Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
1883 is a game in the 18xx family of train games, set in Northern Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed by Manlio Manzini, co-designer of 1841.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Auction/Bidding
Bid against other players to determine who receives an item, action, or priority.
Stock Holding
Acquire shares whose value depends on companies, assets, or player actions.
Network and Route Building
Create connected routes that improve reach, delivery, control, or scoring.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Read the full game description
1883 is a game in the 18xx family of train games, set in Northern Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was designed by Manlio Manzini, co-designer of 1841. Some features: a/ 1883 is an "incremental cap" style 18xx, where corporations receive money in their treasuries by 1/ players buying the corporations shares or 2/ the corporations issuing their shares to the Bank Pool at almost market price. b/ Random Events - which corporations can mitigate by buying political support. c/ Government Concessions - whereby corporations (and players) get a bonus for making certain connections d/ A bus company - which players may buy shares in, and that has its own network on the board e/ A co-operative corporation - which players take turns to run (and may steal from) f/ Two corporations that can merge if their presidents agree. g/ "Gravity trains" which only cost L.20 and can run on track already used by 'normal' trains and add to company income - they don't count against a company's train limit, but a die is rolled to determine whether they breakdown (and so don't get income) or are even lost altogether. h/ only a dividend payout greater than or equal to a corporation's current share price will move that share price to the right on the market.