18PA: The Dawn of Rail – Empire Building From The Seaboard to the Ohio
18PA: The Dawn of Rail – Empire Building From The Seaboard to the Ohio Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
Cross-references within the rules are denoted by square brackets – [2.2] refers the reader to section 2.2 for additional information about the topic under discussion.
18PA is a railroad operations and share trading board game in the 18xx series (originated by Francis Tresham with 1829) set in mid-Atlantic region of the United States. 18PA is designed for three to five players and is probably best with four.
1.1 Components
The game comes with the following components:
- Map / Current Round Marker / Revenue Chart
- Stock Market / Initial Public Offering / Certificate Limit Chart [3.1]
- 9 Private Companies [4.1] (3 Pre-NYC, 6 Local)
- 7 Public Companies [4.2], each with a charter, some number of station markers, 1 stock marker, 1 revenue marker, a president's certificate, and 8 other share certificates. Some also have a destination token [6.3].
- 112 track tiles in yellow, green, brown and gray [6.2]
- 24 train cards (some are double-sided) [2, 6.8, 12.4]
- One priority deal card and 5 player number cards
- 2 mining rights bonus tokens [6.6]
- A bank of $8,000 (optional component; you can use chips or other money if you don't have it); the exact amount is important since the game ends when the bank breaks [8]
- These rules
1.2 Game Length
The length of the game varies with the number of players and their experience, but is typically 2½-4 hours.
1.3 General Course of the Game
There are seven public companies available. Depending on the game phase, public companies have either five or ten shares, including a two-share president's certificate. The remaining nine companies are private companies, each represented by a single certificate.
The bank has $8,000 at the start of the game. Each player starts with $500 in a three-player game; $400 in a four-player game; and $350 in a five-player game.
After an initial auction, the game is played in a series of rounds. Each stock round (SR) is followed by two operating rounds (ORs).
The game progresses through numbered phases, each of which signals some alteration to the rules. The game begins with the Private Company Auction (phase 0) and the Initial Stock Round (phase 1). Starting with phase 2, each phase begins as soon as a company buys the first train with that number.
The game ends when the bank breaks [8]: however, the game must always run through the completion of a full pair of operating rounds, even if the bank breaks during a stock round.
Players win by having the highest net worth (comprised of cash and owned stock) at the end of the game. Company-owned assets―such as Company cash and trains―do not contribute to net worth.
1.4 Player Etiquette
Players should attempt to speed play as much as possible. In particular, players should try to determine what share to buy or what tile to place or upgrade during another player's turn.
Information about assets owned by a player or company is public knowledge. Personal and company assets should be laid out in plain view and must be disclosed upon request.
Corporate transactions are public knowledge, whether conducted between a Company and the Bank, a Company and a player, or two Companies.
Players may engage in public, verbal discussions and enter into public, verbal agreements. Such discussions should be reasonably brief in order to speed play. Performance is not enforceable except by moral suasion; a player who has performed an action under such an agreement in the anticipation of future action by their partner has no other recourse if their partner reneges on the agreement. Secret discussions or agreements, whether verbal or written, are prohibited.
1.5 Setting Up the Game
Lay out the map and the stock market and a bank of $8,000. Put all the charters somewhere convenient to hand. The NYC charter should be separated from the rest. Place the 3-train marked "Reserved for NYC" in the "Trains" section of the NYC charter. Place the remaining train cards in the labeled spaces on the map.
For each of the public companies other than the NYC, place their stock certificates in the labeled spaces on the Stock Market as follows:
- Stack the five single share certificates marked "10%" upside-down in the appropriate space as a reminder that all public companies other than the NYC always become active as 5-share companies.
- Stack the three remaining single share certificates (marked "Preferred Stock — 10/20%") right side up on top of the five upside-down single share certificates.
- Place the President's Certificate (marked Preferred Stock — 20/40%") on top of the other share certificates.
Each private company is represented by a single station token with a large number from 1 to 9 on the obverse side. Private companies "1", "2", and "3" are marked with the NYC herald on the reverse: the six remaining private (local) companies—numbered "4" though "9"—are blank on the reverse.
Each public company except the NYC has six associated station tokens or markers that have the company herald on the obverse side and are blank on the reverse. Four of these are used as station tokens, and the remaining two are used as markers: one to track the current value of the company's shares on the stock market (referred to as the "Current Market Value" or CMV token), and the other to track the value of the company's earnings on the revenue chart.
Four of these six public companies—the B&A, B&O, Erie, and PRR—have an additional station token—the doubling token—marked "x2" on both sides, of which the obverse ("active") side is in full-color company livery, and the reverse ("inactive") side is greyed out.
The NYC has five station tokens or markers that have the company herald on the obverse side and are blank on the reverse, and three station tokens that have the numbers "1", "2", and "3" on the reverse, representing the three pre-NYC companies which convert to form the NYC [6.1]. Sort the tokens and place them as follows:
- Place each private company's numbered token on the map with its numbered side visible in the city circle labeled with the company's number.
- Place a plain token from each public company on the map in the city circle labeled with the company's herald.
- Place the four doubling ("x2") station tokens in the city or off-map area circles with the corresponding public company herald, with their inactive (greyed-out) side showing.
