Players are gold miners, travelling first from east coast to west to dig gold, and then return back to east coast with money. Each state is owned by one player, and other players need to pay taxes, when entering the state.
Players can travel by walking or with horse by rolling the dice, with these options it is possible to get anywhere on the board. There are also some railroads on the east of Mississippi, these provide a constant travel speed, but they do cost something. It is also possible to travel with boats, this is very fast, but also very expensive.
Getting over the Mississippi river or over the Rockies is always a risky business. when players stop on special spots on the map, they need to draw one Chance card, which is usually trouble, but there are some good things also.
Once players get to the West, they can visit mining spots and dig gold, this is done simply by drawing one treasure card. Most of them are empty, but there are some gold (and other) valuable cards. When player finds gold, he needs to change it to cash in Los Angeles and return all the way back to East coast. The player who first finds gold, changes it to cash in LA and returns to East coast, is the winner.