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1853 box art
1989 Ranked #4,689

1853

A railroad strategy game where players build networks across difficult Indian terrain while managing engineering challenges and financial competition. Different gauges, mountains, contracts, and government mail make route construction as consequential as manipulating the railway market.

Strategy Games Economic Trains Stock Holding Network and Route Building

Players

3-6

Play time

Not listed

Age

12+

Complexity

4.17/5

Rating

6.81

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.3/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

This is the Indian sub-continent (British Imperial India) member of the 18xx family of games. It is billed as A game for engineers who've had enough of the financiers!

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

This is the Indian sub-continent (British Imperial India) member of the 18xx family of games. It is billed as A game for engineers who've had enough of the financiers! It involves five-foot-six and metre gauges, hills, mountains and the Himalayas, contract bids and government mails. The technical challenges of building a railroad network in difficult country stand on a par with the financial market manipulation which usually dominates the 18xx games. Time to play is listed as 4-7 hours. Ages 11+. A 4-hour game would be an exception and it's not really for 11-year-olds. Two small extension kits were produced in 1992 and re-edited in 1999. For its 20th anniversary, Lookout Games and Mayfair Games Inc. published an updated version in Oct 2009. It is based on the retuned rules by Stuart Dagger and Steve Jones that were edited by Lou Jerkich, Dick Ruck and Jeff Heuer. Expanded by: MIK 1 Extension Kit for 1853 MIK 2 Extension Kit for 1853

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
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Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
3–6
Best with
3–5
Play time
180 min
Age
12+
Complexity
4.2/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Francis Tresham

Artists

3
Ed Dovey Klemens Franz Francis Tresham

Publishers

3
Hartland Trefoil Ltd. Lookout Games Mayfair Games

Linked items

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