Home A
game about the western expansion of railroads in the United States.
1 Map of the western USA
94 Cards:
66 CITY cards
3 BOOMTOWN cards
4 SHORT LINE cards
4 DOUBLE TURN cards
1 TRIPLE TURN card
1 FOUR IN ONE card
15 BRANCH LINE cards
+ 6 blank cards
10 Boomtown Markers
160
Pieces of Track
60 Plastic Chips (21xCopper is $l, 20xSilver $5, 20xGold $10)
1 First Player Train
1 Rulebook
Sort
the pieces of track into piles by color. All of Major Railroads are in play at
the start of the game. The number of tracks for each of the Major Railroads are:
32
Blue (Santa Fe)
30
White (Southern Pacific)
25
Green (Great Northern)
24
Red (Union Pacific)
17
Yellow (Kansas Pacific)
The
Short Lines will enter play during the game when the corresponding SHORT LINE
card is drawn. The number of tracks for each of the Short Lines are:
11
Orange (Rock Island)
8 Black (Texas Pacific)
7 Brown (Western Pacific)
6 Purple (Denver & Rio Grande Western)
Appoint
one player as Scorekeeper. The Scorekeeper is also in charge of the money (the
plastic chips). He should give each
player $2 in chips. Place the remaining chips near the board.
The
Scorekeeper should shuffle the 66 CITY cards and deal
four cards to each player. Split the remaining CITY cards into three
roughly‑equal piles called Piles 1, 2 and 3. Shuffle the SHORT LINE cards
into Pile 2. Form the deck by placing Pile 1 on top of Pile 2. Then place this
combined group on top of Pile 3. Place the completed CITY deck near the board.
The
number of DOUBLE TURN cards in play in a particular game is equal to one less
than the number of players. The other DOUBLE TURN cards are not used; place them
out of play in the box. Place all of the "in play" DOUBLE TURN cards
in a face up stack near the board.
EXAMPLE: For four
players, use three DOUBLE TURN cards.
Place
the TRIPLE TURN and FOUR IN ONE cards face up near the board. Sort the BRANCH
LINE cards by Major Railroad and place them face up near the board. Place the
Boomtown Markers and BOOMTOWN cards face up near the board.
Give the First Player
Train to the
youngest player, who will be the first player for the First Round of the game.
Each
player attempts to win the game by having the most points at the end. Each $1
held at the end is worth a point. Each played CITY card is worth its value
multiplied by the number of different Major
Railroads and Short Lines connected to it.
The
game is played in Rounds as follows:
1) Draw Cards. Beginning
with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player
refills his hand to four cards. This step is ignored on the first round of the
game (everybody already has four cards in their hand).
2) Play Cards. All
players select one card from their hand and place it face down on the table. On
the first Round of the game, all players must play a CITY card. In later Rounds,
if a player has the TRIPLE TURN card or the FOUR IN ONE card in his hand, he
must play this card. See "Playing Cards" below for additional play
options.
3) Reveal Cards. Reveal
all cards simultaneously.
4) First
Track‑Laying Turn. Beginning
with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player
lays one piece of track.
5) Second Track‑Laying Turn. Beginning
with the First Player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player
lays a second piece of track.
6) Pass the Train. The
First Player passes the Train to the player on his left who becomes the First
Player for the next Round.
When
a player can draw a card, he has the following options:
1)
Draw a CITY card from the deck.
2)
Take a DOUBLE TURN card if one is available.
3)
Take the TRIPLE TURN card if it is available.
4)
Take the FOUR IN ONE card if it is available.
5)
Buy a BRANCH LINE card for $1 if one is available.
6)
Take a BOOMTOWN card if one is available.
A
player can draw any type of card, regardless of the type of card he played
during the previous Round.
EXAMPLE: A player
played a CITY card
but decides to draw a DOUBLE TURN card.
