Rule 8
Chips, Bonus Hub, and Moving Day
Chips cap at 25 — spend at the Bonus Wheel to make room for more. The Bonus Wheel costs one Chip per spin. Hydrant Hero and Circuit City start from the Bonus Hub for 1, 2, or 3 Chips at the displayed Basic, Boosted, or Jackpot tier. Balloon Sky Pop starts only when the wheel lands on its wedge.
Three Jackpot cards in one hand is the rarest hand in the game — about one deal in a thousand. It pays 300 Tickets on top of the Jackpot Bonus and the progressive pot. The old meter jackpot that used to pop up every few minutes is gone.
- Balloon Sky Pop is a wheel outcome, not a Bonus Hub card or a card trigger. Landing on its wedge starts a round with no Chip charge beyond the spin, and a finished round returns to the Bonus Wheel.
- Balloon Sky Pop gives you 20 seconds to tap fast-rising balloons. Balloons release one, two, or three at a time, and every balloon you pop pays exactly one Deal Ticket. The quicker balloons are no richer than the slow ones, they are only harder to catch. Balloons cannot be tapped while behind a cloud.
- The exact wheel can land on Lose Spin (12%), Bail card (5%), 100 Tokens (15%), a Free Spin that hands your Chip straight back so the next spin is free (9%), Moving Day (10%), 250 Tokens (7%), Basic Shield (7%), 90 Tokens (12%), Balloon Sky Pop (5%), or 10 Tokens (18%). The four fixed Token wedges pay 10, 90, 100 or 250 Tokens — exactly the number printed on the wedge.
- Every spin pays its normal one-Chip price. Lose Spin takes one additional Chip only when another Chip remains after that price; it never makes the wallet negative.
- Moving Day opens with its moving-box intro, then places nine labeled cartons naturally around a packed home, including BOOKS and DISHES. Eight boxes hold scaled Token prizes and one is broken.
- Each safe box adds to the unbanked pot. TAKE WINNINGS to cash out before the broken box erases that pot; finding every safe box banks automatically. Leaving an active round also forfeits the unbanked pot.
- Mail Call arrives on its own while you are dealing — you do not start it and it costs nothing. The mailman lays six letters on the counter and you open ONE of them. Whatever is inside is yours: a tax refund, the mayor's thanks in Deal Tickets, build cards, an insurance cheque that covers your outstanding repairs, or a letter meant for a neighbour that you may keep or return for City points. A CITY envelope is either the tax refund or a property tax bill — they look the same from outside, which is the whole risk. There is nothing to bank and nothing to push your luck on: one letter, and the round is done.
- A property tax bill is 100 Tokens for every property you own, so it grows as your portfolio does — and it cannot reach you at all until you have completed 3 houses. If the bill is bigger than your wallet, one lot you choose goes under lien for the shortfall plus 10% interest. Your last standing lot is never taken.
- Wheel and game outcomes are selected before their reveal animation. Progressive jackpot opportunities are never guaranteed, and queued interruptions wait until the current result flow releases.
Rule 9
The Claw
Land five special card trios and you earn a Claw Coin. The CLAW GAME button beside the card machine shows your progress toward the next coin, or how many coins you hold, and tapping it opens the machine. Spend a coin on The Claw: an arcade machine full of little plush houses. Attack, Golden Ticket, Steal, and Caper trios all count toward a coin. Ticket Tornado, Jail and Jackpot trios do not.
- Slide the joystick to move the claw over the house you want.
- Press DROP. The claw closes and either holds the house or lets it slip.
- If it holds, the house is yours to carry — walk it across to the chute.
- Press DROP IN over the chute and the house falls in and pays.
- The prizes are 25 Tickets, a Token stack, 60 Tickets, and a Get Out of Jail Free card. The Token stack is scaled to your next build cost, so it keeps its worth as you climb. Every house is equally hard to win: the machine holds on about 80% of the time, whichever one you go for. The machine is restocked every round, so which house is standing where changes each time you play a coin — there is no lucky spot to memorise.
- You must carry the house to the chute yourself. Let go anywhere else and the house drops back into the machine and is lost — so line up the chute before you press DROP IN.
- The grip can still give out while you are carrying. It wobbles first, and moving quickly can beat it. That is the machine, not a fault.
- A coin NEVER pays nothing. A miss, a slip, or a house dropped short still pays 10 loose Tickets.
- One play per coin: the coin is spent the moment the claw closes, so backing out after a grab does not give it back. Backing out before you press DROP costs nothing.
- Coins stack up, so you can save several and play them whenever you like.