18Korea Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 2. Components
  • 2.1 Company
  • 2.2 Train
  • 2.3 Korean War card
  • 2.4 Track tile
  • 2.5 Asset cards
  • 2.6 Map
• 3. Game Settings
• 4. Flow of the game
• 5. Stock track and revenue track
• 6. Draft round (DR)
• 7. Stock round (SR)
  • 7.1 Stock sale
  • 7.2 Buying Stock
  • 7.3 Auction for director's certificate
  • 7.4 Restrictions on holding shares
  • 7.5 Pass
• 8. Game phase
• 9. Operation round (OR)
  • 9.1 Start-city station construction
  • 9.2 Track Points (TP)
  • 9.3 Build station
  • 9.4 Outer station
  • 9.5 Calculate revenue
  • 9.6 Stock price adjustments - Dividend/Hold
  • 9.7 Purchase train
  • 9.8 Forced purchase of train
  • 9.9 Limit in train numbers
  • 9.10 End of operation round
  • 9.11 Export
• 10. The Korean War
• 11. End of Game
• 12. Etiquette
• 13. Two-player variation rule
• 14. Design note
• 16. Explanation for asset cards
• 17. Map Reference
• 18Korea's unique differences
  • 1. Draft round
  • 2. Stock round
    • 2.1 Stock sale and purchase
    • 2.2 Auction of director's certificate
    • 2.3 Pass
  • 3. Operation round
    • 3.1 Outer station
    • 3.2 E-train (Express train)
    • 3.3 Purchase train
  • 3.4 Era and train rust
  • 3.5 Export
  • 3.6 Korean War
  • Tile Upgrade Chart
• 4. End of game

2. Components

• 1 map
• 131 track tiles
• 133 circle tokens: Stock tokens for each company, revenue track tokens, 3-4 station tokens, additional station tokens for asset cards
• 1 round token
• 10 square tokens (2 per color)
• 10 blue cube tokens
• 10 red cube tokens
• 216 railway company stocks
• 30 asset cards
• 48 train cards: 16 2-trains, 8 3-trains, 4 4-trains, 4 5E-trains, 4 6E-trains, 12 8E-trains.
• 1 Korean War card
• 24 Company dashboards
• 5 player wallet and help boards
• Game manual
• Paper money

Before starting the game, separate the wooden tokens according to the company color as shown in the table below and attach the appropriate stickers. (6 North Korean companies, 5 South Korean companies)

Company colors: Red, Blue, Orange, Light purple, Yellow, Purple, Light green, Black, Green, Gray, Sky blue, Pink.

North Korean companies are identified by a logo on a colored background, whereas South Korean companies by a logo on a white background.

2.1 Company

Each company has a total of 9 shares: 1 share of 20% and 8 shares of 10% shares. Each company has 56 tokens. 34 of the tokens are used for stations. The rest of the tokens will be used for the stock track and one for the revenue track. Each company also has a company dashboard for placing its assets. Each company is established when players purchase the director's certificate (20%) and will start operating during the operation round after being founded. Each company will appear on the map after building their start-city station. In the game, there are 12 North Korean companies and 12 South Korean companies, a total of 24 companies.

2.2 Train

Trains are represented in the game by train cards. The company increases revenue during the operating round, by buying and operating trains. There are 6 types of trains: 2, 3, 4, 5E, 6E, and 8E-trains. At the beginning of the game, the train cards are placed in their respective positions on the map.

E stands for Express. Express trains can omit small cities.

2.3 Korean War card

Korean War card is placed directly in front of the last 4 train. When the third 4 train is sold and the Korean War card appears, the conditions for the outbreak of the Korean War are satisfied.

2.4 Track tile

Track tiles are placed on the map to mark routes between stations. There are 4 colors for the road tiles (yellow, green, brown, gray), and there are 3 types of these (big city, small city, normal road).

Big City: A hex with a large circle. In big cities you can build stations. Big cities in South Korea are divided into normal cities and metropolitan cities, and each metropolitan city has a special tile suitable for that city.

Small City: A hex with a small dot. The revenue is only 10, but is included in the train link. Cannot build stations.

Normal road: marked with tracks only.

Track tile glossary 1. City: small city, normal city, and metropolitan city 1) Big city: metropolitan city and normal city — Metropolitan city: special tile; Normal City: circle 2) Small city: dot 2. Normal road

Link: the number of revenue that the train can pass Hex: hexagonal terrain on the map Revenue: numbers written on city road tiles

2.5 Asset cards

There are three tiers of asset cards: A, B, and C. At the start of the game, cards are drawn and played for the number of players in each rank.

