There are symbols in circles at each location. Two of them. Like a american dollar sign in white or with a grey background. Another might be a gun with a white background or an elder sign. What do they meaaaannnn?!

They are typical encounters you get from encounter cards in that location. If the colors are inverted, it means there is a special encounter available at that location (dissection, classes, etc.)

In other words, if there's a circle with a gun in it, it means you got a good chance to get a card with a gun on it's back (a common item) via an encounter.

If the circle's black and the symbol is white, it means the location has an special ability you can use to get the symboled item instead of having a normal encounter.

Vitus_Prem said:

The key words are "a good chanse". There are no guarantees but are more frequent than at other enviroments.

Svavelvinter said:

Truth be told! Last night I went to Hibb's looking for money, and my encounter allowed me to spend money to buy clues. Then I went to the Police Station to get clues—and I got money based on how many clues I held!

Tibs said:

The symbols indicate the most common encounters, but the most common encounters are still not very common (less than likely). If you go to a location, depending on the symbols rewards to materialize, you'll be generally disappointed. But sometimes it's even better.

There's a legend of symbols on the back cover of the manual.

Welcome to the Carnival, TheBossInTheWall!

Danke! Glad to be here.

The symbols are a bit irrelevent in most cases. Although technically the most common result at Hibb's Roadhouse might be Common items (or whatever), in practise the symbols don't account for the fact that the result might be contingent on a skill check that you can't pass, so it's just not that reliable.

The only exception is the Newspaper. If you want money, go to the Newspaper for a turn or two. You will nearly always either get money, get a Retainer, or be kicked out by that surly janitor bastard.

or, "you see workers cleaning a moving press and wonder if its safe..."

Yeah. Or ink drives you insane.

Or some other bastard sprays fumes in your face.

Or there's that nasty new BG encounter that raises the terror level if you fail that we always seem to get nowadays...

And yet I always seem to draw a Retainer on the first go. Spooky.

Got two retainers in a row last time, from two different encounter cards. They sure are generous there.

Won't be so generous once the internet is invented and the newspaper becomes a dying medium, though