- Place the two mining rights tokens in the Scranton hex.
- Place the Round marker (marked with a BoxPok™ wheel) in the space marked "SR".
- Place the Limit marker on the Stock Market in the shaded area above the column marked "0-1".
- Place a plain NYC marker in the $110 space on the stock market labeled with the NYC herald.
- Keep all remaining token markers sorted and ready to hand for when the associated public company starts.
Lay out the private company cards (numbered #1 through #9) with the company side face-up. Distribute cash to each player in the amount shown in the table on the Stock Market.
Randomly determine the initial player order using the numbered player cards. Give the player with player card #1 the priority deal card. Players are free to reseat by numbers at this time. However, the definitive order is not determined until the beginning of phase 1, the initial stock round.
Players now proceed to phase 0, the private company auction.
2 Phases of the Game
2.1 Phase 0 (Private Company Auction)
There are a total of nine private companies in the game (pre-NYC companies #1, #2, and #3 and local companies #4 through #9). Private companies owned by the bank are inactive and do not perform any actions during the operating round. However, inactive companies' home station tokens occupy the city circles in which they are originally deployed and block any other companies (including private companies) from passing through their home station token.
The players now conduct a series of auctions in which they buy all, some, or none of these nine companies. During each of these auctions, the players are bidding for the right to buy one of the inactive private companies. Players are not required to reveal which company they plan to buy if they win the current auction.
The players are not required to buy all (or even any) of the private companies during this phase. Should any of the private companies remain inactive at the end of this phase, then in any subsequent phase, players may buy an inactive private company during the stock round in lieu of a share of stock at face value ($110).
Once a player buys a private company, it becomes active and remains part of that player's holdings—and counts as a certificate—until it is exchanged for a share certificate of the NYC (#1, #2, and #3) or it is acquired by a public company (#4 through #9).
Starting with the player who has the priority deal marker, each player may bid a non-negative multiple of $5—including $0—or pass. Note that a bid of $0 is not the same as a pass—if a player bids $0 and all the remaining players pass, the player who bid $0 must buy one of the available private companies. Each player in turn may then outbid the current bid or pass. Once any player has started the auction, a player who subsequently passes may not reenter the auction.
A player's bid, when added to the private company face value of $110, cannot exceed his remaining cash. A player who cannot make a legal bid (i.e. for whom the minimum bid added to the private company face value of $110 exceeds his remaining cash) must pass. Thus, any player with less than $110 remaining cash must pass at every legal opportunity until the end of the private company auction.
Bidding is done in multiples of $5, and each subsequent bid must be at least $5 greater than the last bid. A player may make an initial bid greater than zero, and he may bid more than $5 above the previous bids, but all bids must be multiples of $5.
Players continue to bid until all the players have passed consecutively. Once this occurs, the high bidder pays the amount of his bid to the bank plus $110 (the private company face value) and takes an inactive private company from the bank. The next round in the auction is then initiated by the player whose turn comes after that of the player who just bought.
Phase 0 ends when there are no more inactive private companies (i.e. players have bought all nine) or if there is a complete round of consecutive passes (i.e. all the players consecutively decline to start an auction) in any auction (including the first).
The players should now compare how much cash they each have remaining. Assign the player numbers to each in descending order of current cash: players tied for cash retain their relative order based on the original order. Give the player with player card #1 the priority deal card, and reorder and reseat the remaining players in player card order. This becomes the stock round order for the remainder of the game.
Once phase 0 ends and the definitive player order has been determined, proceed to phase 1.
2.2 Phase 1 (Initial Stock Round)
The players now enter a normal stock round, during which they may buy any inactive private companies, activate public companies, or buy share certificates in previously activated public companies.
2.3 Phase 2
This phase starts with a normal pair of operating rounds once phase 1 (the initial stock round) is completed and lasts until any public company buys a 3-train. During this phase, only yellow tiles are available. Use the leftmost (yellow) off-map area values.
2.4 Phase 3
This phase starts immediately during the operating round when any public company buys a 3-train and lasts until any public company buys a 4-train: these are available once the last 3-train is bought. Each of the company's station tokens on a company's route is now worth $10. Companies may now upgrade yellow tiles to green. Use the middle (green) off-map area values.
2.5 Phase 4
This phase starts immediately during the operating round when any public company buys a 4-train and lasts until any public company buys a 5-train: these are available once the last 4-train is bought. All 2-trains are immediately removed from play. As soon as the phasing company's turn ends, the New York Central System immediately forms, and the NYC then immediately takes a turn in the operating round [6.1]. Once phase 4 starts, public companies may convert from 5-share to 10-share, and may acquire local companies. Use the middle (green) off-map area values.
2.6 Phase 5
This phase starts immediately during the operating round when any public company buys a 5-train and lasts until any public company buys a 3D-train. 3D-trains become available as soon as a public company buys the first 5-train. Each of the company's station tokens on a company's route is now worth $20. Public companies may now upgrade B, EWR/BOS, PHI, and NYC city tiles from green to brown. Public companies may buy 3D-trains. Local companies owned by public companies are flipped to their 2R-train side and operate beginning in the next company's turn in the operating round. Use the rightmost (brown) off-map area values.