For 3 players, 3 cards A, 3 cards B, 3 cards C

Asset cards may only be placed in companies placed in the pre-Korean War space of the IPO. Once inserted, the asset card is permanently vested in the company. You can put it in your company and use your abilities at any time during the game.

Player can put it even if it's not his turn.

There is no limit to the number of asset cards a company can have. In some cases, multiple cards of the same rank may be attached.

This is possible in the case of two players or through player-to-player transactions.

2.6 Map

The map shows the cities and topography of Korea. The hexes are superimposed on the map. As the game progresses, only tiles corresponding to each terrain can be placed.

Small city tiles can only be built on small cities.

The red areas outside the map represent continents. The blue areas mean the sea. You cannot develop Continents, seas, and gray tiles drawn on the map.

Design Note: Trade with other countries by land through the red zone. Trade by sea through the blue zone.

3. Game Settings

• A: IPO — A space to place director's certificate.
• B: Bank — A space where shares are placed when sold.
• C: Train market — A space to buy trains.
• D: Stock track — A track representing the stock price of a company.
• E: Revenue track — Tracks representing the company's revenue this round.
• F: Stock round order — A track representing the order of this stock round.
• G: Era — A space representing the present era.

Players set their turn order randomly at the beginning and take their seats in that order. Spread the map on the table. Five North Korean companies are randomly selected and placed in the (a) North Korean Pre-Korean War space of the IPO. 6 South Korean companies are drawn, 3 are placed in the South Korean space before the Korean War, and the remaining 3 are placed in the South Korean space after the Korean War.

For 5 players, place 4 cards for each instead.

Place the red cube on the starting city of the pre-Korean War companies. Place the blue cube on the starting city of the companies after the Korean War.

Take out all the trains, stack them in the corresponding location in the train market (c), and place the Korean War card in front of the last 4 train in the 4 train pile. Take the "Era" card and "Discard" card and place these card in the designated location on the back of the card. The yellow Era card is placed in the Era space above the map.

From groups A, B, and C, draw as many asset cards as number of players, and leave them visible to all. Put bank money in a place where everyone can get money easily.

There is no money limit. If you have poker chips, we recommend using them.

Place round token in the asset draft space (DR). Each player chooses a color, brings a wallet plate of that color, and places square tokens corresponding the color in stock round order (f). The other square tokens are placed in the open space below the pass space. Each player takes money according to the number of players.

2 - 800won, 3 - 530won, 4 - 400won, 5 - 320won.

Game starts with the asset draft round (DR).

Flow of the game: Asset Draft Round → Stock Round → Operation Round 1 → Operation Round 2 → (back to Stock Round)

4. Flow of the game

This game has three types of rounds,

• Draft round (DR): Take an asset card through the draft.
• Stock Round (SR): In Stock Round, the player takes the role of an investor. You can sell your stock, use your personal money to buy stock and establish a new company.

Only personal money is used for SR.

• Operation round (OR): Railway companies build tracks and stations, and calculate revenue. Depending on dividend or not, stock prices rise or fall. You can also buy trains.

Only the company's money is used for the OR.

Game starts with the draft round. After that, there will be a stock round, followed by two operation rounds. A stock round and two operation rounds will be repeated until the end of the game.

Operation round set: The operation round set refers to the two operation rounds between the stock rounds.

5. Stock track and revenue track

The stock price track (d) represents the current share value of the established company. During each company's operating round, the company's stock price moves through dividends or holding decisions. The lower right part of the map is the revenue track (e). Utilize revenue track to record the amount of revenue for each company and use it as an important reference to help you buy stocks in future stock rounds.

6. Draft round (DR)

Starting with the first player, draft the asset cards in the order 1-2-3-4-5 / 5-4-3-2-1 / 5-4-3-2-1 (each number represents turn order). On your turn, take 1 asset card of your choice. However, you cannot take an asset card of the tier you already have. At the end of the draft, in the end, all players must have one A, B, and C tier asset card.

7. Stock round (SR)

In a stock round, players take one of the following actions in their turn.

a. Sell as many shares as you want and buy 1 share. Order does not matter.

You can omit both buying and selling.

b. Sell as many shares as you want and auction off the director's certificate of the unincorporated company. The person who wins the auction can sell the stock before purchasing the management certificate.

c. Pass turn. If pass token is not on the board, and place it on the left-most empty space.

