Canal Mania Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • 1. The Map
  • 2. The Tiles
  • 3. The Cards
  • 4. Other Components
• Setting Up
• The Turn
• Contracts
  • General
  • Taking a Contract
  • Taking an Extra Contract
  • Narrowboat Placement
  • Junction Contracts
• Build Cards
  • 1. Picking Up Build Cards
  • 2. Placing Goods Tokens
• Constructing Canals
  • 1. General
  • 2. Playing Build Cards
  • 3. Completing Canals
  • 4. Building Regulations
  • 5. Canal Mismanagement
• The Goods Token Move
  • Other Players' Canals
  • The Colour Restriction
  • Alternative Choices of Route
• Ending the Game
  • 1. The Final Rounds
  • 2. Final Scoring
  • 3. Winning Canal Mania
• Engineers
• Miscellaneous
  • 1. Variable Game Length
  • 2. Design Notes
  • 3. Game Credits

Components

1. The Map

Various types of terrain are shown on the map: Clear, Difficult, Town, City.

Towns and cities perform similar functions in the game and will be referred to collectively as 'towns'. Only in the rules section 2. Placing goods tokens (within the Build cards section of the rules book) are they treated differently.

A score track runs around the edge of the map, and there is a canal basin for storing goods tokens.

2. The Tiles

Each player has a set of 35 colour-coded tiles which are used to show the canals they construct.

• 16 stretches - used in clear terrain
• 12 locks - used in clear terrain
• 4 aqueducts - used in difficult terrain
• 3 tunnels - used in difficult terrain

3. The Cards

There are three types of card.

Build cards (often simply referred to as 'cards')

These are used when constructing canals. They include stretches, locks, aqueducts, tunnels and surveyors.

Some cards show colour-coded goods symbols that cause new goods tokens to be placed on the map.

Engineer cards (known as 'engineers')

These represent the greats of the canal-building age - Brindley, Smeaton, Jessop, Telford and Rennie. Each card explains the extra skill which that engineer brings to canal construction.

Canal contract cards (known as 'contracts')

These are the canal projects that need to be completed. Each card shows the name of the canal, its termini (the towns between which it must be built), any town that it must be constructed through and its contract value. Junction contracts are exceptions, fully explained in the Contracts section of the rules book.

Each contract also shows a quartered icon to help players locate that canal on the board.

e.g. The Lancaster Canal contract card icon shows the top left hand square shaded blue; this means it will be located in the top left hand quarter of the board.

Junction contracts may be placed in any part of the map. Consequently, the Junction contract card shows neither termini nor a quartered icon.

4. Other Components

Other components include:

• three coloured narrowboats per player (two to indicate which canals are under construction and one to act as a score marker)
• a set of twenty goods tokens (brown cubes)
• a trigger marker (showing the railway engine)
• the five reference cards
• this rules booklet, the centre pages of which show the map with all thirty canals completed. Note that the routes and tile selection of these canals will vary from game to game. All examples of play are illustrated using this diagram. One Junction canal is shown on this map: the green canal running from Huddersfield to Sheffield.

Setting Up

1. Place the map on the table.

2. Place the trigger marker on the scoring track on the appropriate number:

   • Two players - 80 points
   • Three players - 70 points
   • Four players - 60 points
   • Five players - 50 points

3. Shuffle the engineers and deal one to each player. Any remaining engineers are placed face up beside the map.

   • Engineers are kept face up throughout the game.

4. Each player takes a Junction contract. This card must be kept beneath the player's engineer until used.

   • In a two player game each player receives two Junction contracts.

5. Take the other contract cards and remove the six initial contracts (those printed in blue type). Shuffle the remainder to form the contract deck.

   Shuffle the six initial contracts and turn five of them face up; place the sixth initial contract face down on top of the contract deck.

   The face up contracts are known collectively as 'parliament'.

6. Shuffle the build cards and turn five cards face up; place the remainder of the deck beside the map.

7. The player whose engineer has the earliest birth date (lowest card number) becomes the first player; he takes the red tiles and narrowboats.

   The other players each choose a set of tiles and narrowboats.

8. Each player places a narrowboat in the canal basin to act as a score marker.

9. Place the twenty brown goods tokens in the canal basin.

10. The first player begins his turn.

The Turn

Canal Mania is played in a series of turns, with play passing to the left. There are three phases to each turn. A player completes all three phases and then his turn is over. In each phase a player may carry out one (only) of the possible actions.

In the first phase:

Take a contract from parliament.

Then place a narrowboat on either of the two termini listed on the card. If parliament has become empty, turn five new contracts face up.

Exchange engineers

The player exchanges engineers either with another player (whether they like it or not) or with one of those beside the map.