2.7 Phase 3D
This phase starts immediately during the operating round when any public company buys a 3D-train and lasts until the end of the game. All 3-trains are immediately removed from play. Each of the company's station tokens on a company's route is now worth $30. Public companies may now upgrade Y/B, EWR/BOS, PHI, and NYC city tiles from brown to gray. 5-trains continue to be available. Use the rightmost (brown) off-map area values.
3 The Stock Market
The stock market shows the current value of each public company's stock. The values shown are the amount represented by a single share certificate, whether 10 or 20 percent of the company. The group of spaces outlined in red represents the possible starting values for public companies ($70, $80, $90, $100, and $110).
3.1 Shares, share certificates, and limits
There are important distinctions between shares and share certificates. A single share of a public company is worth 20% of a 5-share company or 10% of a 10-share company: this percentage represents the amount of the dividends paid to the player who owns the share if the company declares a dividend. The President's Certificate of a public company represents two shares: this equates to 40% of a 5-share company or 20% of a 10-share company. Each private company is represented by one certificate.
A president is normally limited to owning two certificates (60%) of a 5-share company, or five certificates (60%) of a 10-share company. However, for each local company acquired by the public company, this limit is raised by one certificate. Furthermore, limits on individual company stock holding are not enforced during the operating round, so it is possible for a president to acquire all of a company's outstanding stock during the conversion and acquisition steps. However, if the president owns more than the current limit for the company—whether the initial limit or a higher one enabled by the acquisition of local companies—at the beginning of his first turn in the ensuing stock round, he must sell as many shares in the company as required to comply with the current limit.
Players are limited to owning certificates (not shares) in accordance with the table shown on the map. Each pre-NYC and local company the player owns counts as a certificate. The certificate limit varies in function of the number of companies that have converted to 10-share: necessarily this will mean that the "0-1 Companies" column will be used until phase 4 has begun and there is a 10-share company other than the NYC. As with individual company certificate limits, the overall certificate limit applies during the stock round, but not during operating rounds: a player may exceed the current certificate limit during the operating round. Furthermore, due to the variable certificate limits, a player who exceeds the overall certificate limit during an operating round may be in compliance at the start of the ensuing stock round. However, a player who enters the stock round in excess of the current limit must sell sufficient stock at his first opportunity to return to the certificate limit.
Once a player buys a President's Certificate, he may never sell it. The President of a public company may transfer its President's Certificate to another player by selling some or all of his stock in the company. All adjustments in share holdings are concurrent: hence, a player who owns a President's Certificate may always sell a number of shares sufficient to transfer the President's Certificate while leaving himself with exactly one share provided another player holds at least two shares and the company has operated at least once.
3.2 Movement of stock prices
CMVs move because of several factors:
- When a public company operates and pays dividends, its CMV marker moves one space to the right, unless blocked, in which case its CMV marker moves one space up, as indicated by the arrow.
- When a public company operates and either has no earnings or withholds them, its CMV marker moves one space to the left, unless blocked, in which case its CMV marker moves one space down, as indicated by the arrow.
- When a player sells shares in a public company, its CMV marker moves down one row for each share sold or to the bottom of the column, whichever is less.
- If, at the end of a stock round, all of a public company's available shares are owned by players, its CMV marker moves one row up, unless it is already on the top row: note that this applies to 5-share as well as 10-share companies.
If a company's CMV marker moves into a space that one or more other companies' CMV markers already occupy, place it at the bottom of the stack of CMV markers. This is true of starting value CMV marker placement as well as CMV marker movement for the reasons described above.
The lowest CMV is $50. The highest CMV is $300. A CMV marker that should move below $50 or above $300 does not move.
4 Types of Companies
4.1 Private (Pre-NYC/Local) Companies
Private companies represent an alternative to the stock of public companies. Each private company is wholly owned by a single entity (a player, a public company, or the bank) and is independent of any other private company. They are listed in [12.1].
The pre-NYC companies (#1, #2, and #3) close when the NYC forms at the start of phase 4. Local companies never close, although any that are acquired by public companies convert to 2R-trains as soon as phase 5 starts.
Each active private company runs in numerical order (from #1 to #9) during each operating round, prior to the public companies. During each operating round in phases 2 and 3, each active private company may place a single yellow tile or (if phase 3 has started) upgrade a single yellow tile to green (provided that the placement or upgrade does not require the payment of terrain costs), and run their single 2-train.
At the beginning of phase 4, the pre-NYC companies (#1, #2, and #3) cease to operate and are flipped over to show that they have been exchanged for shares of NYC stock. Their station tokens are flipped to their NYC side as well. Public companies may henceforth buy local companies [6.5]. For the remainder of the game, local companies owned by players may still place yellow track or upgrade yellow track to green, but do not generate earnings.
At the beginning of phase 5, flip over any local companies owned by public companies to convert them to 2R (regional) trains. Any local companies subsequently acquired by public companies convert to their 2R side as soon as the acquisition is complete.
4.2 Public Companies
Except for the NYC, public companies [12.2] start the game as 5-share companies. 5-share companies have five 20% shares in four certificates, including a 40% president's certificate. Each 5-share company has a base station token which is placed at the beginning of the game and one additional $40 station token. Buying the president's certificate activates the company, which receives initial capital equal to five times its starting value.
