This has been a little confusion with the release of Pits. It involves your money, keeping your money, and having your money work for you (or at least your score).

If you survive an adventure, you are asked if you’d like to retire (or retire and give your map to a younger version of you) or to go back into the old or a new dungeon.

If you retire in any way, all your money goes into your final score. And you’re done.

If you go back into the same dungeon, 10% of your cash (and one ‘use’ of every item you have) is expended. This constitutes your cost of living and side-adventures you might have before returning to those dank caverns.

If you journey to a new dungeon, 30% of your cash and two ‘uses’ of every item are burned off. This represents your long overland journey.

For these last two cases (the go-back-in deals), all the money not lost in turnaround goes into the ‘temple’ (which served as banks in ancient times, so we follow that model here). When you come out a second time, you’ll see your current ‘carried’ amount (in silver), followed by the amount in the temple (reduced 10% or 30%) and the grand total. This grand total will now be used for your final score (if you retire) or be deposited in the temple again (if another game is played). And remember, if you die, the priests shake their head sadly and say, in mock surprise, “What deposit?” Yes, when you die, you lose all your accumulated wealth.

And that’s where high scores come from!