7.1 Stock sale

You can sell stock on the market. You can sell multiple shares at a time. You get paid by the bank for the price that is located on each company's stock track after selling. If you sell multiple companies, players can decide the order in which they sell. If you sell the stock of a company which you own, the stock price of the company will drop by 1 space by the number of shares you sell. The stock tokens of companies that have fallen off the stock track are placed on the rightmost of their respective spaces. You cannot sell director's certificates on the market. The director's certificate can only be sold and passed over when another player owns 20% or more of the shares. In this case, if several people hold 20% or more, the person with the most will exchange the director's certificate for their 2 shares. If more than one person has the most, the player closest to the original owner in playing order will get it.

The sold shares are placed in the bank (b).

7.2 Buying Stock

A player may purchase 1 stock on their turn. You buy stock and pay for it at the price it is located on the company's stock track. The amount paid is put in the company if it was purchased from the company, or to the bank if it was purchased from the bank.

If the purchase of the shares results in holding more shares than the person who was previously the owner of the company, the person's certificate of management will be exchanged for two shares of the buyer.

The person who owns the largest number of shares in a company becomes the company's owner.

You cannot buy stocks in the following cases:

a. Shares of companies you've sold this round b. Shares of companies whose director's certificates have not yet been sold (not founded) c. If you already own 60% of the stock, you cannot buy stock from the company.

Stocks placed in the bank are available for purchase in excess of 60%.

7.3 Auction for director's certificate

You can auction director's certificate of a company that has not been founded on your turn. The scope of companies that can be auctioned varies depending on whether the Korean War has occurred or not. Before the outbreak of the Korean War, only companies excluding the bottom row of IPOs could be auctioned off. (Red Cube Company) If the Korean War broke out, you could auction all but the North Korean Railway Company (top row from the IPO). The auction starts at 0 won and proceeds in increments of 5 won. You don't have to start with 0won and you can increase the price a lot in one go. The auction proceeds in turn order until a winner is announced. If you pass your turn in an auction, you will not be able to participate again in that auction. The winner of the auction pays the winning bid to the bank and gets a company dashboard and director's certificate. At this point, you can sell as many shares as you want.

Even if you don't have the cash to pay the winning bid, you can still pay by selling the stock. Company is established after the auction.

After setting the price of the company, you put in the company from your own personal money at twice the price of that stock. A token is placed at the price you set on the stock track. If there is already another company's token at that price, place the company's token on the rightmost of that space. A token is placed on the profit track. The rest of the tokens are placed on the company dashboard. The remaining shares of the company (10% shares) are placed on the company dashboard. Take the cube (red or blue) from the company's starting city and place it on the top right of the company dashboard.

After the auction ends, your turn is over regardless of winning the bid. You cannot bid more than the sum of all your shares and cash.

7.4 Restrictions on holding shares

Players have a limit on the number of shares they can hold: 2 players - 28 cards, 3 players - 20 cards, 4 players - 16 cards, 5 players - 14 cards. The director's certificate is treated as one in this calculation. If you exceed the stock limit, you must meet the holding limit in your turn at the stock round.

7.5 Pass

You can pass your turn without taking any action in a stock round. After passing, if there is a pass token waiting in the stock round sequence, place the pass token up and on the leftmost empty space (see example picture). When it's your next turn, you either keep the pass or take an action. If you take an action, return your pass token back to the waiting area. Slide the pass tokens from the right one space to the left so that there are no empty spaces in the pass space. If all players' pass tokens are in the pass space (if all players have passed their turn in a row), then the tokens in the stock round order are re-arranged in the order of pass tokens, and all pass tokens are placed back in the queue. After that, the stock round ends and moves on to the operation round.

8. Game phase

Game starts from Yellow era.

• Yellow track tiles are available.
• The revenue represented on the map is calculated as a yellow value.
• A company can own up to 4 trains.
• The number of 2-trains in the train market is unlimited.

Green era begins when 3-trains become available to purchase.

• Yellow and green track tiles are available.
• The revenue represented on the map is calculated as a green value.
• If any 4-train is sold, all the 2-trains are rusted. A company can own up to 3 trains.

If there are more than 3, select overflowing trains to remove.

Brown era begins when 5E-trains become available to purchase.

• Yellow, green, and brown track tiles are available.
• The revenue represented on the map is calculated as a brown value. If there is no brown value, use the most recent era value.
• If any 6E-train is sold, all the 3-trains are rusted. A company can own up to 2 trains.

If there are more than 2, select overflowing trains to remove.

Gray era begins when 8E-trains become available to purchase.

• Yellow, green, brown, and gray track tiles are available.
• The revenue represented on the map is calculated as a gray value. If there is no gray value, use the most recent era value.
• If any 8E-train is sold, all the 4-trains are rusted. Game end condition is met.
• The number of 8E-trains in the train market is unlimited.

