The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom Board Game: Rules for How to Play

Objective

The objective of The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom is to buy a dress, get a steady boyfriend, be elected club president , and become queen of the prom.

Setup

Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
Choose a player to be the banker. The banker is in charge of the money and cards.
Shuffle the surprise cards and place them face down on the gameboard.
The rest of the cards are placed on the corresponding sections of the gameboard.
Set the money and IOU cards to the side of the board.
Each player takes a playing piece and $25. Place your playing piece on the Home space.
The player to the right of the banker starts the game. Play moves counterclockwise/right throughout the game.

How to Play The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom

You will start each of your turns by rolling the die. The number you roll determines how many spaces you will move your playing piece. While moving you will always follow the arrows on the board. If you ever reach a space that has two arrows on it, you can choose which path you want to follow. If you land on a space with two arrows, you can choose which path you want to move down on your next turn. The one exception to this is the School Entrance.

Moving your pawn in Barbie Game Queen of the Prom — The purple player rolled a one on the die. They move one space counterclockwise around the board. If they want to move into the “a chance to earn” section of the board, they can roll the die again. Otherwise they will move around the outside of the board on their next turn.

After you have finished moving, you will take the action printed on the space you landed on. For specific rules on the spaces, see the corresponding section below for more details.

After you take the corresponding action, your turn ends. Play passes to the player on your right.

Spaces of The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom

If you ever land on a space that says “may”, you can choose whether you want to do it.

Surprise

If you land on a Surprise space, you will draw the top card from the Surprise deck. You will read the card out loud. Follow whatever is written on the card. After you take the action, return the card to the bottom of the corresponding deck.

Stop and Shop

When you land on a Stop and Shop space, you may choose to purchase the dress pictured on the space. You may only purchase a dress if another player hasn’t already purchased it. You also need to have enough money to purchase it. If you choose to purchase a dress, you will pay its cost to the bank and you will then take the corresponding card and place it in front of you.

Buying a dress — The orange player has landed on the Silken Flame dress spot. They decide to buy the dress. They pay $35 to the bank and then take the dress card.

Each player may only buy one dress during the game.

Boyfriend

Note: There is a misprint on the 2006 version of the board. There is supposed to a white arrow pointing from the Introductions space to Ken and a black arrow pointing from Poindexter to the Beauty Shop.

When you land on a Boyfriend space, you may choose to take the corresponding card if another player hasn’t already taken it. When you take the card you will place it face down in front of you. This boyfriend is not yet your “steady boyfriend”.

Taking a Boyfriend card — This player landed on the Tom space. Since the card wasn’t already taken, they will take it for themselves. They will place the card face down in front of themselves.

Each player may only have one boyfriend card.

Go Steady

Note: There is a misprint on the 2006 version of the board. The white arrow on the “Caught in the Rain” space is supposed to be on the previous space “Date Time”.

If you land on the Go Steady space and already have a boyfriend card, you can turn it face up. Your boyfriend is now steady.

Club President

When you land on a Club President space, you will take the Club President card matching the space that you landed on. If the card corresponding to the space you landed on was already taken by another player, you don’t get to take the card.

You may only have one Club President card.

Home

Whenever you land on or move through the Home space, you will collect $5 in allowance. Your allowance can be increased during the game.

Collecting your allowance in Barbie Game Queen of the Prom — This player has made their way back to the Home space. They will collect $5 for their allowance.

Should you land on a space that says “Return Home”, you do not get to take your allowance.

Go to Any Outside Space

Any space or card that says to “Go to Any Outside Space” lets you move you playing piece to any space along the outer edge of the board. Basically you can move to any space that isn’t on one of the tracks that move off the main path around the board.

“You can use the space to pass Home, but only once before completing your turn.” This is how it is written in the rules. I interpret this to mean that you can use the space to move past the Home space to collect your allowance once. If you moved past Home before landing on the Go to Any Outside Space though, you can’t use move past Home again to collect your allowance a second time.

Running Out of Money

If you ever run out of money, you can borrow $10 from the bank. When you borrow money though, you need to take an I.O.U. card. You cannot enter the Path to the Prom if you have a I.O.U. card. You must get rid of the card before you can win the game.

Receiving an IOU Card — This player needed money so they had to take an I.O.U. card. They will take $10 from the bank.

When you pay the money back to the bank, you will return the I.O.U. card to the bank. Once you pay back your loan, you can take out another one if you need it. You can only have one I.O.U. card at a time though.

Winning the Game

Once you have a dress, a steady boyfriend, and a club president card, you can enter the To Prom path. If you have an I.O.U. card, you must get rid of it before you can enter the path.

A player has acquired a dress card, a steady boyfriend, and a club president card — This player has collected a dress card, a steady boyfriend, and a Club President card. They have everything that is needed to move down the Prom path.

The first player to reach the space with the crown becomes the Queen of prom and wins the game. The second player to reach the space becomes the Princess.

Winning the Barbie Game Queen of the Prom — The purple player has everything needed to win the game. Since they have reached the crown space, they have won the game.

The rules do not state whether you have to reach the final space by exact count.

Shorter Game

If you want to play a shorter game, you can tweak some of the rules.

You will start with a boyfriend card that you will place face down (you are not steady yet). You also get to take $50 to start the game.

The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play The Barbie Game Queen of the Prom, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

Components

Gameboard
30 Surprise Cards
4 I.O.U. Cards
4 Formal Dress Cards
4 Clue President Cards
4 Boyfriend Cards
4 Movers
Die (Sides are 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4)
Play Money
- 40 – $1
- 20 – $5
- 20 – $10
Instructions

Year: 1960 | Publisher: Golden, Mattel

Genres: Children’s, Roll and Move

Ages: 5+ | Number of Players: 2-4 | Length of Game: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High

For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.

Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.