Once phase 4 has started, 5-share companies may convert to 10-share companies during the conversion step in their turn in the operating round. The company receives two additional $100 station tokens. The company receives five times its CMV: its five remaining shares are now available to be bought. Once a company has converted to 10-share, its shares are worth 10% instead of 20%.
The NYC always forms at the beginning of phase 4 as a 10-share company in accordance with the rules set forth in [6.1].
5 Stock Round
During each turn of a stock round, the active player may sell and then buy stock. Turns begin with the player who has the priority deal marker and proceeds in stock round order until all players have passed consecutively. Once all players have passed consecutively, reassign the priority deal card as specified below and then conduct a pair of operating rounds.
5.1 Selling Stock
During each of his turns in the stock round, a player may sell as many shares of stock as he wishes. However, players may never sell stock of companies that have not yet operated: this includes the NYC prior to a player assuming its presidency. Once a player has sold stock of a particular company, he may not buy stock in that company for the remainder of the current stock round. Players may sell shares of different companies in any order they choose.
Stock sales are always at the CMV shown on the stock market. When selling more than one share of stock, the value received from the bank is the same for all shares sold. Players may not choose to sell multiple shares of a single company's stock as multiple transactions in the same turn of a stock round. When a player sells shares in a public company, its CMV marker moves down one row for each share sold or to the bottom of the column, whichever is less.
5.2 Buying stock
After selling all the shares he wishes to sell, a player may then buy a single certificate from the bank, subject to availability and limits on certificate and share ownership. Stock purchases are at CMV. Once a player has bought stock, he may not sell any more stock in that turn of the stock round.
Note that buying a President's Certificate activates the associated company, which will operate starting in the ensuing operating round.
The NYC President's Certificate has a special status and normally enters play as an exchange certificate during the formation of the NYC at the beginning of phase 4. Prior to the NYC's formation, however, players may buy up to five NYC single shares at their starting value of $110. If the NYC forms but remains inactive (i.e. the President's Certificate does not enter player hands), then players have the option of buying the NYC President's Certificate at its CMV of $220 in lieu of an NYC single share certificate.
5.3 Change in Presidency
The President of a company is the player who owns the most shares of the company. If there is a tie between two or more players for most owned shares, the player who currently owns the President's Certificate is the President.
If at any time the President owns fewer shares than another player does, he must exchange the President's Certificate for two single share certificates owned by the other player. The new President receives the charter and all assets thereon. If two or more players are eligible to become President and have an equal number of shares, the player whose turn is the earliest using stock round order after the current President becomes the new President.
5.4 Ending the Stock Round
A player always has the option of passing. A player who takes any action on his turn other than passing is guaranteed another turn. A player who passes is guaranteed another turn if any player subsequently takes an action on their turn other than passing.
When all players have passed consecutively, the stock round ends. Give the priority deal marker to the player after the last player to have bought or sold a share. In the event that no one takes any action in the stock round (that is, the stock round consists entirely of a series of consecutive passes), the priority deal marker does not move.
If, at the end of a stock round, all of a public company's available shares are owned by players, its CMV marker moves one row up, unless it is already on the top row: note that this applies to 5-share as well as 10-share companies. CMV markers are moved up starting with the highest-valued and moving down in operating round order.
Move the round marker to the space marked "OR-1", and begin the first operating round (of two).
6 Operating Round
There are two operating rounds between each pair of stock rounds. During each operating round, each active company operates once. First, active pre-NYC and local companies operate in ascending numerical order (#1 through #9). Then, active public companies operate, in descending order of CMV, with companies further to the right operating ahead of companies further to the left, and companies higher in a stack operating ahead of those lower.
Each major section below represents a discrete step in the company's turn. Companies must perform their operations in strict conformance to this order, though not every step is required. The companies eligible for each step are indicated in parentheses in the step header.
6.1 Forming the New York Central
(beginning of phase 4; one time only; NYC only)
The New York Central System forms immediately following the turn of the public company that started phase 4. Each player who owns one or more of the three pre-NYC companies (#1, #2, or #3) converts it to an NYC exchange share by flipping it over.
- If no player has two or more shares, the NYC remains inactive until a player acquires at least two NYC shares.
- If a single player has two or more NYC shares, he performs an exchange of presidency with the bank and becomes president of the NYC. The NYC is now active.
- If two or more players have two or more shares, the player with the most shares becomes president.
- Ties are resolved in ascending order of pre-NYC companies (the player owning #1 outranks the player owning #2, who in turn outranks the player owning #3: a player who only owns bought stock ranks last). In the unlikely event that none of the tied players owns any of the pre-NYC companies, the tie is broken by proximity to the player who initiated phase 4, with the tie resolved in favor of the player who initiated the new phase and then proceeding in stock round order.
Flip over all three pre-NYC station tokens to show NYC station tokens. The NYC starts with the reserved 3-train and $770, representing the monetized value of the seven remaining shares.
If the NYC is active, give the president the NYC charter and all of its assets. The NYC now operates immediately, starting with its track placement step [6.2]. The president may buy additional NYC shares during the conversion step at their CMV of $110 as if the company had just converted.