9. Operation round (OR)

Run two operation rounds after stock round. The operation round starts with the companies with the highest stock prices. If there are multiple companies with the same stock price, the company on the left will be operated first. The company is run by the owner of that company.

The progress of the OR for each company: 1. If it is the first operation, build start-city station. 2. Lay tracks (3TP) — Unused TPs will disappear. 3. Can build one station — The company pays station price. 4. Calculate train revenue 5. Dividend or hold dividends 6. Purchase train — Train slots must be observed. If there is not enough space in the train slot, you cannot purchase any.

9.1 Start-city station construction

If a company was established in the previous stock round, build start-city station at the starting city. If there is a vacancy in the starting city, place token on the vacant seat. If there are no vacancies in the starting city, proceed as follows.

a. If a vacant place appears after upgrading, the first track point must be used to upgrade the starting city.

b. If you cannot upgrade due to era issues, or if there are no vacancies even after upgrading, a station is placed outside the tile, but still is treated as a station on that tile.

See 9.4 Outer station.

9.2 Track Points (TP)

The company has 3 track points every operation round. Tiles should only be placed where they can follow the road starting from the company's station. If you encounter a city blocked by another company's station when following the road, you cannot go further.

A yellow tile must be placed on an empty hex, and cannot be placed on a road outside the map or in a direction blocked by a red line (above Incheon). You must place big city tiles in hexes with circles, small city tiles on hexes with dots, and normal road tiles for the rest. It costs 1 track point to place a yellow track tile and 2 track point to upgrade. You can upgrade in the order of yellow -> green -> brown -> gray. When placing a yellow rail tile, if a price is written in that tile, the company must pay the price to the bank to build it. If the company lacks money, you cannot upgrade that tile. Also, a company can only build up to 1 time per hex per one operation round. There is no limit to the number of yellow track tiles 7, 8, and 9.

When upgrading tiles, follow these rules:

a. You can only upgrade up to colors that match era.

Tiles can be upgraded to green/brown/gray when 3/5E/8E-trains are available in the train market respectively.

b. Original path must be maintained. c. No way out of the map. d. In a city with an alphabet, if there is a tile corresponding to that letter, you must place that tile.

Metropolitan cities use normal city tiles until special tiles appear. A city in North Korea must be placed as a N tile. N tiles cannot be upgraded to brown tiles.

9.3 Build station

After laying tracks, a new station can be built if there is an empty space on a metropolitan tile that the company can reach. Take a station token from the company dashboard, place it on the tile, pay the bank for the station price. A station cannot be placed on the first seat of the Seoul tile before the Korean War. If, for some reason, an additional station is to be placed in Seoul, that station is placed as an outer station.

Stations must be built in order from left to right.

9.4 Outer station

Outer stations refers to stations not placed in city space, since there are more stations in the city than vacancy in city space. In the following cases, outer stations appear.

If you need to build start-city station after foundation, or when you build a station in a specific city by the asset card, and if the tile is already full and there is no empty space through the upgrade, an outer station is built, which functions like an ordinary station.

When a startup company needs to build a start-city station, if an upgrade creates an empty space, one must upgrade the tile to build it.

If vacancy is made through being upgraded, this outer station will take that vacancy. If a metropolitan city tile is removed due to the Korean War, etc., and if the tile includes an outer station, stations are placed in following method.

a. The company that placed the yellow tile (the company whose turn is currently in progress) selects one (2 in the case of Seoul) from the existing stations and places it.

b. The rest of the stations will come in when tiles is upgraded to a green one. If the corresponding city has additional space on the brown tile, the current company selects one of the existing stations and places it, as in step a.

If space is created through tile upgrade, the outer station is considered as not being placed.

It can be used as a station only after upgrading.

Outer stations are treated as regular stations when there are no more empty spaces on the tile after being upgraded.

For instance, if there is a green tile without any vacancy in green era, and an additional outer station exists, this outer station is used as a regular one, since it is unable to upgrade this tile. However, if the era has changed, and tile can be upgraded to brown one, and brown one has extra vacancy, tile must be upgraded in order an outer station to be used as a regular station.

9.5 Calculate revenue

If the company has a train, it uses the train to calculate revenue. The large number written on the upper left of the train is the maximum number of links in the continent (red area) / sea (blue area) / big city / small city that the train can pass through. When calculating the revenue, the route of the train must be determined, and the following rules are applied to the route of the train.

a. The route must have at least one company station.

b. The route of a train must not pass through the same continent/sea/city twice.

c. Continent/sea can only be used as the start or end of a route.

d. You can't pass through a city blocked by other company stations.

