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?
18USA is a member of the 18xx family of railroad games. The game uses most of the rules from 1817 and requires a copy of 1817 to play.
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.
Market
Buy and sell through a shared supply whose availability or prices can change.
Network and Route Building
Create connected routes that improve reach, delivery, control, or scoring.
Stock Holding
Acquire shares whose value depends on companies, assets, or player actions.
Ownership
Claim assets or areas that remain under a player’s control.
Read the full game description
18USA is a member of the 18xx family of railroad games. The game uses most of the rules from 1817 and requires a copy of 1817 to play. The primary differences from 1817 are that 18USA adds randomization during initial setup, modifies the train manifest and train exporting rules, and provides a completely new set of private companies. The financial complexity of mergers, loans, and shorting from 1817 is thus combined with randomization of the map and private companies during setup to present players with a different scenario every game. Game Features: Uses a map of the contiguous United States Follows 1817 rules for loans, mergers, and shorting The value of each off-map area is randomized during setup A subset of 15 out of the 30 private companies is used each game City subsidies provide incentives to start companies in otherwise inferior locations Only 3 of the 6 most valuable cities are in play each game