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?
Take a Train is a family game for two to six players of age 8 and up. The aim in the game is to enlarge your fortune thanks to smart investments in rolling stock.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Take a Train is a family game for two to six players of age 8 and up. The aim in the game is to enlarge your fortune thanks to smart investments in rolling stock. Players take on the role of investors who meet at the locomotive auction and try to buy the best of auctioned railway vehicles. Locomotive cards are not the only ones available for purchase though, because investors also compete for the most valuable railway wagons. The game is played for three rounds, each of which consists of two stages. In the first stage, the players bid locomotive cards. The auction type in each round is determined by drawing one of the six auction tokens. During the bidding of locomotive cards, the players should pay attention not only to its price, but also to the multiplier placed on the card (the higher, the greater the potential profits) as well as the locomotive speed. Once all the players have already purchased three locomotives, the second stage takes place. In this stage they are attaching wagons to their locomotives. They also make a choice: either to take one of the face-up wagon cards and attach to one of their locomotives, to pass and do not take any card, or to pay for replacing cards on the table and only then decide, whether to take one of the available wagons. The round is over when one of the locomotives of any player has its fifth wagon attached. Then, all the players are summing up the profits. Each player adds up the value of the wagons attached to the locomotive, then the obtained score is multiplied by the multiplier of the locomotive. This process is repeated for each of the locomotives. The earned money supplies the player's account. After three rounds, all the players add up their earned money. The player who earned the most, wins. Take a Train is an entertaining and exciting game, which gives everyone a chance to feel like a rail market tycoon.