Only the old consoles have On-Off switches, so if you have an older console, ensure the electronic console is set to “OFF” before refreshing the batteries in the console. [3] X Research source [4] X Research source To open this console’s battery case, you will need a Phillips head screwdriver about the size of an eyeglass fix-it screwdriver.
Older versions of this game included many more plastic pieces and decorations that were felt to be unneeded for the game’s 2020 version. This included escalators, fountains, and other pieces that connected the sides to the console and across the mall from side to side.
Don’t worry about the escalators in the 2020 version, since they are no longer included. In older versions, the escalators would attach to the console.
You will need to attach each store card to the mall wall. However, they slide into their designated slots very easily. Stores fitting into their slots are mentioned on each board piece. Press the bottom tab into the gameboard hole’s purple wall around the game’s outer edges to insert the card.
The bottom-level stores include Bling Depot Jewelry Store, Noah’s Arcade, Nice Pad Home Decor, The Pencil Case Craft Store, Hair-Do Hair Salon, Sgt. Snuggles Pet Store, Nerdburger Science Store, and the What’s Cookin’ Kitchen Store.
Windows are no longer needed and no longer supplied with the game. Players tend to hunch over into the playing space in a more open-aired area to see where they are moving to while playing, so it was decided to eliminate these “windows” from play. Older pathways and ramps to cross from one side of the second floor to the other through the console are no longer being supplied for simplification. However, they formerly needed to be bent to be placed down, and this only needed to be done once.
The restrooms go-between Bling Depot and Hair-Do. The Movie Theater goes between What’s Cookin’ and Nice Pad.
If you were supplied with extra pawn stands, they may be set aside, when another pawn’s stand breaks.
The backs of the shopping list cards lists the names of the players, and the players you use must match the player name and color on the back. These names include Avery (in blue), Dax (in green), Sage (in yellow), Gwen (in red). A description of the customer’s normal shopping styles is provided below the shopper’s name, though that won’t come into play at any time in the game. In the 2004 game version, there were so many shoppers. There was Rachael and Bryan (red), Tameka and Kara (blue), Sarah and Vanessa (green), and Megan and Scott (yellow). In the 1989 and 1994 versions, these Shoppers were unnamed. [5] X Research source
If you can’t press it in time, let it cycle through the other colors, then it will repeat the missing colors a second time.
At random times, your console may tell you that there are changes in the positions of the sales and clearance prices. Move the signs and proceed. [6] X Research source
Move in any direction, as long as you don’t move diagonally. Sharing spaces with other shoppers are allowed, though this isn’t very common. For stores on the second floor, you must reach the elevators to access them, but moving up the elevator will cost you one space. In older Mall Madness games, escalators would allow you to get upstairs through the console in the middle, but they would also cost you one space. Only enter stores via the door - the place where there’s no colored strip (colored strips are walls, no colored areas designate doors for stores. If you need the console to repeat what was said, press the button on the side of the console marked “?”.
In older versions of the game, you’d also get them when you reached “Jimmie’s Ice Cream Shop. " The food tokens are round and are originally found on the cardboard cutout, and are easy to miss if you don’t recognize them. You also can’t use them to get out if you are held to remove a security tag.
The unit doesn’t watch for where you are. However, it will announce what it finds, as things change. You will still have to play using what you were told and moving the right number of spaces. Inserting the card just tells you if it’s available or at a discounted price - it doesn’t keep track of where you are at any time. The information provided below lists the regular price then the sale price then the clearance price for the item - all within the parentheticals.
All cards have the same card number (1234 5678 0000 0000) and expiration date (00/00), but although each card is color-coded to your shopper, they each have their own color code inside the fake “chip” on the front of the ATM card. At times, unexpected clearances pop up, and you’ll be in luck and able to pay the clearance price instead. Cancel a purchase if you inadvertently bought something you didn’t expect to buy or have figured out you didn’t have enough money to buy it after swiping the card. As long as you haven’t already touched “Enter,” swiping your card into the BUYING slot a second time will signal a cancelation, and you’ll hear “Try again later. " signifying your cancellation. Once you’ve done this, press the Enter button.
If you accidentally placed your card in the wrong slot, insert it into the BUYING slot to move forward and cancel the ATM transaction, then press Enter.
You may either get told to “send a friend to anywhere” or “send a friend to “Noah’s Arcade” (formerly called just “the Arcade” or “send a friend to Funny Lickin’"[9] X Research source (formerly called just “ice cream”). In the case of Funny Lickin, remember to take a food token - since this is a food shop. Learn about the one situation on older consoles that no longer applies to the newer consoles. The console might have said “Meet a Friend at the Food Court,” to which you’d place yourself at the food court, then grab your friend’s token and bring them to the food court too. Take a food token and press Enter.
During the 2004 game, to win the game, you had to get to a specific “final destination” and the win was determined not by who arrived at their parking lot. [10] X Research source
