1 player · ages: working · playtime: one career

CAREER TRACK

The 2026 edition · a cooperative game where the four pieces were never opponents

MSRP: $0 AT BASE TIER — NOT A MISPRINT

1. OBJECT OF THE GAME

Most players open this box believing CAREER TRACK is an elimination game: four platform pieces enter, one wins. It is not, and reading this sentence saves you years. The object is to run all four pieces on their proper schedules simultaneously. All component statistics are approximate and platform-reported, 2026; the publisher reprints them each edition.

2. COMPONENTS

The Blue Anchor Piece (LinkedIn)

Placed once on the Profile square and never removed. While on the board it generates visibility every turn automatically: 1B+ users, 200+ countries, recruiters and clients checking it even during other players' turns (and yours, while you sleep). Comes with job board, messaging, publishing, and learning tokens, free. A gold Premium sleeve (~$29.99+/mo) exists for recruiter and sales players.

The Red Sprint Piece (Indeed & Glassdoor)

Enters play only during a Hunt round, then moves faster than anything in the box: ~350M monthly visitors, 3M+ employers, 60+ countries, free for seekers. Its Glassdoor sidecar draws review cards, crowd-written, always draw a handful, never one. Leaves the board the turn an Offer card is signed.

The Clear Piece (Wellfound)

A transparent meeple: salary and equity printed inside, visible before you move it, across ~150,000 startup squares, ~8M players, free for candidates. Many squares connect directly to Founder tokens. Only legal on startup board sections; it cannot enter corporate squares, ever.

The Green Table Piece (Meetup & Lunchclub)

The only component played away from the board: once per month, in an actual room, 2M+ gatherings a year, 52M+ members, 190+ countries, free to attend. The Lunchclub die seats exactly two players together, matched by goal cards. Carries no listing tokens; its points pay out turns later, through Relationship cards. Hosts pay ~$20+/mo.

3. ON YOUR TURN

  1. Check the Blue Anchor (monthly upkeep). Spend 20 minutes refreshing its square. Do NOT feed it daily posting cards; the feed track is a side minigame, noisier this edition with automated NPC cards, and the Anchor scores without it.
  2. If a Hunt round is active, deploy Red OR Clear, chosen by which board section your hunt occupies (corporate → Red; startup → Clear). Play it hard for 2–8 weeks of turns, then remove it completely.
  3. Once per calendar month, play the Green Table piece in person. No exceptions, no proxies, no digital substitution. Draw one Relationship card per outing.
  4. Link phase: every Relationship card drawn at the Table gets logged onto the Blue Anchor's square the following morning. Unlinked cards are discarded by the game at end of round.

4. COMMON RULES MISTAKES (READ TWICE)

Illegal moves the publisher sees constantly:

  • Solo-piecing: playing one component all game. Whichever piece you chose, you inherit its gaps at full price.
  • Feed-grinding: spending every turn on the feed minigame while the Anchor sat unrefreshed. The minigame's points don't convert.
  • Reading one review card from the Glassdoor deck and treating it as the whole deck.
  • Counting Clear-piece equity as banked points. It's printed potential; early-stage squares collapse at early-stage rates, and the piece shows you that too.
  • Attempting to play the Green Table retroactively. The rulebook is firm: missed months are removed from the box. Every veteran's review says the same thing: "start the Table piece turn one."

5. WINNING THE GAME

There is no final turn; CAREER TRACK is a legacy game. You are winning whenever the board shows: Blue Anchor placed and lightly maintained, Red or Clear deployed only in season and by section, Green Table played every month, and Relationship cards linked back to the Anchor. Box price for the full set at base tier: zero dollars. The publisher's accountants have appealed this three times and lost.