Market Meltdown is set in a time of financial chaos, when the general public have lost faith in the Bank’s ability to safely house their deposits and are withdrawing their money and transferring it to their mattresses. The players represent the traders investing the money on behalf of the Bank. As the game progresses players are faced with ever increasing pressure to generate bigger returns to pay back deposits and stay afloat. The winner is the player who remains afloat when his opponents have gone bust. To begin, each player takes 900 million from the Bank and places their private jet on the Market Opens square. The Bank’s depositors are represented by a red sterling currency piece that also starts on the board, one square in front of the jets.