How to Play Mall Madness (Board Game)

Pick a Shopper's color pawn, matching-color shopping list, and matching-color cash card. The colors you have will be dependent on where your pawn's parking lot will begin. You'll have to choose between blue, red, green and orange. All unused pawns should be placed back into the game box.

• The backs of the shopping list cards lists the names of the players, and the players you use must match the player name and color on the back. These names include Avery (in blue), Dax (in green), Sage (in yellow), Gwen (in red).
  • A description of the customer's normal shopping styles is provided below the shopper's name, though that won't come into play at any time in the game.
• In the 2004 game version, there were so many shoppers. There was Rachael and Bryan (red), Tameka and Kara (blue), Sarah and Vanessa (green), and Megan and Scott (yellow). In the 1989 and 1994 versions, these Shoppers were unnamed. ^[5]

Retrieve six plastic "checkmarks" and place them near you. These mark the items you have bought in the game, but they need to be pre-retrieved and used throughout the game. Unused "checkmarks" get saved in the game box.

Let the banker distribute a total of $150 in cash. The user's guide says to distribute 1-$50, 3-$20, 3-$10, and 2-$5. Bankers only have the job of collecting and distributing the money over the course of the game.

Activate the console. Turn on the device using the on-off switch (if you have an older console), then press the aqua (blue) Enter button at the top of the device. For those on the newer consoles, tap the console's Enter button on the top of the device.

Listen for the device to begin naming Shopper colors. You will need to "log in" to play the game. When you hear the color that designates the color spot for your Shopper, make sure to press the Enter button within a few seconds.

• If you can't press it in time, let it cycle through the other colors, then it will repeat the missing colors a second time.

Listen for directions on where to place the Clearance and Sales signs. Place them, then push the Enter button again.

• At random times, your console may tell you that there are changes in the positions of the sales and clearance prices. Move the signs and proceed.^[6]

Let the colored Shopper move. Your console may either tell you to move a set number of spaces, or it may tell you to move to a certain store. If you did not reach a store, press the Enter button on the console. Moving from the parking lot to the entrance costs you one space. The entrance space can be found directly underneath the cardboard insert and is correlated to your shopper's color.^[7]

• Move in any direction, as long as you don't move diagonally.
• Sharing spaces with other shoppers are allowed, though this isn't very common.
• For stores on the second floor, you must reach the elevators to access them, but moving up the elevator will cost you one space. In older Mall Madness games, escalators would allow you to get upstairs through the console in the middle, but they would also cost you one space.
• Only enter stores via the door - the place where there's no colored strip (colored strips are walls, no colored areas designate doors for stores.
• If you need the console to repeat what was said, press the button on the side of the console marked "?".

Learn about the Mall Madness food tokens. Get them when you reach the Food Court (in the center of the bottom level of the board (2020 version) or as a shop (in the top-level center for older versions)) or Movie Theater. You can use these to add up to three extra space moves on one move mentioned (only on a space move) by the console. However, you can't keep any more than two food tokens at a time. There's a total of eight food tokens that look like: a pretzel, Chinese meal box, pizza, chocolate (or coffee) shake, cinnamon bun, soda, hot dog, and melting ice cream in a cone.

• In older versions of the game, you'd also get them when you reached "Jimmie's Ice Cream Shop."
• The food tokens are round and are originally found on the cardboard cutout, and are easy to miss if you don't recognize them.
• You also can't use them to get out if you are held to remove a security tag.

Buy something, if necessary. The shopping list cards will tell you the regular price, sale price, and clearance price, and that money must be in your area to make the purchase. If you can't make the purchase, press the Enter button. Your turn then "passes" to the next person. If you want to make the purchase, insert your card into the slot that looks like a hand holding onto a pair of cash without a drawer.

• The unit doesn't watch for where you are. However, it will announce what it finds, as things change. You will still have to play using what you were told and moving the right number of spaces. Inserting the card just tells you if it's available or at a discounted price - it doesn't keep track of where you are at any time.
• The information provided below lists the regular price then the sale price then the clearance price for the item - all within the parentheticals.

Swipe your Mall Madness ATM card to buy something, if you'd like, and have the money available to buy it. If you want to purchase something from the store and have the money available, insert your Mall Madness card with the fake chip down into the spot that looks like a hand taking cash out of a drawer (on older units, this was marked as BUYING). When you do so, you'll either be told that it's able to be bought (with a Cha-ching cash register sound) or will say: "Try again later!" or "Ooh, we're out of stock. Sorry, try again later," but you must continue by pressing "Enter." If the item is available, pay the banker the payment for the item.

• All cards have the same card number (1234 5678 0000 0000) and expiration date (00/00), but although each card is color-coded to your shopper, they each have their own color code inside the fake "chip" on the front of the ATM card.
• At times, unexpected clearances pop up, and you'll be in luck and able to pay the clearance price instead.
• Cancel a purchase if you inadvertently bought something you didn't expect to buy or have figured out you didn't have enough money to buy it after swiping the card. As long as you haven't already touched "Enter," swiping your card into the BUYING slot a second time will signal a cancelation, and you'll hear "Try again later." signifying your cancellation. Once you've done this, press the Enter button.

Mark the purchase as complete. Take the checkmarks and place them in the blank box next to the purchased item - then press the Enter button.

Learn about the Mall Madness ATM. Move to the ATM spot, and press your card into the ATM slot of the console. You may stay at the ATM for as many turns as you'd like, but each time after the second time you stay, you can only receive $20 until you head off to make a purchase. Complete the turn by pressing "Enter."

• If you accidentally placed your card in the wrong slot, insert it into the BUYING slot to move forward and cancel the ATM transaction, then press Enter.

Report to the Rest Rooms spot on the board with your shopper if you are told to "Go to the Rest Rooms." Take your shopper, place them at the door to the Rest Rooms spot, and press the Enter button.

Take your pawn and place it on the Movie Theater space if you are told to "Meet a Friend at the Movies." Pick a shopper and move them to the Movie Theater space too. Remember to take a food token (each) upon arriving there. Press Enter at the end of your turn.

Follow the given directions. If you are given a "Move (number of spaces) and send a friend to ..." command, follow it. If it says anywhere, you can even move your friend back to the parking lots if you'd like. ^[8]

• You may either get told to "send a friend to anywhere" or "send a friend to "Noah's Arcade" (formerly called just "the Arcade" or "send a friend to Funny Lickin'"^[9] (formerly called just "ice cream").
  • In the case of Funny Lickin, remember to take a food token - since this is a food shop.
• Learn about the one situation on older consoles that no longer applies to the newer consoles. The console might have said "Meet a Friend at the Food Court," to which you'd place yourself at the food court, then grab your friend's token and bring them to the food court too. Take a food token and press Enter.

Stay put if told to. You may hear at one point: "You set off the security alarm! Stay put while they remove the tag." Don't make a single move and just press Enter.

Take all Shoppers involved and bring them to the ATM space if you are told: "Meet all Shoppers at the ATM!" Each shopper - starting with you - should enter your card into the ATM and take your cash. After everybody has done so, press the Enter button.

Win the game. Purchase a total of six items from six stores (one item per store) and exit back out to your parking lot before any of your Shopper friends do to win the game.

• During the 2004 game, to win the game, you had to get to a specific "final destination" and the win was determined not by who arrived at their parking lot.^[10]