Bank app.

What happens if I ignore the person watching?

Freezing counts as a wrong move: if you don't answer in time, they take up to a fifth of that withdrawal, earned euros only. The moment settles by itself even if you close the game.

Why is there a daily limit?

So big sums go through the counter, as at a real bank. The limit is €1,000 a day through ATMs; the counter has none.