When
a player has played a BRANCH LINE card, and has therefore played two cards
during the previous Round, he draws two cards at the start of the Round to
refill his hand to four cards. A player may draw any combination of two cards except:
•
the TRIPLE TURN card and the FOUR IN ONE card, or
•
two BRANCH LINE cards, or
•
one BRANCH Lima card and either the TRIPLE TURN or the FOUR IN ONE.
Once
the deck is exhausted, no more CITY cards can be drawn for the rest of the game.
If no cards remain in the CITY deck, a player is not forced to draw any other
card. However, if cards exist in the CITY deck, a player must draw from it, if
he does not exercise one of his other options.
When
a player draws a SHORT LINE card from the CITY deck, he must immediately reveal
it and place it on the table (before normal card play for the Round). The player
who drew the SHORT LINE card draws a replacement from the deck. When the card
for a Short Line is drawn, that Short Line's track is now available for play.
During Track‑Laying Turns, players may place available Short Line track
instead of, or in combination with, placement of Major Railroad track.
All
players simultaneously decide which card(s) they are going to play and place
them in a facedown pile in front of themselves. A player MUST play the TRIPLE
TURN card, the FOUR IN ONE card or the BRANCH LINE he drew during this Round.
A
player plays either:
1)
A TRIPLE TURN
card, or
2)
A FOUR IN ONE
card, or
3)
A CITY card,
with or without a BRANCH LINE card, or
4)
A DOUBLE TURN
card, with or without a BRANCH LINE card, or
5)
A BOOMTOWN
card.
These
are the only possible plays. A player may not play any other combination, such
as a BOOMTOWN card and a BRANCH LINE card.
During
each Track‑Laying Turn a player can lay a piece of track. He may lay track
for any of the five Major Railroads or any of the four Short Lines (once
available due to the play of their SHORT LINE card). Each Track‑Laying
Turn, a player must always lay a piece of track unless it is impossible to do
so. Each line segment printed on the map may contain only one piece of track.
The
first piece of track laid for any Major Railroad or Short Line must connect to
the home base of that Major Railroad or Short Line.
Home
bases (as indicated on the map) are:
Great
Northern
Milwaukee
Kansas
Pacific
Kansas City
Santa
Fe
Chicago
Southern
Pacific New Orleans
Union
Pacific
Chicago
Denver & Rio Grande Western
Denver
Rock
Island
Chicago
Texas
Pacific
New Orleans
Western
Pacific
Sacramento
Subsequent
pieces of track usually must extend the route from the end of the
previously‑laid track. There are two exceptions‑the first pertaining
to branch lines of Major Railroads, the second to Short Lines.
When
a player plays a BRANCH LINE card for a Major Railroad, he may start another
route from any city to which the Major Railroad is connected, including the
home base. Thereafter, players can lay track for the Major Railroad by extending
either the original route or the branch route. Thus, it is possible for a Major
Railroad to have as many as four routes during the game (the original route plus
three branches).
Short
Lines are considered to have a "permanent BRANCH LINE card" in play.
Thus, once a given Short Line is available, a player may lay a Short Line track
to:
1)
Extend a Short Line route, or
2)
Start another route from the Short Line's home base, or
3)
Begin a new Short Line route from any city to which the Short Line is
currently connected.
Certain
routes have an East‑to‑West arrow next to them. These routes can
only be built in the direction shown.
EXAMPLE: A player may
build a route from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, but may not build a route from
Minneapolis to Milwaukee.
If
a Major Railroad or Short Line has started building a line between two cities,
another Major Railroad or Short Line may not lay a piece of track from the city
at the other end of the same line to block the route. Of course, if two lines
exist between these cities, a second line can be started on the unused route.
When
two routes exist between two cities, a single Major Railroad or Short Line
cannot build both routes.
A
single Major Railroad or Short Line can run into a city any number of times, but
it will only count once towards the value of the CITY card at the end of the
game.
It
is possible for a Major Railroad line to be dead‑ended. When this happens,
the only way additional track can be laid for this Major Railroad is to start a
branch line. If the original line and all its branches are all dead‑ended,
any remaining track for this Major Railroad is unusable.