While the NYC is inactive, its charter and all assets are set aside, and its CMV marker does not move. Players now have the option of buying the president's certificate from the initial offering during a subsequent stock round in lieu of a single share certificate. The NYC activates as soon as a player buys the president's certificate at its CMV of $220, or acquires a total of two NYC single share certificates, at which moment he exchanges his two single share certificates for the president's certificate.
6.2 Track Placement
(all)
Depending on the phase and the type of company, each company may place or upgrade one or more track tiles: these possibilities are summarized on the company charters. When upgrading, companies must always upgrade tiles progressively: a tile must be upgraded to green before it can be upgraded to brown and to brown before it can be upgraded to gray.
Tiles (both yellow and upgraded) must maintain all connections and track existing prior to the upgrade. When placing a yellow tile in a hex that contains a railhead (a small triangle connecting to track in an adjacent hex), the yellow tile must connect to the railhead: if such a yellow tile does not exist, that company may not place a non-connecting tile.
When upgrading a previously placed tile, remove the old tile from the map: it is now available for a company to use it again. When upgrading a pre-printed tile, place the upgrade tile directly on the map.
The general rule for both tile placement and tile upgrade is that the new track created must extend a route of any length for the operating company. In the case of city tiles, the upgrade must extend a route or increase the value of a city on a route of the operating company. Once placed, a tile becomes part of the map and remains there until a company upgrades it to another tile.
A route consists of a continuous unbranched length of track, including on it a city or off-map area containing the company's station token (not necessarily at the beginning or end of the route). A route may not use any track segment, city, off-map area, or town more than once, nor may it use more than one city circle on the same hex. A city circle is a white circular space on a city tile or a pre-printed city hex. A route may end at a city completely filled with other companies' station tokens, but may not continue past it.
Track may not run to a prohibited hexside. A prohibited hexside is any impassable (green) hexside, any ocean (light blue) hexside, any blank hexside of an off-map area (red), or any blank hexside of a grey area. Prohibited hexsides may include more than one type of prohibited terrain (e.g., H17/I18). Track may run to hexsides that contain only some prohibited terrain (e.g., G20/G22).
Although there is a limit on the number of plain yellow broad curve track tiles (#8) and straight track (#9) included with the game, this is not a hard limit: if necessary, borrow additional #8 or #9 tiles from other games. Note, however, that there are no plain yellow sharp curve track tiles (#7) tiles in the game, nor may any be added.
If a company places a tile in an unimproved mountain hex ($40 in a brown triangle) or water hex ($40 in a blue square), or bridges a river by placing or upgrading a tile on the far side of a river hexside ($20 in a blue triangle) the company must immediately pay this cost as a part of placing the tile. A company may only build or upgrade track that has an associated cost if it has sufficient funds to do so.
Hexes marked with a town (●) or city (○) symbol or with a letter or group of letters may only have specific tiles placed on them. Companies may then only upgrade tiles placed on such hexes to specific other tiles. Companies may not use any tiles other than those specified to upgrade these hexes. Companies may not use the specified tiles to upgrade any other hexes. [12.3]
The dotted white line in ocean hexes H25 and G26 represents the Fall River ferry that connected Boston to New York during the years prior to the building of the overland route through Connecticut. Companies may only use the ferry track for building or running routes if private company #5 has placed a #9 tile in H23: if so, increase the value of routes connecting Islip (H21) and Providence (F27) via the ferry by the amount shown for the current phase ($20 in phase 2; $10 in phases 3 and 4).
Once phase 5 begins, the ferry closes and may no longer be used: remove the #9 tile in hex H23 to signify this.
Pre-NYC and local companies may only place yellow tiles or (if a 3-train has been bought) upgrade yellow tiles to green. These companies are also restricted to placing or upgrading tiles with no associated cost. Local companies may place and upgrade track until they are acquired by a public company, even if they have no train (i.e. phase 4 has begun).
6.3 Destination ("x2") Station Tokens
(B&A, B&O, Erie, PRR)
Four of the public companies in the game have a destination, which is a city or off-map area that the company scores for double value each time it runs to or through it. Each of these companies has a destination ("x2") station token that is placed with its inactive (greyed-out) side visible in the corresponding city circle or off-map area as part of the initial setup. The destination ("x2") station token remains inactive until there is a route unblocked by enemy tokens connecting the home station token and the destination city. Once such a route exists—even for only a moment—the destination ("x2") station token is activated and should be flipped to its active side. The destination ("x2") station token henceforth acts in all ways as a normal station token of the company, in addition to which it doubles the value of the city or off-map area in which it is located. As with any inactive station token, these tokens occupy the city circles in which they are initially placed and block other companies from running through.
6.4 Conversion
(from phase 4; public except NYC)
A 5-share company may convert to a 10-share company once phase 4 has begun. The president turns the company's remaining five single shares face up, and the company receives five times its CMV from the bank. The CMV is not affected. From this point forward, the company's shares are only worth 10 percent of the company instead of 20 percent.
After the conversion, the president may buy additional shares of the company from the bank to the limits of his cash on hand: he may not sell stock to do so. The normal restrictions on stock holding do not apply, although if the player is still over the current overall certificate limit at the beginning of the next stock round, he must sell sufficient stock to meet the current overall certificate limit at his first opportunity.