Blocked cities can only be used as the start or end of a route.

e. You cannot omit large cities/small cities when calculating routes.

Express trains can omit small cities.

f. A train cannot use the same track twice.

g. If there are multiple trains, the routes of each train should not overlap each other, but may overlap at intersections.

If you have set a route for each train in your company, add up all the revenues on the determined route. The sum of the revenues of all trains gives the company's total revenue. Express trains (5E, 6E, 8E trains) can omit small cities. Also, if the company has two express trains, calculate the profit of the lower numbered train and double the profit. In very rare cases, if there are more than 3 express trains, the revenue of all express trains are equal to the revenue of the lowest express train.

If there are multiple express trains, the revenue cannot be calculated individually. It must be equal to multiple of the revenue of the lowest express train.

Example 1) The current era is green era. Gwangju Railway has a 2-train and three 3-trains. The profit of one 2-train (red line) is 20+30=50, and the profit of a 3-train (orange line) is 30+10=40. Company has only made profit with 2 links with 3-train. The profit of another 3-train (blue line) is 30+30+20=80, and the profit of the last 3-train (pink line) is 30+30+30=90. The total profit of Gwangju Railway is 50+40+80+90=260. The path of the blue line and the path of the pink line overlapped at the intersection, but that's ok.

Example 2) The current era is brown era. Gwangju Railway has one 4-train and one 5E-train. The profit for 4-train (red line) is 50+30+30+40=150. 5E-train can omit small cities. The 5E-train (orange) returns 50+30+30+20+40=170. So, the total revenue of Gwangju Railway is 150+170=320.

Example 3) The current era is gray era. Gwangju Railway has one 5E-train and one 8E-train. The profit of Gwangju Railway is 360, which is twice the profit of the 5E-train, 60+30+30+20+40=180.

9.6 Stock price adjustments - Dividend/Hold

Once you have calculated revenue, you can decide to dividend or hold them. When dividending, players holding shares in the company receive dividends from the bank based on the number of shares. Company also receive dividends if it holds shares. If revenue is lower than its current stock price, company token won't rise on the stock price track, but will flip over in its place. If the company's earnings are greater than or equal to the current stock price and less than twice the stock price, raise token by 1 square. If it is more than 2x, raise it by 2 squares. If the profits are held without dividends, put all the proceeds into the company and turn the stock upside down while lowering the stock price by one space. If the stock price rises or falls, if there are already other company tokens in that space, place them on the far right.

9.7 Purchase train

Trains can be purchased for the next operation rounds. When purchasing a train, you can purchase it observing the limit on the number of trains according to the era. There are two ways to purchase trains:

a. Purchase from train market b. Purchase from other companies

When purchasing a train from the train market, the company has to pay the price for the train with the lowest link in the train market. You can buy trains as long as your money is enough and number of trains does not exceed limit. If a "discard" card appears on the train market, the description on the card is enforced. If a new Era card appears in the Train Market, put it on top of the Era space and apply the new Era. In the first operating round of the game, there are an infinite number of 2-trains in the train market. This means that only 2-trains can be purchased during the first operation round. After the first round of operation, all the 2-trains in the train market are removed. Therefore, from the second operating round, you can purchase from the 3-train. When purchasing trains from other companies, stations of companies you are dealing with must exist in the same city, or there must be a non-blocked route between stations of them. You can purchase a train at an agreed price. However, you cannot purchase trains for free, and you must pay at least 1 won.

If any 4/6E/8E-train is sold from the train market, all 2/3/4-trains are removed from the game. You can buy trains from other companies regardless of company owner. In train transaction, only purchases are possible in your turn; you cannot sell them.

Tip: When buying a train from another company, you mainly use your own 2 companies. Transactions are made mainly to buy low-link trains at high prices or buy high-link trains cheap.

9.8 Forced purchase of train

Railway companies must own at least one train at the end of their turn. If your company doesn't have trains, you are forced to buy trains from the train market. If you are forced to buy a train from the train market and the company runs out of money, you pay all the money in the company to the bank and company and you have to pay the shortage. If you run out of cash, you have to sell stock to raise money. At this time, if you sell the stock you are the manager of, the stock price will drop by the number of sales you have sold, and you can only sell the stock up to the amount of cash that is insufficient to purchase the train.

It is not possible to sell shares in which the owner of the company changes. If there is insufficient money to pay even after selling the stock, the player goes bankrupt and the game ends immediately.

