Overview

Klondike is a board game of gold prospecting during the Klondike Gold Rush. Players move around the board by dice rolls, prospecting for gold in four creeks, buying and managing buildings (saloons, hotels, casinos, theatres, sawmills, trading companies), and trying to amass the most cash. Fortunes are made, squandered, and remade as prospecting cards reveal gold strikes or hazards. The game ends when the last prospecting card is turned over, and the richest player wins.

Components

• 1 game board (with Chilkoot Pass, Prospect spaces, creek areas, building spaces, and special locations)
• Prospecting cards (with gold values or event instructions)
• Building ownership cards
• Play money
• Player tokens
• 2 dice

Setup

1. Choose one player to act as banker. The banker manages the bank’s money separately from their own assets.
2. Each player chooses a token, places it on the Chilkoot Pass space, and receives $50,000 grubstake from the bank.
3. The banker shuffles the prospecting cards, allows one player to cut the deck, and then deals 9 cards face-down in each of the four creeks in the center of the board.

Turn Structure

Each player in turn throws the dice. On your turn:

1. Roll two dice and move your token clockwise around the board the total number of spaces indicated.
2. Resolve the space you land on:
   • Prospect space: Turn over the top card in any of the four creeks.
   • Building space: Buy the building if unowned, or pay the owner.
   • Special spaces: Follow printed instructions.

Actions

Prospecting

• When landing on a Prospect space, turn over the top card in any of the four creeks you wish.
• If the card indicates “Gold”, the bank pays you the amount indicated.
• If not gold, the card contains instructions (penalties, hazards) which must be followed immediately.
• Except as noted, prospecting cards are discarded after being turned over.

Discovery Claims

• If a gold strike is the first to be found on a creek, you receive double the printed amount on the card. This card is placed face-up next to the remaining prospecting cards to indicate the discovery claim.

Mother Lode

• One gold card is marked “Mother Lode”. When found, it is placed face-up in the creek.
• Every gold card found in the same creek by any player from then on is worth double its printed value.
• The Mother Lode card is never worth double even if it is also the discovery card for a creek.

Buildings

• When landing on a building or sent there by card instructions, you may buy the building from the bank if unowned. The price is printed on the board.
• When the purchase amount is paid in full, the banker gives you the ownership card.
• Building owners collect revenue from other players who land there:

Building	Revenue
Hotels	Fixed amount on ownership card
Saloons	Owner gives a party for all players in town. Every player with a token on the Pioneers’ Cemetery, Fire, or any building (except Woodpile and Church) must move to the saloon. Owner collects the amount on the ownership card per player in the saloon.
Casinos	Owner collects the amount on the ownership card times the dice total. If doubles are thrown, the Casino owner pays you the same way.
Trading Company	Pay the owner $20,000 for supplies
Sawmill	Pay $5,000 for every building you own to the sawmill owner
Theatres	Pay the amount on the ownership card. Must throw doubles on next turn to leave; otherwise stay and pay again.

Monopolies

• If one player owns every building of one kind, the revenues for each of those buildings are doubled. (Sawmill and Trading Company do not get this advantage.)

Claim Jumping

• If you land on a Prospect space that contains another player’s token, you are claim jumping. The penalty is being sent to the Woodpile — you do not prospect or gamble with the other player.

Selling Claims

• A player on a Prospect space may sell the claim to the highest bidder instead of taking the card.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends when the last prospecting card is turned over and any resulting effects are resolved. All ownership cards are then returned to the banker — buildings have no value at game end since they now belong to a ghost town. The player with the most cash at this time wins the game.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Fires: When a player lands on the Fire space, every building with a player’s token on it is destroyed by fire, regardless of who owns it. Ownership cards of burned buildings return to the banker. Buildings can be rebuilt.
• Church: If you land here, you must make a donation paid to the bank. If you don’t have enough cash, you must sell possessions or take an additional loan from the bank.
• Woodpile (Klondike Jail): A player landing here (or sent here by a card) must stay. On their next turn, a player places a token on the Woodpile. Players are not eliminated — they just miss turns.
• Rivers: A player landing on one of the two river spaces must immediately pay the bank $5,000.
• Transport Companies: British Yukon and White Pass. If owned, a player landing on one of them pays the owner the amount on the ownership card.
• Pioneers’ Cemetery: Free “resting place” — no penalty for landing here.
• Chilkoot Pass: If a player lands on this space, each player must pay $5,000 to the bank for supplies.
• Collecting Money: It is up to a player to ask for any money to which they are entitled. If the player doesn’t ask before the dice are thrown by the next player, the money is forfeited.
• Bankruptcy: Players who run out of money are not eliminated from the game. If a player cannot pay a debt, they may settle with the creditor for whatever they can afford. The bank will not lend.

Player Reference

Turn: Roll 2 dice → Move clockwise → Prospect / Buy building / Pay owner / Follow instructions

Prospecting: Land on Prospect → Turn over a creek card → Gold = bank pays you; Event = follow instructions

Key bonuses: Discovery Claim (first in creek) = double value; Mother Lode = all subsequent gold in that creek doubled

Win: Most cash when last prospecting card is turned over. Buildings have no end-game value.