6.5 Acquisition
(from phase 4; public)
A public company may acquire local companies once phase 4 has begun and the following conditions are met:
- The local company's owner must agree to it. If the bank owns the company, it always agrees.
- One of the following conditions must exist at the instant of the merger: (1) routes of the public and local companies must share a track segment, or (2) the two companies must both have tokens in the same hex (but not necessarily in the same city circle).
- The public company must have a station token available.
- The public company must have at least $220 in its Treasury.
The public company acquires the local company by paying $110 to its owner and $110 to the bank. In the case of an inactive local company, the company pays all $220 to the bank, and otherwise proceeds as if it had acquired the local company from a player.
The public company exchanges one of its station tokens for the local company's station token at no cost. If at any time (including at the moment of the exchange) this causes two of the public company's station tokens to be collocated in adjacent city circles, one of the extra tokens is removed and returned to the public company without cost or compensation. Two of the public company's station tokens may coexist in separate city circles on the same tile (BOS, NYC, EWR, PHI) until the tile is upgraded to brown and the three separate city circles become conjoined. Retain the local company's station token on the public company's charter to signify that the president's limit on holding in that company is increased by one.
Place the local company's certificate on the public company's charter. If it is phase 5 or phase 3D, flip the certificate to its 2R side: the company may now run the additional train in addition to its existing trains. Note that 2R-trains do not count against the train limit: they do, however, count as a train for purposes of train ownership.
The local company's erstwhile owner may now buy a single share of the acquiring public company from the bank, if one is available and his cash on hand is sufficient: he may not sell stock to do so. The normal restrictions on stock holding do not apply, although if the player is still over the current overall certificate limit at the beginning of the next stock round, he must sell sufficient stock to meet the current overall certificate limit at his first opportunity.
6.6 Bonus Token Purchase
(public)
A public company with access to Scranton (G12) that does not already own a +$40 mining rights bonus token may purchase one from the bank by paying the bank $40 from its Treasury. A mining rights bonus token adds $40 to the company's earnings if it runs to or through Scranton. This bonus is not per train: the company may only score the bonus once per operating round. There are only two mining rights bonus tokens, and once a company has bought one, it may not be moved to another company or returned to the bank.
6.7 Station Token Placement
(public)
A public company may place an additional station token, if it has one available, in any city circle unoccupied by another company's station token to which it has a route, on a hex in which it does not already have a station token. A company may place a station token in any such city circle regardless of what sorts of trains it owns (including none).
Placing the company's single additional station token with which the company activates as a 5-share company costs $40. Placing the additional station tokens the company receives after converting to a 10-share company costs $100 per station token.
A company may never place more than one station token in its token placement step. Home and destination ("x2") station tokens placed at the beginning of the game, exchange tokens placed in the acquisition step, and bonus tokens acquired from the bank do not count.
6.8 Earnings Calculation
(all)
A public company that owns one or more trains now operates them and calculates the resulting earnings. A company must calculate the maximum possible earnings using all its trains (not necessarily the maximum possible for any particular train if the company owns more than one train).
Each train must operate on a route. In order to score revenue, the route must also contain two or more towns, cities, or off-map areas. Multiple trains may not run on routes that share track segments: however, trains may always run to or through the same cities, off-map areas, or towns, provided they do not reuse any track used by the other train. A route may both begin and end at off-map areas. Towns do not count against the train number. A route may both begin and end at a town. The basic route value is equal to the sum of the values of all cities, towns, and off-map areas included in the route. Double the face value of a city (Albany or Buffalo) or off-map area (Columbus or Pittsburgh) that contains the company's active doubling ("x2") station token on each one of the company's routes that includes it.
2, 3, 4, 5, and 2R-trains count all cities, off-map ("red") areas, and towns included in the route for revenue. The train number shows the maximum number of consecutive cities and off-map ("red") areas that may be included in the route. The Fall River Ferry does not count against the train number: however, any scoring route that includes the ferry must also include at least one city or town on each side.
3D-trains are treated exactly like 3-trains, except that they do not score any revenue from towns, and their basic route value is doubled. Thus a 3D-train running to or through a city or off-map area with a doubling token scores it at quadruple face value.
Once the basic route value has been calculated, add the bonus amount appropriate for the phase ($10 in phases 3 and 4, $20 in phase 5, and $30 in phase 3D) for each of the company's station tokens on the route. These station token bonuses are never doubled, whether for doubling ("x2") tokens or 3D-trains. Finally, if the company owns a mining rights bonus token and runs any of its trains other than a 3D to or through Scranton, it adds $40 to its earnings. A company that runs over the Fall River ferry hexes adds the appropriate amount for the current phase ($20 in phase 2; $10 in phases 3 and 4) to its earnings.
The company earnings are equal to the sum of the value of all the company's train routes.
6.9 Payment
(all)
Pre-NYC and local companies pay half their earnings to their owner: the other half is lost (retained by the bank).
A public company may pay out or withhold its earnings. Earnings that are paid out are called dividends. If the company pays dividends, the bank pays each player a share of the dividends equal to the percentage of the company represented by the player's shares. 5-share public companies that pay dividends pay 20 percent per share to each shareholder. A 10-share public company that pays dividends pays 10 percent per share to each shareholder. If the company withholds its earnings, the bank pays the entire amount to the company.
