Each starts with a black cardboard portfolio booklet which on the inside is scored with slits in which to store his stock holdings, differently-colored printed tiles which state the size of the holdings. The portfolio is also useful for concealing one's cash, very beautifully-illustrated, oversized specimens by the way that almost look like they could pass for the real thing. In addition to this, players receive several assets, drawn at random. These are picture tiles representing any one of an Airline, Shipping, Railroad, Labor or Land. The bottom of the game box holds a cardboard pegboard to represent the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Stocks come in three groups with identical pricing for each.
The initial game activity consists of five rounds of stock buying or selling with the proviso that a player can only act in a single stock per round. This initial phase can be a rather disconcerting phase for beginning players as they have little idea what to do, especially since no one has yet shown their hands with respect to their event cards. I have some ideas on this subject, but will save them for a later page on the analysis of the game. After stock market activity, players play event cards. Many of the event cards are Contract Cards which specify certain required assets, sometimes a minimum stock price, and an annual profit.