Railroads

Overview

Railroads was designed to be a game about table talk. It's about making deals with other players, riding the rise and fall of various authentic nineteenth century railroad companies. In most railroad board games, one player is one company, and is engaged in pure competition with the other players. That doesn't make for a very social experience. Since players are investors in Railroads, they have the opportunity to benefit from semi-cooperative ventures, while hedging out their allies with other investments. Additionally, Railroads is not a game about budgets and check books. Money functions as points and are never spent. Stock tokens are played and moved in a simplified fashion that means strategy is emphasized and budgeting is eliminated. Stocks are merely methods of earning money (scoring points) so players can focus on their larger plans. Players who play alone in Railroads will not do very well. Railroads only gain as much track per turn as there are players in the company. If there is only one player in the company, they only lay one track per turn and will not make a lot of money. However, if you can get one or two people to join your venture, you can double or triple the speed that your railroads grow, turning your fledgling railroad into a geopolitical force to be reckoned with. Just make sure that when the money dries up, you are the first one out. A small number of handmade wooden versions were sold and are available on the second hand market.