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?
Board of two joined leaves, 12 mine derricks (2 of each of 6 colours), 6 lorries [trucks], 5 barges, 2 ships, 90 pyramids (15 of each of 6 colours), 24 cubes (4 of each of 6 colours), 26 production cards, 6 Canal Company Title Deeds, 2 production debit cards, 1 die, sterling and dollar currency. The players are operating a mine and trying to get the ore to market, but must compete with each other for the limited transportation resources.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Pick Up and Deliver
Collect goods at one location and transport them to another for rewards.
Income
Receive recurring resources according to your position, assets, or development.
Point-to-Point Movement
Move along explicit connections between named locations or nodes.
Roll-and-Move
Roll dice or spin a dial to determine how far a piece moves.
Read the full game description
Board of two joined leaves, 12 mine derricks (2 of each of 6 colours), 6 lorries [trucks], 5 barges, 2 ships, 90 pyramids (15 of each of 6 colours), 24 cubes (4 of each of 6 colours), 26 production cards, 6 Canal Company Title Deeds, 2 production debit cards, 1 die, sterling and dollar currency. The players are operating a mine and trying to get the ore to market, but must compete with each other for the limited transportation resources. The ore has to be transported initially by lorries and also later by barges to the coastal warehouse. All transport has to be hired and there is always less transport available than required, favouring those who are prepared to take a risk on achieving a quick journey without mishap. For example there are only 5 barges (always one less than the numbers of players) to encourage competition and load sharing. You can also force other players to pay you for taking their ore to make up a barge load as all barges have to travel fully laden. Much depends on how long a journey takes. New ore can only be obtained by throwing a 1 or a six which also triggers the playing of a production card which can be favourable or not. From the coastal warehouse, barges and ships are used to transport ore out to sea to foreign ports to sell to gradually earn the Million Dollars needed to win the game. The second set of money (dollars) is thus actually a victory point counting device and not actual currency (i.e. it cannot be spent). It works well with any number of players (when playing with a smaller complement, each player operates multiple mines) except five, as the competition factor on one side of the board is uneven with the other.