9.9 Limit in train numbers

A company has a limited number of trains that it can have. At the start of the game, a company can have a maximum of 4 trains. When 4-trains are sold for the first time, the number of trains you can have changes to a maximum of 3, and when 6E-trains are sold limit changes to 2. This change takes effect immediately. If the company has more than the current limit of trains it can hold, it must immediately meet the limit by removing trains. These abandoned trains are removed from the game.

Example 1. Seoul Railway currently has one 4-train and two 5E-trains. Another company, Gwangju Railway, bought the first 6E-train from the train market. Since the train number has been changed to 2, Seoul Railway must abandon one train. Owner of Seoul Railway decided to remove 4-train.

Example 2. Andong Railway currently has one 4-train and one 5E-train. Andong Railway purchased the first 6E-train from the train market. Before purchasing, the train limit was three. However, because the first 6E-train was purchased, the train limit became two. Andong Railway owns three trains. Therefore, Andong Railway had to discard one train, so the owner of Andong Railway decided to remove 4-train.

Example 3. Busan Railway currently two 3-trains. Busan Railway purchased the first 6E-train from the train market. All 3-trains are removed from the game, and Busan Railway has one 6E-train. Busan Railway can hold up to two trains, so bought one more 6E-train.

Example 4. Incheon Railway has three 3-train. The lowest link in the train market is the first 6E-train, and the Incheon Railway cannot buy the 6E-train in the train market because the train slots are full. When another company purchases 6E-train, all the 3-trains are removed, and after that Incheon Railway can buy trains.

Note - The only way to discard the train is like ways in Examples 1,2.

9.10 End of operation round

When all companies have completed one operation, the operation round is over. Flip all the tokens on the stock track to face up.

9.11 Export

If there are any non-permanent trains (3-trains and 4-trains) in the train market before moving on to the stock round, remove one of them from game. If 4-train is removed due to this action, all 2-trains are removed from the game. If the Korean War card appears due to this action, the Korean War will start immediately.

Train summary:

Train	Limit	Price	#	Rust
2	4	₩100	∞	-
3	4	₩180	8	-
4	3	₩300	4	2
5E	3	₩500	4	-
6E	2	₩600	4	3
8E	2	₩800	∞	4

10. The Korean War

During the operation round, if any company purchases 4-train from the train market and a Korean War card appears, the Korean War will occur at the end of that operation round. When the Korean War breaks out, all tiles and stations in North Korea are removed (the land above the DMZ is North Korea). North Korean companies that do not have a station in South Korea are forced to remove their assets and shares from the game (shares are removed without being refunded for cash). Also, all city tiles in South Korea are removed. Stations on metropolitan tiles remain in place. Companies in the last row of the IPO can be established, and North Korean companies are not. After the outbreak of the Korean War, only the land of South Korea can be used.

Yellow and green track tiles from North Korea can be reused later, but the removed stations are permanently removed from the game.

Design Note: After the outbreak of the Korean War, 90% of the Korean peninsula was occupied by North Korea and South Korea retreated to the Nakdong River line after a month. South Korea, which defended the Nakdonggang Line, was able to protect Busan, but in the aftermath of the war, all major cities in South Korea were destroyed.

After the war, as a communist and socialist country, the capitalist stock market disappeared in North Korea. If you have started a business in North Korea, you must move all your assets to South Korea before war breaks out. (At least one station must be built in South Korea.) Otherwise, all the assets and stocks will be confiscated by the Communist Party. After the war, the border between North Korea and South Korea was closed, and 70 years later, it is still unreachable.

Then the final set of operating rounds will be played. In these operating rounds, you cannot lay tracks, build stations, and trade trains between companies.

You can only buy trains from the train market. Even during these rounds, if there is a company with a stock price of 460 or 500, the game will be over after the corresponding operating round.

A player with the most assets will be the winner. This value is calculated by summing up the personal cash on the wallet board and all stocks into cash.

Money held by the company at the end of the game is not counted.

11. End of Game

The game ends when one of the three conditions below is met.

a. If any player goes bankrupt, the game ends immediately. b. When a company's stock reaches a price of 460 or 500, game ends after that operation round. c. When the first 8E-train goes on sale, game ends as follows. The game ends when the first 8E-train is sold in the train market. Set of operation rounds will proceed as normal. The next stock round will be the last stock round. You cannot establish a new company in the last stock round.

12. Etiquette

Players should act as quickly as possible. It is recommended to think about buying stocks and placing tiles during another player turn. All personal and corporate assets are public, so if other players request information, you must disclose it to all players.

