A boxed set of cards used in three games intended to explain, and educate about, monetary and banking systems.The box contains two sets of cards - one set represents machine parts, the other bank notes - and score sheets.Both games are based around the premise of an engineer shipwrecked on an island - he has a limited source of gold. The islanders have machine parts from an earlier shipwreck.In the first game one player represents the engineer and the others the islanders. The engineer wants to buy machine parts (collect complete sets), but the cost of buying parts goes up the more he buys in one go from any one islander. The islanders want to get as much of his money as they can, and one of them can win by 'breaking' the engineers bank by holding more notes than he can cover with his supply of gold.In the second game the islanders are purchasing goods produced by the engineer by bidding. In this game the engineer does not score, but merely acts as banker. The winner is the islander who has managed to accumulate the most merchandiseThe third game represents an experiment by our one-time shipwrecked engineer, now financier. He has a contract with the islanders by which he pays 200.00 for a complete eneterprise (set of machine cards). To ensure that they can find and supply the complete enterprises to him he lends them money which they can use to bargain with amongst themselves. This game is meant to illustrate the mutual indebtedness which is the characteristic of banking, and involves considerable amounts of maths.In 1928 there was a real 'bookcase' edition submitted. Half of the book is the story of the game, the stories of the 3 game variants and long rules explanations with examples. Also there are many quotes from people recommanding this game. The other half is a neatly made storage for the game components, everything made of good quality. The first copyright mentionend in this bookcase edition is 1912, so the games origin must be in this year. - BoardGameGeek