to prepare for the game, the board is put in position. the chance and community chest cards are shuffled and placed face down on the board. each player chooses a token (a playing piece), such as a thimble, a rocking horse, a boot, a dog, etc. (the tokens vary depending on the edition), and places it on "go". one player is chosen to be the banker - this player is trusted with handing out money from the bank and collecting players' spent money during the game.