Super Mario Bros. 3 Secrets: White Toad Houses, Coin Ship & Minigames

White Toad Houses (P-Wing & Anchor)

Finish the level below with at least the listed coins and a white house appears on the map. The NES game gives no hint.

Level	Coins	Reward
World 1-4	44 coins	P-Wing
World 2-2	30 coins A hidden P Switch over the oasis helps.	Anchor
World 3-8	44 coins Count the coins a P Switch releases.	P-Wing
World 4-2	24 coins That is every coin in the level.	Anchor
World 5-5	28 coins	P-Wing
World 6-7	78 coins Every coin in the level.	Anchor
World 7-2	46 coins Every coin in the underwater area; bring a Frog Suit.	P-Wing

Treasure Ship (Coin Ship)

• A Treasure Ship (also called the Coin Ship or White Ship) replaces a wandering Hammer Brother on the map in Worlds 1, 3, 5 or 6.
• Trigger: finish a level with a coin count that is a multiple of 11 (11-99), with the score’s tens digit matching that digit, and the timer stopped on an even number.
• Example from the guides: 44 coins with a score ending ...240 and an even timer summons the ship; it works once per world.
• The ship has no regular enemies, about 177 coins and a hidden 1-Up between the first two portholes; two Boomerang Brothers wait in the cabin.
• Beating the cabin Bros. gives whatever item the replaced Hammer Brother would have dropped. Losing a life turns the ship back into the Bro.

N-Spade card matching game

• An N-Mark Spade Panel appears on the map each time your score passes another 80,000 points; stepping on it pulls you straight in.
• The board has 18 face-down cards forming 9 pairs: one 10-coin pair, one 20-coin pair, one 1-Up pair, and two pairs each of Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman.
• Flip two cards per turn; every matched pair’s prize goes to your inventory. A second mismatch ends the game.
• Matched pairs stay face up the next time an N-Spade appears, so you can keep chipping away at the same board.
• A shuffling bug means only eight card layouts ever occur, and the 4th, 5th and 6th cards of the bottom row are always Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman.
• N-Spade panels never appear in World 8 (Dark Land).

Spade Panel slot game

Picture	Prize
Mushroom	2 lives
Fire Flower	3 lives
Star	5 lives
Mismatch	Nothing

One try per panel; each reel stops after a random delay.

Toad Houses

• Every world except Dark Land has Toad Houses. Inside, Toad offers three closed boxes; you open one and keep its random item.
• Some Toad Houses hold only a single box, usually with a stronger item than the three-box houses.
• Each Toad House can be used once: after you take a box you leave, and the house closes for the rest of that world.
• A secret Toad House in World 1-3, reached by crouching on the white block and slipping behind the scenery to the end, gives a Warp Whistle.
• In World 4 (Giant Land), breaking the rock left of 4-1 with a Hammer opens a Toad House holding a Tanooki Suit.
• A hidden Toad House on the Fire Brothers’ branch holds a Frog Suit.

Hammer Bro map battles

World	Encounters & rewards
1 · Grass Land	One Hammer Brother: Starman
2 · Desert Land	Two Boomerang Brothers: Hammer and Music Box. Two hidden Fire Brothers: the third Warp Whistle
3 · Water Land	Two Hammer Brother pairs on flooding water tiles: Hammer and Starman
4 · Giant Land	Three Sledge Brothers: Starman, Jugem’s Cloud and P-Wing
5 · Sky Land	Two ground pairs: P-Wing and Starman. Sky pair: Music Box
6 · Ice Land	Three pairs on ice: Hammer, Starman and Jugem’s Cloud
7 · Pipe Land	None: two Piranha Plant courses guard the map instead
8 · Dark Land	None: Hand Trap spaces can pull Mario into short courses

A Music Box puts roaming Bros to sleep. In Worlds 1, 3, 5 and 6 one can turn into the Treasure Ship.

Princess Toadstool’s letters

After clearing	Item enclosed
World 1	P-Wing
World 2	Jugem’s Cloud
World 3	Music Box
World 4	P-Wing
World 5	Jugem’s Cloud
World 6	P-Wing
World 7	None: Bowser sends a gloating letter instead

More tricks

• Three matching goal cards pay 2, 3 or 5 lives; a mixed set pays 1. Card table.
• When the inventory is full, a newly collected item overwrites the 28th slot.
• After the ending on NES, pressing a button restarts the game with the inventory packed with 28 P-Wings.
• Two Warp Whistles from World 1 reach World 8. Whistle guide.