Partial
(incomplete) lines between two cities may be built. A player might wish to do
this just to block another Major Railroad or Short Line from using the route.
BONUSES
City Connection
Bonus: When a
player connects the first Major Railroad or Short Line to each particular city
on the map, he earns $2. Players who connect subsequent Major Railroads or Short
Lines to the same city do not get this bonus. Major Railroad home base cities
are not eligible for this bonus. Short Line base cities are not eligible for
this bonus if it occurs due to laying of track for their Short Line. However,
these cities provide this bonus if the connection occurs before their Short Line
lays its first piece of track.
Special Railroad
Bonuses: Certain
cities have one or more colored squares representing the five Major Railroads
next to them. If a player connects one of these Major Railroads to that city, he
earns $4. This bonus is awarded the first time each of the Major Railroads
indicated is connected to the city. This bonus is in addition to the regular
City Connection Bonus and can be awarded simultaneously. The bonus provides
incentive to connect the Major Railroads to cities which were part of their
actual historical routes.
EXAMPLE: A player
connects the Santa Fe to El Paso and no other Major Railroad or Short Line has
been connected to El Paso yet: he receives $6. Another player subsequently
connects the Southern Pacific to EL Paso: he receives $4.
These
bonuses are DOUBLED for a player who has played a DOUBLE TURN card during the
Round. A person using the TRIPLE TURN card receives NO bonuses during this
Round. A person using the FOUR IN ONE card receives normal bonuses (no doubling)
during this Round.
There
are 66 CITY cards. There are one or two cards for each city on the map.
|
Value
of City |
Cards
per City |
Total
Cards |
|
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
3 |
1 |
7 |
|
4 |
2 |
10 |
|
5 |
2 |
14 |
|
6 |
2 |
18 |
|
7 |
2 |
14 |
Once
played, CITY cards remain face up in front of the player for the rest of the
game. Each card is worth a variable number of points at the end of the game
equal to the value of the city multiplied by the different number of Major
Railroads and Short Lines connected to it.
EXAMPLE: If there are
two Major Railroads and/or Short Lines connected to Los Angeles, a Los Angeles
City card is worth 14 points.
When
a player plays a BOOMTOWN card, he may place one or two Boomtown Markers (valued
4 and/or 5). A player may place any two available markers. A 4 marker may be
placed on any city valued 2. A 5 marker may be placed on any city valued 3. The
Boomtown Marker becomes the value of that city for scoring purposes. A player
may not play a value if there are no markers of that value remaining.
When
a player plays a DOUBLE TURN card, he gains the following advantages:
1)
He may lay two pieces of track in both the First Track Laying Turn and the
Second Track‑Laying Turn of that Round. The player may lay two pieces of
track for one Major Railroad or Short Line or one piece of track for each of two
different Major Railroads and/or Short Lines. The player may choose to lay only
one piece of track in a Round.
2)
He doubles the value of all bonuses that player receives during the Round.
3) At the start of his turn in the Second Track‑Laying Turn, the player may exchange cards‑discarding face down any number of CITY cards in his hand and drawing an equal number of replacements. Discarded CITY cards are permanently removed from the game. He may not exchange cards during the First Track‑Laying Turn.
This
card must be played on the Round in which it was drawn. A player who plays the
TRIPLE TURN card has the following advantage and penalty:
1)
He may lay three pieces of track in both the First Track‑Laying Turn and
the Second Track‑Laying Turn. A player may lay three pieces of track for
one Major Railroad or Short Line, one piece of track for each of three different
Major Railroad and/or Short Lines, or two pieces of track for one Major Railroad
and/or Short Line and one piece for another Major Railroad and/or Short Line. A
player may choose to lay only one or two pieces of track in a turn.
2)
He receives no bonuses during the Round.
