SUMMARY & PLAYING BOARD

Below is a brief summary of the game, and an overview of the board and functions of some of the squares.

One circuit of the board represents a year in business, and players need only pass, not land on, certain squares to get benefit from, or be penalized by, that square. There are two tables, the GOLDFIX table and TAX table, and (4) decks of playing cards, DEBT, MINE LEASE, DRILL REPORT and RISK. There are (22) mines shown on the perimeter of the board in alphabetical order, all are of equal value, with no advantage to owning any specific mine or group.

The GOLDFIX table is the key to the game and shows the current GOLDFIX, which starts at $1,000 (per troy ounce) and rises $100 every time any player lands on one of the (5) small perimeter GOLDFIX +$100 squares.  The GOLDFIX sets the minimum bids/purchase costs of both MINE LEASE and HEADGEAR, both of which are required to generate GOLD BULLION.  There are also (2) DRILL REPORTs per mine, which greatly increases gold bullion production. As the GOLDFIX rises so does the income from the Bank when bullion is sold at the BULLION MARKET, however whenever any bullion is sold to the Bank at the Bullion Market the GOLDFIX falls $100 on the GOLDFIX table. Which of course, reduces the mining costs, but also income from the next Bullion Market sale.

Players start the game with $500M and (2) DEBT CARDs, valued at $250M each, and must pay annual Interest on all Debt Cards every time they pass the Bank.  There are also Annual, Discount and Overdraft Loans available during the game, and players can hold up to (6) Debt Cards at any time, any more will result in Bankruptcy.

There are multiple BROKER squares around the board (see white circles below), and the player who lands on these squares, denoted with a B, can act as a Broker for ALL players, and will earn commissions for all activity on that square. The AUCTION squares - MINE LEASE / DRILL REPORT pay a fixed 20% on all transactions, and Brokers must act for all players. 

However the BULLION MARKET Broker squares are different, players can choose NOT to sell for other players, but only to sell bullion for themselves. Should they agree to sell bullion for other players then there is a variable commission rate from 10% (fixed for TRIAL and FAMILY modes) up to a high of 25% (ADVANCED and BUSINESS MODE only). The GOLDFIX CORNER square is fixed at 25% commission, and the GOLDFIX will fall $200 on this square only, which gives players a chance to "corner the market".

The MERCHANT BANK square (not available in TRIAL mode) is also a 10% broker square, and allows players to trade mine assets (excluding bullion) between themselves for fair market price in an auction, and not the Bank's discount buy back price.

All other squares, including the (22) mines, the BANK, and the BULLION and CORPORATION TAX squares will apply whenever a player lands on or passes that square.  A player must first acquire a MINE LEASE and then purchase a HEADGEAR for that mine, which is then producing Gold Bullion for the rest of the game.  Every time any player passes his own mine he will generate Gold Bullion, and when a player lands on an opponents mine/headgear the mine owner will get a 20 kOz bonus, and if a player lands on his own mine/headgear the player will get a 40 kOz bonus. Don't forget that the DRILL REPORTs also greatly improve bullion production.

COCOPAN – Each player has a different color cocopan to move around the board perimeter; Blue, Red, Green, Cyan, Yellow and White.	GOLDFIX COUNTER – Moves up/down GOLDFIX table to show current GOLDFIX.	TAX COUNTER – Moves up/down TAX table to show current TAX levels.	HEADGEAR – Placed on mine on perimeter of board to signify that the mine is in production. The headgear color will match owner’s cocopan color.  Players must own MINE LEASE before buying HEADGEAR.

The GOLDFIX is the key to the game, shown on the GOLDFIX table, and determines the cost or minimum bid for all assets in the game, and also the value of all GOLDBULLION sold to the Bank to raise capital.