The Mad Magazine Game, titled MAD Magazine: the "What-Me Worry?" game on the cover, is a board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 produced by Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...

 in 1979

1979 in games

This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and table-top role-playing games published in 1979. For video and console games, see 1979 in video gaming.-Significant games-related events of 1979:...

. Gameplay is similar, but the goals and directions often opposite to, that of Monopoly

Monopoly (game)

Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...

; the object is for players to lose all of their money. Play proceeds to the first player's right and the first player is determined by a left-handed roll for the lowest number. The game includes cards, money, dice, and tokens, and the game board features Alfred E. Neuman

Alfred E. Neuman

Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman...

 and illustrations from Mad magazine

Mad (magazine)

Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...

. By design, no conclusive strategy exists for the game, since even if a player is winning, several spaces and cards direct players to exchange money or chairs with others, causing advantages to be lost instantly.

The rules

To begin the game, after placing all tokens on Start and determining the first player, one player is selected to be the Banker ("preferably someone honest"), who gives $10,000 to each person to begin the game. The dice may only be rolled with the left hand, with a penalty of each other player giving that player $500 if dice are rolled with the right hand. Also, tokens move counterclockwise around the outside track. If moving clockwise, the player is informed that he or she is a nerd person, and may never play the game again.

Some of the bizarre directions given in cards or spaces are specifically defined, such as the two "inside tracks" of the game board can only be entered by landing on the "double arrow space" leading into them, which also award an additional turn; once on an inside track, only one die may be rolled; players not being allowed to take their money with them when directed to change chairs with another player; and when changing chairs, the person who ends up in the Banker's chair becomes the Banker.

In all other cases, if any ambiguous directions are in dispute, majority rule

Majority rule

Majority rule is a decision rule that selects alternatives which have a majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies, including the legislatures of democratic nations...

 may be used to conclusively determine the action to be taken. The rules further state that a majority typically refers to anything over 50%, but in order to determine what constitutes a majority, it may also be defined by majority rule.

The cards

The game also features a deck of cards (called "Card cards") with bizarre instructions, usually changing the players' progress. Among them:

• "Change chairs with anyone."
• "If you can jump up and stay airborne for 37 seconds, you can lose $5000. If not, jump up and lose $500."
• "Stand up and boo the person on your left, and also lose $1000."
• "Put this card on top of your head and walk around the table backwards. If it doesn't fall off before you sit down, you lose $1000."
• "This card can only be played on Friday" - an apparent parody of the property tax assessment card in Monopoly, especially in cases where the latter card is drawn and one has no real estate.
• "If you are a boy/girl person, win $500/lose $1000."
• "Take the next card, DON'T PEEK, and give it to anyone else."
• "If one or more of the following letters are in your name, you lose the amount indicated: G = $500, O = $1000, A = $1000, T = $2000. However, being a goat, you win $500 anyway."
• "If you like this game, cross your legs, sit on your hands, cackle like a chicken and lose 1 egg; also $500."
• "You are a rock. Act like one. If you're good, you lose $1000. If you're not so good, you win a rock."
• "Flip this card up in the air. If it lands with this side face up, you lose $1000. If not, go to Tough Luck."
• "Change money with (anyone/the person your (left/right))."
• "If one or more of the following letters are in your name, you win the amount indicated: L = $1000, O = $500, S = $1000, E = $500."
• "Go ahead the total on one die."
• "Go to any Double Arrow space." (2)
• "'Plan ahead', and move to any space on the board."
• "Put $1000 under Tough Luck."
• "If you are good-looking, stand up and imitate your favorite animal, and lose $2000."
• "This card can only be played on Tuesday" (A probable parody of the assessment fine cards in Monopoly, especially in the early part of the latter game, where the card causes no losses)

The spaces

Similar to the cards, the board spaces themselves often contain odd instructions, or parodies of spaces in Monopoly:

• "Start: Whenever you pass or land here, lose $500." (Similar to the Go space in Monopoly.)
• "Anywhere: Roll 7, collect $500 and go to Start. If you don't, just go to Start." (Similar to the Go to Jail and In Jail spaces in Monopoly.)
• "Tough Luck: If anything is under here, you gotta take it." $500 is always placed under this space by the Banker, and spaces and Card cards may direct players to place more money under this space. (Similar to the Free Parking space in Monopoly, with a house rule that similarly causes money to accumulate under that space as a jackpot.)
• "If your name is Alfred E. Neuman, collect $1,329,063. If not, lose a turn." (A special $1,329,063 bill is included solely for this space. Should such an unfortunately named person obtain this bill, it serves as an Old Maid
  Old Maid
  Old maid is a Victorian card game for two to eight players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. It is known in Germany as Schwarzer Peter, in Sweden as Svarte Petter and in Finland as Musta Pekka and in France as le pouilleux or vieux garçon...
  
  ; however, he is not necessarily doomed to lose, due to the multiple "change chairs" and "change money" cards and spaces. If no player's name is Alfred E. Neuman, it remains unused.)
• "If no one is standing you lose $1000. If someone is standing you win $2000."
• "Go back to Start and go the total of 3 rolls backwards."
• "If you are "MAGNIFICENT" go to Anywhere." (A card will serve to identify somebody who is MAGNIFICENT, similar to the Get Out Of Jail Free cards in Monopoly)
• "This is the "Glasses" space, pay $500 and "look" at the top card."
• "Go to Toledo, Ohio. (If the bus has already left, stay where you are and pay $500 for train tickets.)"

External links

• Description of the game from Brikker & Brett