[edit] Careers and Salaries
There are still two routes at the beginning of the game, now labeled Career and College. Selecting the College route now places the player in debt from the very start; however, the probability of landing a better job and a higher salary is much better than selecting the Career route. If the person lands on a trade a salary card space, you can trade it or keep it, whatever you choose. At the shared end of both paths, the player's career and salary are decided by chance. A Career Card (with such occupations as a teacher, police officer, athlete, and travel agent), as well as a Salary Card (ranging in $10,000 increments between $20,000 and $100,000) are selected, as outlined below.
If a player chooses Career, he takes the shorter path; at the end, he selects one occupation card and one salary card. If the selected Career card says "Degree Required", he must draw another Career Card. The player continues the game with that specific career and salary unless another event affects him.
If a player chooses College, he must immediately take two Promissory Notes from the bank for tuition, and must take the longer path (which in this game is also more "dangerous" than the Career path.) However, at the end, he selects three Career cards and three Salary cards, and may choose one from each set after looking at them.
[edit] Types of spaces
As in the 1980s version, most of the spaces on the game board are yellow, and their instructions are only followed if they are landed on. The "Pay Day" spaces are green and impact the player when landed on or passed. Red spaces now always signify a major life event (e.g. graduation, marriage, buying a house, retirement), and must be stopped on even if the spin is greater than the number needed to land on them. The "decision" spaces are now blue, and if landed on, the player can choose to follow them or do nothing. "Taxes Due" is now a normal yellow space, and is also only active if landed on.
[edit] Occupation spaces
Most of the spaces requiring the player to pay money to the bank have a symbol next to them, each of which corresponds to that on one of the career cards. If any opponent has that career card, the money is paid to that opponent instead of the bank; if the player himself has that career, he does not have to pay anything.
[edit] Special Occupations
There is only one space on the board that will award the Police Officer money from another player; this is due to a special rule regarding this career. If any player spins 10 while an opponent is the Police Officer, that opponent may collect a $5,000 "fine" from the spinning player for "speeding".
Another occupation that has special ability is Computer Technician. If the spin wheel is spun out of the board or the needle got stuck between 2 numbers, the player who chose to be Computer Technician can fix the spin wheel and collect $5,000 from the bank for "technical support".
[edit] LIFE Tiles
A major change to the game in this version is the collection of "LIFE Tiles" as one progresses through the game. Every time a player lands on a space marked with the LIFE logo, he/she collects a LIFE tile. (These also replace the previous "collecting presents" rule.) On each of these tiles is a major life event (e.g. climbing Mt. Everest, curing the common cold, building a better mousetrap, etc.). Each of these tiles bears an amount from $10,000 to $50,000. The tiles are not revealed until all players have "retired", at which point they are flipped over and their total is added to the player's money total.
If at any time the draw pile of LIFE Tiles is depleted, a player may steal one from any active player remaining in the game, or certain "retired" players (see Retirement section below.)
[edit] Buying a house
One of the red spaces in the game is buying a house; at this point in the game, the player must immediately draw one House Deed and pay to the bank whatever that house costs (ranging from a $200,000 Victorian mansion to a $40,000 "split-level" shack.) At this time (or later in the game at any point) he may also buy homeowners' insurance for a price listed on the house deed.
[edit] Insurance and Stock
In this version, there are two insurance policies (automobile and homeowners') that prevent the player from being affected by a number of "tragedy" spaces throughout the board. Purchasing a Stock certificate still costs $50,000; however, its role is very limited in this series. Upon purchasing stock, the player chooses a stock card numbered between 1 and 9; from that point, any time any player spins that number, the stockholder collects $10,000 from the bank. A player may only hold one stock card at a time unless he hits a space marked "Stock Market Zooms", at which point he selects another stock card free of charge; likewise, "Stock Market Slumps" costs the stockholder one stock card. Each number has only 1 stock and will not be available to others as they are being purchased.
[edit] Retirement
When a player reaches the end of the game, he may choose two options to "retire". He may place his car at Millionaire Estates (largely unchanged from the previous version), or he may retire at Countryside Acres (previously the "Bankrupt" space). Each has its benefits and risks.
If a player thinks he will end the game with the most cash, his best option is to retire at Millionaire Estates. Four LIFE Tiles are placed here before the start of the game. After all players have finished the game, they count their cash on hand; whoever has the most cash receives these four tiles (in the rare occurrence of a tie, they are split). However, if other players are still playing the game and the LIFE Tile draw pile is empty, these players may still steal tiles from anyone retired at this space.
If a player is not confident in his amount of cash on hand, he may retire to Countryside Acres. By retiring here, he automatically collects one LIFE tile, and no other players can steal tiles from him for the remainder of the game.
After all players have retired, the amounts on the LIFE Tiles are revealed, and whoever has the most money (cash on hand added to the combined total of one's LIFE Tiles) is the winner.