This
card must be played on the Round in which it was drawn. A player who plays the
FOUR IN ONE card has the following advantage and penalty:
1)
He may lay four pieces of track in EITHER the First or the Second
Track‑Laying Turn. A player may lay four pieces of track for one Major
Railroad or Short Line, one piece of track for each of four Major Railroad
and/or Short Lines, two pieces of track for one Major Railroad or Short Line and
two for another Major Railroad or Short Line, or any other possible combination.
A player may choose to lay less than four pieces of track in a turn.
2)
The player may not lay any track during the other Track‑Laying Turn of the
Round.
3)
He receives the regular bonuses (not doubled) during the Round.
There
are 15 BRANCH LINE cards, three for each of the five Major Railroads.
A
player must pay $1 to draw a BRANCH LINE card. A player may not go into debt or
borrow money from any other player to buy a BRANCH LINE card. A player may never
have more than one BRANCH LINE card in his hand at any one time.
This
card must be played on the Round in which it was drawn. BRANCH LINE cards must
always be played with another card. The player must play either:
•
A CITY card and a BRANCH LINE card, or
•
DOUBLE TURN card and a BRANCH LINE card.
When
a player plays a BRANCH LINE card, he may begin a new route of track for that
Major Railroad from any city to which the Major Railroad is currently connected.
Thereafter, that Major Railroad can be extended from the end of either the
original route or the branch route.
A
BRANCH LINE card is discarded after it is used in either the First or Second
Track‑Laying Round and is permanently removed from the game. If the player
does not use it, it is still discarded after the Second Track‑Laying
Round. A player is never forced to start a branch line just because he plays a
BRANCH LINE card.
On
the other hand, the DOUBLE TURN, TRIPLE TURN, FOUR IN ONE and BOOMTOWN cards are
discarded after the Second Track‑Laying Turn and placed face up near the
table. They can be drawn again by any player.
The
game ends when one of two situations occur:
1)
All track pieces for all five Major Railroads have been played.
2)
A player cannot play a piece of track because all Major Railroads with unplayed
track have been dead‑ended. It does not matter if another player could use
a BRANCH LINE card to open up a route for a Major Railroad in his turn.
It
does not matter if Short Line track is still available.
Points
are awarded as follows:
1)
Each $1 is worth 1 Point.
2)
Each CITY card is worth its value multiplied by the number of DIFFERENT Major
Railroads and Short Lines connected to it.
The
player with the most points is the winner. If two or more players are tied, the
player who played the most CITY cards with a value of 7 among them is the
winner.
The
First Player does not change between Rounds. The First Player is always the
person who began the game.
When
the players draw cards to fill their hands, after he has filled his own hand,
the second player should draw one card from the deck and place it unseen in the
game box. This card is being "given" to a fictitious third player.
Neither player may look at the third player's cards. At the end of the game, the
fictitious third player's removed cards are revealed and points are awarded
normally to provide a score for the third player. A player wins only if he has
more points than both his opponent and the fictitious third player.
All
other rules remain the same.
Terrain
is now a cost factor for building track.
Each
player begins the game with $5 instead of $2. BRANCH LINE cards now cost $2
instead of $1.
Dark
brown routes are mountain lines. It now costs a player money to lay track in
certain terrain:
$1
for a mountain line.
$1
for a line which crosses a river (but not a lake).
$2
for a mountain line which also crosses a river.
A
player may not go into debt or borrow money from any other player to lay a piece
of track.
A
player is never required to lay a piece of track during his turn; he may
"pass" instead. However, if all players pass during the same
Track‑Laying Turn, the game immediately ends.
All
other rules remain the same.
Designer:
Alan R Moon
Coordinator:
Andy Lewis
Art
Director: Rodger B MacGowan
Cover
Art: Rodger B MacGowan and Mark Simonitch
Card
Art and Design: Mark Simonitch
Map
Graphics: Mark Simonitch
Package
Design: Rodger B MacGowan
Rulebook
Editing and Design: Stuart K Tucker
Production
Coordination: Tony Curtis
©
2002 GMT Games
P.O.
Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232‑1308
www.GMTGames.com
This site is created and maintained by: Carl-Gustaf Samuelsson