Only player-owned shares pay dividends: all other shares, whether unissued or still owned by the bank, do not.
6.10 CMV Marker Adjustment
(public)
Adjust the public company's CMV (CMV) marker as described in [3.2].
6.11 Train Buying
(public)
If a company has fewer than two trains, it may buy trains from the bank or from another company, up to the two-train limit. A company that currently has two trains may not buy a train even if the new train would cause one of its existing trains to become obsolete. A company that begins the train buying step with no trains at all must buy at least one train during this step.
A company always buys trains one at a time. To buy a train from the bank, it must pay the price shown on the train card to the bank. To buy a train from another company, it must pay the other company a mutually agreed price, which may be as little as $1, and up to all the company's remaining cash.
If a company buys a new type of train from the bank, a new phase begins and any adjustments pertinent to that new phase come into effect immediately after the company buys the new train. Once any such adjustments are complete, the company may buy additional trains, up to the two-train limit.
2-trains are available at the beginning of the first operating round, after the conclusion of the initial stock round. 3-trains become available once a company buys the last 2-train. 4-trains become available once a company buys the last 3-train. 5-trains become available once a company buys the last 4-train. 3D-trains become available once a company buys the first 5-train: additional 5-trains remain available.
When a company buys a new train from the bank, it may only buy a currently available train.
7 Mandatory Train Buying
An active public company must own a train at the end of its train buying step in the current operating round whether or not it has a route. If it has sufficient funds, it may buy any train or trains that are available from the bank, subject to the two-train limit.
The company also has the option of buying a train from another company, up to the amount of cash it has in its treasury. If the company has no cash in its treasury but wishes to buy a train from another company, the President may use his cash on hand to buy the train: he may not contribute more than the face value of the train he is buying.
A company in a "mandatory train buying" situation is never required to buy a less expensive train in lieu of a more expensive train, even if the company has sufficient funds to buy the less expensive train.
If a company is required to buy a train during the train buying step, does not have sufficient funds to buy the train its President wants from the bank, and elects not to buy one from another company, the President must make up the difference from his own cash.
If the President has insufficient cash on hand, the President may sell sufficient stock to raise the difference ("perform an emergency money raising"), borrow money from the bank ("go into debt"), or a combination thereof. The President may only perform an emergency money raising or go into debt to buy a train from the bank whose cost is greater than the sum of the company's treasury cash and the President's personal cash on hand.
7.1 Emergency money raising
In an emergency money raising, the President may sell any of his own stock he wishes subject to the normal limitations on stock sales. Note that if the operating company had not previously completed a turn in an operating round, its shares cannot be sold, since it has not yet completed its first operating turn.
The President may not sell sufficient stock in the operating company to cause a change in presidency. However, he may cause a change in presidency of any other company.
7.2 Debt
When going into debt, the President borrows part or all of the required funds from the bank, in effect incurring a negative balance to his cash in hand. If the President cannot raise the necessary amount through stock sales alone, he is compelled to go into debt. When a player borrows from the bank, the debt incurred is subject to an immediate 50 percent interest surcharge, and an additional 50 percent interest surcharge on the unpaid balance at the end of each stock round.
The president must clear the unpaid balance before he is permitted to buy any stock. This includes the entire debt including any accrued interest. To do so, he may use his earnings subsequent to incurring the debt, or he may sell stock.
The president has the option of carrying over part or all of his debt: however, the unpaid balance is subject to an additional 50 percent interest surcharge at the end of the stock round.
If a player has outstanding debt when the game ends, the unpaid balance is subject to a final 50 percent surcharge and the total is subtracted from his net worth.
8 Ending the Game
The game ends after the end of the second operating round of the turn in which the bank breaks (that is, when any transaction would leave the bank with a negative balance, even if only for a dollar and even if only for a moment). This applies whether the bank breaks during the stock round or during an operating round: in either event, play a full set of operating rounds. The game still ends even if the bank subsequently becomes solvent. All players receive all revenues earned during the final set of operating rounds. At the conclusion of the final operating round, players calculate their net worth as follows:
- Calculate the total value of all shares of stock held by multiplying the final market value by the number of shares held. Local companies still in player hands are worth their face value of $110.
- Add total cash on hand.
- If the player ends the game in debt, subtract the total amount of debt including the final 50 percent interest surcharge.
- Ignore all assets (cash, bonus tokens, local companies, and trains) owned by companies as they do not contribute to a player's net worth.
The total is the player's net worth. The player with the highest net worth wins the game.
9 Conflicts and Errata
The official rules are this document (excluding sections [10] and [11]) plus any officially-published errata. In the event of conflict between the official rules and any components, the rules take precedence.
10 Designer's Notes
This section is not part of the official rules.
18PA did not set out to occupy the same geographical space as Avalon Hill's 1830 or Carl Burger's 1831. It began as a "designer's response" to Pierre LeBoeuf's 18NY, which I played at his DeRail convention in 2011. 18NY is a game entirely set in the state of New York, with adjacent areas being represented by off-map areas, and which revolves almost entirely around the maneuvering attendant on the formation of the New York Central by the merger of the eleven local companies that preceded it.
