 Players move about the board, which depicts the Tower of London, and attempt to steal the British Crown Jewels.In reality, the only modern attempt to steal the Jewels was made in 1671 by Thomas Blood and his accomplices, who failed to escape — an earlier attempt in the early fourteenth century was equally unsuccessful — and the game challenges players to “succeed where they failed.”

The game may be played in either a short or long version.In the former, the first player to successfully "escape" with (not just steal) any one of the Crown Jewels wins; in the latter, whichever player has the greatest total value of crown jewels (as denoted on the board) after they have all been stolen is the winner.