Five Finger Discount 1983

The Story

It's 1983. You just got hired as a cashier at Super Value Mart — a suburban American supermarket. No barcodes. No digital payments. Everything is manual: cash, personal checks, and credit cards run through an imprint machine.

Every day, the manager's memo adds new rules. Check IDs for alcohol. Verify bills over $20. Call the bank for credit cards over $50. The rules stack. The customers keep coming. And some of them are trying to rip you off.

You need this job. Your rent is due. Your sister needs money. Every mistake costs you.

Features

◆ Rules that stack — 1 rule on day 1, 15+ by day 28. Just like Papers Please.
◆ 4 payment methods — cash, personal checks, credit card imprint machine, manufacturer coupons
◆ The Imprint Machine — ka-chunk the card, check the signature, call the bank. Sometimes they say: "RETAIN THE CARD."
◆ 25+ fraud types — counterfeit bills, bounced checks, stolen cards, switched labels, organized rings
◆ 10 regular customers with personalities — Mrs. Henderson, Tommy the shoplifter, Frank "The Suit", Mabel...
◆ Gray cases — Mabel steals a can of tuna because her pension isn't enough. Do you report her?
◆ Your life outside — rent, food, transport, your sister's dentist bill. Every error eats your paycheck.
◆ 30-day arc from trainee to the final evaluation
◆ 5 endings — Employee of the Month, fired, paranoid, corrupt, or part of the neighborhood

How It Works

1

Read the Memo

The manager's daily memo adds new rules. Counterfeit alert. Stolen cards from First National. Rules stack.

2

Work the Register

Customers come. Scan items. Check for switched labels, age-restricted products, quantity limits.

3

Verify Payment

Cash: check for counterfeits. Checks: match signature, bank, date. Cards: imprint, sign, call the bank.

4

Close the Shift

Count the register. See your errors. Collect your paycheck — minus penalties.

5

Pay Your Bills

Rent, food, transport. Then life throws curveballs: the car breaks down, your sister calls.

The Imprint Machine

In 1983, there are no chip readers. No tap to pay. Credit cards have raised numbers that you press through carbon paper with a manual imprint machine.

You check the expiration date. You compare the name on the card with the ID. You watch the customer sign the voucher and compare it to the signature on the card. If the purchase is over $50, you pick up the wall phone and call the bank for authorization.

Sometimes the bank says: "APPROVED." Sometimes: "DECLINED."

And sometimes: "RETAIN THE CARD. This card has been reported stolen."

Now you have to tell the customer you're keeping their card. Good luck.

The Gray Cases

Not all theft is equal. The game forces you to decide:

◆ Mabel — a retiree on minimum pension — steals a can of tuna. Do you stop her?
◆ The single mother hides diapers in her bag. Do you call the manager?
◆ The old man pays with a counterfeit bill. Does he know it's fake, or was he scammed too?
◆ Tommy shoplifts under peer pressure. Do you expose him in front of his friends?
◆ The bank says "retain the card" — but the woman has a crying baby. Do you keep the card?

Every week has at least one case where the "right" answer doesn't exist.

FIVE FINGERDISCOUNT1983