13. Two-player variation rule

In a two-player game, the asset draft is slightly different. During the asset draft round, draws 2 cards each from A, B, and C. The first player chooses 1 card, and then the player chooses 2 cards. Again, draw 2 cards each from A, B, and C, and this time, the second player chooses one, and the first player chooses two. In a 3-5 player game, if you own 60% of the company's stock, it would be impossible to buy stock from the company, but in a two-player game the limit will increase to 70%.

It is also possible to put an asset card of the same tier in one company.

14. Design note

When making 18Korea, our goal was to lower the barrier to entry as much as possible, allowing many players to enter the world of the 18series. The existing 18xx series was a game that was difficult to challenge easily because of the long play time and heavy and difficult-looking themes and rules compared to general strategy board games. We reduced the play time of the game by reducing the amount of money in the early game and reducing the meaningless lengthy post-production rounds to a minimum, and we reduced the elements that could seem complicated and difficult by reducing the rules as simple as possible.

We also wanted to incorporate the historical flow of the Korean Peninsula into the game as much as possible. Until the 1970s, North Korea, which had a rich industrial base under the Japanese colonial rule, had an economic power that was superior to that of South Korea. Immediately after liberation, Korea was divided by the Soviet Union and the United States, and immediately after the communist camp North Korea's surprise invasion of South Korea, the Korean War broke out. In the early days of South Korea, 90% of the Korean peninsula was occupied as far as the Nakdonggang Front, within one month of the start of the war. After three years of war, a ceasefire was reached at the present border (DMZ).

Due to the long war, all the infrastructure that existed in Korea was destroyed and the entire country was devastated. As a result, I wanted to express how difficult the post-war Korea was, and the history of overcoming them all and achieving the high growth called the miracle of the Han River. Apart from this historical reflection, we didn't want to make a repetitive game that just expresses the history itself. We wanted to induce a different aspect of each game by making countless asset cards. In fact, in Korea, all railway companies have been developing railways based on state-owned enterprises, but to give more cases, 24 virtual city railways were created to increase the number of companies that can be started. We made the replayability maximized, by creating an infinite number of starting settings due to different combination of asset cards and starting city railroads. With these various elements, we wanted to provide you with a game that becomes more fun the more you play, not just a game that you enjoy once and end.

16. Explanation for asset cards

OA01 Miracle on the Han River — If another company develops Seoul and the stock price of the company goes above 460, the game ends at the end of that operating round.

OA03 The Local Rich — The North Korean company has no starting city after the Korean War.

OA07 Local Administrator — You can treat small cities as links if you wish. When calculating revenue using an express train, small city revenue can be calculated without being treated as a link.

OA09 Defector — After the Korean War, even if the company does not have any station in South Korea, stations can be moved to South Korea with the ability of "Defector".

OB02 Anti-North Spy — If this ability was used before the Korean War, the city would be removed when the Korean War breaks out. After that, city tile that is subsequently placed in that city does not place an 'N', but a regular city.

OB04 Train Buyer — 20% off the amount printed on the train card.

OB09 The Newest Parts — It is also possible to upgrade 2 to 4, 3 to 6E, and 4 to 8E.

OC01 Outer Station Construction — Station can also be built in Seoul before the Korean War. This station should not block the last place in Seoul. Even if you've placed an outer station in a blocked city, you have to upgrade it to use it as a station.

OC08 Repulsion the North Army — If you have this asset and OA09 (defector) together, put stations in South Korea cities to protect those.

17. Map Reference

The map reference shows the full layout of the Korean Peninsula board: city names (with their North/South Korean designation), sea zones (East Sea, Yellow Sea, South Sea) with their revenue values, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea, and the red/blue continent connection zones at the map's edges.

18Korea's unique differences

Users who have played other 18 series can quickly learn the rules of 18Korea based on the summary rules below. Also, for 18Korea users who are familiar with the rules refer to the summary rules below, it will be useful as a reference when reviewing the rules before playing or explaining the rules of 18Korea to other players.

1. Draft round

At the start of the game, draw cards equal to the number of players from asset cards A, B, and C. Starting with the first player, draft the asset cards in the order 1-2-3-4-5 / 5-4-3-2-1 / 5-4-3-2-1 (each number represents turn order). On your turn, take 1 asset card of your choice. However, you cannot take an asset card of the tier you already have. At the end of the draft, all players must have one A, B, and C tier asset card. Asset cards can only be placed in companies that can be started before the Korean War, and you can use your abilities by putting the asset card into the company whenever you want. Asset cards once placed in the company cannot be retrieved. You can attach them at any time during the game, even if it's not your turn.