I very much liked Pierre's game, and—as one designer to another—made some suggestions. Some of my suggestions didn't fit into Pierre's own vision of the game, and I did not want to press the issue. As of 2014, I'm pleased to see that 18NY is considerably more polished and DTG has now published it.
As I rode the train from Newark back to Washington, I concluded there might well be room for two games that revolve around the NYC. I began to lay out such a game, incorporating some of the elements which were incompatible with Pierre's design.
Not all those elements withstood playtesting. I'd hoped, for example, to give a greater role to the Erie Canal, whose construction was the single largest internal improvement of its era in these United States, and whose strongest competitor was the NYC, but in actual play the Erie Canal only served as a kind of overture to the larger game, adding length to the game without adding scope.
Another somewhat unexpected change I found myself obliged to make was the inclusion of southern New England. The map as originally drawn up ended at the Hudson, with Boston, New Haven and others as off-map areas. New York was at the lower right corner of the map. The Reading started out as a share company: the Boston and Albany and the New Haven Line did not. However, I concluded that most of western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio were wasted space, so I moved the entire map four columns east, changing Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh to off-map areas in so doing. This put New York City closer to the center of the action, and rebalanced the map.
In the end, I wound up with six minor companies, six major companies, and a merger company with three minor-company predecessors.
The minor companies were the trickiest part to get right, and they now stand at the heart of the game. I wanted to avoid the issue of minors constantly looking over their shoulder for their next train, as seemed often to be the case in other designs that included minors that potentially could operate until the end of the game—including of course my own 18West and 18Ardennes. At the same time, any significant variability in when (and if) minors enter play has huge consequences for the train mix.
I solved this problem in 18EU and 18Scan by the brute force method: there is a point at which all the remaining minors go down for the dirt nap, the end. In both games, minors close when the first permanent trains break, and are absorbed by share companies. This approach was pioneered by 1835 and it served me very well.
In 18West and 18Ardennes, by contrast, I found ways to keep minors operational until the end of the game, and there were sufficient incentives to do so that it happened with a certain regularity: indeed, in 18Ardennes, it was an explicit design goal to make that a viable element of strategy, which had been less true in 18West.
In 18PA, I found a hybrid approach which took the element of minor company train-buying out of the mix, and thus solved getting the train mix right. This is the hardest part of designing any 18xx game, inasmuch as too many trains will cause the game to stagnate or stop advancing altogether, whereas too few will cause a massive mid-game train rush that often has unpredictable results. As Federico Vellani, the designer of 1841 and 1849, once put it, imagine playing 1830 with five 4-trains: then imagine playing it with three 4-trains.
Thus in 18PA, the minors operated with built-in trains, but could not accumulate any capital of their own, thus precluding them from ever improving or replacing their trains. However, the minors themselves could be bought by share companies—very like in 18West and 18Ardennes—and eventually became a new train type, the 2R, which was intended to convey the feeling of a commuter train operating in the suburbs of a large city (e.g. Boston) or even between two cities (e.g. New York and New Haven). This was in fact the historic fate of many of these companies.
In developing 18PA, I also inadvertently achieved a goal I had not set for myself, but which I'd been pursuing since 18VA: a short but interesting game, with enough replay value to fill the niche previously occupied by such games as 18GA, 18AL, and others.
12 Tables
12.1 Private (Pre-NYC/Local) Companies
| Company | # | Abbr | Start | Type | Base City | Hex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohawk & Hudson Railroad | 1 | M&H | 1831 | Pre-NYC | Albany | D17 |
| Auburn Road | 2 | R&S | 1838 | Pre-NYC | Rochester | B5 |
| Tonawanda Railroad | 3 | B&R | 1843 | Pre-NYC | Buffalo | C2 |
| Reading Company | 4 | RDG |
12.2 Public Companies
| Company | Abbr | Base | Hex | Destination | Hex |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore & Ohio Railroad | B&O | Baltimore | K10 | Columbus | K2 |
| Boston & Albany Railroad | B&A | Boston (W) | D27 | Albany | D17 |
| Central Railroad of New Jersey | CNJ | Newark (SW) | H17 | - | - |
| Erie Railroad | Erie | Newark (NW) | H17 | Buffalo | C2 |
12.3 Tile Placements and Upgrades
| Hex Type | Yellow | Green | Brown | Gray |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain or Mountain | #8 or #9 | #80, #81, #82, or #83 | - | - |
| Town (●) | #4 or #58 | #141, #142, or #143 | - | - |
| City (○) (B5, C17, F27, G22, and I8) | Pre-printed | #15 | - | - |
| Buffalo (BUF) / Baltimore (BAL) (B) | Pre-printed | #904 | #216 | #303 |
| Philadelphia (PHI) | Pre-printed | #190 | #584 |
12.4 Trains and Phases
| Trains | Available | Tiles | Tokens | Qty | Cost | Rusts | Rusted By | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | After ISR | Yellow | - | [9]+5 | $100 | - | 4 | #1 - #9 built-in: 5 available |
| 3 | After last 2 | Green | +$10 | 4+1 | $200 | - | 3D | One 3-train for NYC |
| 4 | After last 3 | Green | +$10 |