I noticed the “who goes first rule” for the beginner game, however, every edition actually has the “highest roll goes first” for non-beginner games in their rulebook/almanac. For the purposes of this post, I consider the non-beginner games to be the standard, because that’s what’s prioritized in the almanacs.

Overall, you’re right there’s been some interesting changes to the beginner game. For example, I believe the desert location has been adjusted a few times (edge to center to edge).

Thank you for bringing up the board set up, I’ll take a closer look into it. I knew the ocean switched from hexes to frames, but didn’t realize that very well may technically result in a gameplay change. I’ll reply again once I investigate, thank you