2. Stock round

2.1 Stock sale and purchase

a. There is no limit to selling up to 50% to the bank. In the stock round, stock price will only fall when owner sells it, by the number of shares sold. The director's certificate cannot be placed in the bank.

b. You can purchase up to 60% of the shares placed in the company. Shares placed in the bank are available for purchase over 60%.

2.2 Auction of director's certificate

Instead of buying stock on your turn, you can auction director's certificate. If you choose this action, you can't buy the certificate immediately, but through an auction (starting price 0 won, minimum 5 won auction). The winner can pay the bank for the winning bid price and purchase the director's certificate. Before the Korean War, you can set the first stock price between 60-100, and after the Korean War, you can set the first stock price between 60-200. Company is established immediately after a player taking director's certificate (20%). All shares of a company belong to the company before being established. (The director's certificate is also purchased from the company, so the price must be paid to the company.) Before the Korean War, only pre-Korean companies from IPOs can start a business. After the Korean War, all remaining South Korean companies can be established.

2.3 Pass

If you pass, stock round pass order token is placed in front of the blank. If you take an action on your next turn, put the pass order token down again. When all pass order tokens have been placed, the stock round is over and the next stock round order will follow the order of pass tokens.

3. Operation round

You get 3 track points. Yellow track tiles cost 1 point, and upgrades cost 2.

It is not possible to build a hex twice on one turn.

3.1 Outer station

If you need to build start-city station after foundation, or when you build a station in a specific city by the asset card, and if the tile is already full and there is no empty space through the upgrade, an outer station is built, which functions like an ordinary station. When building a hex with remaining stations after the Korean War, the company that built the tile chooses a station and places it from among the remaining stations. Outer stations are used like regular stations only if there are no empty spaces through upgrades. If vacancy is made through being upgraded, this outer station will take that vacancy.

When a startup company needs to build a start-city station, if an upgrade creates an empty space, one must upgrade the tile to build it.

3.2 E-train (Express train)

If there are two or more E-trains (5E, 6E, 8E), they must be used unconditionally. After calculating the lower number of train revenues, doubling the revenue is the company's revenue. (If there are 3 E-trains, it is tripled.) E-trains can omit small cities when calculating the revenue.

3.3 Purchase train

a. In the first operation round, the number of 2-trains are unlimited. After the end of the first operation round, all the 2-trains in the train market will be removed. From the second operation round, you will enter green Era, and you will be able to purchase 3-trains.

b. Intercompany train transactions can only be purchased if companies are connected.

3.4 Era and train rust

When the era card appears, it immediately triggers a new era. If 4/6E/8E-trains are sold, the 2/3/4-trains are removed from game.

3.5 Export

At the end of a set of operation rounds, one green train in the train market is removed for export. If the first 4-train has been exported, all the 2-trains will be removed. If Korean War card has appeared by this effect, the Korean War would immediately start.

3.6 Korean War

Place the Korean War card in front of the last 4-train at game setup. During the operation round, if any company purchases 4-train from the train market and a Korean War card appears, the Korean War will occur at the end of that operation round. When the Korean War breaks out, all tiles and stations in North Korea are removed, and all city tiles in South Korea are removed. Track tiles can still be used, but stations placed in North Korea are permanently removed from the game and cannot be used again. North Korean companies that do not have stations in South Korea are removed from the game. Post-Korean War companies can be established.

The remaining pre-Korean War companies in South Korea are still available.

Tile Upgrade Chart

Metropolitan cities use normal city tiles until special tiles appear. Normal cities in North Korea must be placed face down as N tiles. N tiles cannot be upgraded to brown tiles.

The chart maps each yellow, green, and brown track tile (by its tile number) to the count available and its permitted upgrade tiles, following the color order yellow → green → brown → gray, plus a set of special big-city tiles (S, B, I, D, G) unique to each of Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, and Gwangju, each with its own restricted upgrade path. Some plain brown and gray tiles have no further upgrade ("None").

4. End of game

The game ends when one of the following three conditions is met.

a. When the first 8E-train goes on sale. Set of operation rounds will proceed as normal. The next stock round will be the last stock round. You cannot establish a new company in the last stock round. Then the final set of operating rounds will be played. In these operating rounds, you cannot lay tracks, build stations, and trade trains between companies.

You can only buy trains from the train market.

b. When a company's stock reaches a price of 460 or 500. Game ends after that operation round.

c. Player's bankruptcy. If any player goes bankrupt, the game ends immediately.