Discard the five face up build cards

Then turn five new build cards face up.

In the second phase:

Pick up three face up build cards

Complete this action by replacing the chosen cards with cards from the build deck.

Build tiles

Build any number of tiles on to the map.

In the third phase:

Move one goods token

Add the points to the score track.

As an alternative in any phase, a player may choose the following action:

Draw one card from the top of the build deck

If the card shows a goods symbol, the player chooses whether to declare it or not.

Contracts

General

All contracts list the two termini which must be connected by that canal.

e.g. The Medway Navigation must connect Tonbridge and Maidstone.

Some contracts also list another town which must form part of that canal.

e.g. The Leeds & Liverpool Canal must connect Leeds and Liverpool by way of Skipton.

Towns that are not named on a contract may still form part of that canal.

e.g. The Shropshire Union Canal (which must connect Birmingham and Chester) could, for instance, connect to Stoke if the player so wished.

A contract remains face up until completed; when completed, it is turned face down. A face-down contract plays no further part in the game unless there is a tie at the end of the game.

Taking a Contract

If a player does not have a face up contract, then he must take one during the first phase. If he already has a face up contract, then he may choose to take a second contract. A player may never have more than two face up contracts.

When a player takes a contract, he places it face up in front of himself. A player may have a maximum of two face up contracts in play.

• Contracts may never be discarded.

Taking an Extra Contract

In certain situations a player is allowed to take two contracts as part of the same action (if he so wishes).

1. If there are just two contracts left in parliament, then the player may take both of them.
2. If there is only one contract left in parliament, then the player may take that contract, turn five new contracts face up and take any one of them.

A player may never take an extra contract if this would result in him having more than two face up contracts.

Narrowboat Placement

After taking a contract, the player must immediately place a narrowboat on one of the two termini listed on the card.

• There may be more than one narrowboat in the same town.

Junction Contracts

These differ from other contracts in that they do not come from parliament and do not have termini listed on them.

• Each player begins the game with one Junction contract (two in a two player game). Whenever a player chooses a contract, he may take the Junction contract instead.
• The Junction contract may never be chosen when the player has the option to take an extra contract.
• No termini are listed on the Junction contract. Instead, the player may place a narrowboat in any town or city on the map.
• The value of a Junction contract is '2', which means its canal may be built using one or two tiles. As soon as the Junction canal reaches a second town it is complete; a Junction contract may not connect three towns.

Junction contracts are treated as normal contracts in all other respects.

Build Cards

1. Picking Up Build Cards

A player may choose to pick up three build cards as an action. He may pick up fewer than three cards, but only when he holds seven or more cards in his hand.

Build cards are held in a player's hand; they need never be shown to other players until played.

Whilst a player may hold any number of build cards during a turn, he can never end the turn holding more than seven such cards. Excess cards must be discarded.

• Each time a player draws a number of build cards, the missing cards are replaced by drawing cards from the build deck. There should always be five build cards face up at the end of each action.

Whenever the deck of build cards runs out, reshuffle the discard pile and create a new deck.

2. Placing Goods Tokens

Some build cards show a colour-coded goods symbol (red, yellow, green, blue, black or purple).

If the card was face up when the player picked it up, then that player must immediately place new goods tokens into two towns. The colour of the towns must match that of the goods symbol on the card.

• There is a maximum of one goods token per town.

e.g. A player picks up a build card showing a green goods symbol. He decides to place one goods token in Gloucester and another in Sheffield.

If a card shows a white goods symbol, then the player must first choose the colour of the goods symbol before placing the two goods tokens.

• If a player wishes to pick up several cards showing goods symbols, then he resolves each card in turn.
• If a player chooses to discard the five face up build cards, then all goods symbols are ignored.
• If a player draws a card from the top of the build deck that shows a goods symbol, then it is his choice whether to declare any such goods symbol. If he declares it, he shows the card to the other players and places the two goods tokens as usual.

Each goods token must be placed as follows:

If possible, it should be placed:

1. In a city connected to a canal.
2. In a town connected to a canal.
3. In a city not connected to a canal.
4. In a town not connected to a canal.

If the city and all six towns of that colour contain a goods token, then that goods token is not placed.

The above order must be followed strictly.

e.g. A player picks up a card showing a red goods symbol. If the red city and all the red towns are empty and not connected to a canal, then the first goods token would be placed in London (case 3) and the second in any other red town (case 4).

However, if Burton was connected to a canal, then the first goods token would be placed there (case 2) and the second would be placed in London (case 3).

If there are several possibilities within a particular case, then the choice is made by the player.

If all twenty goods tokens are on the map, then no goods token is placed.

Constructing Canals

1. General

Building tiles

Players construct canals by building tiles, which may be straight or curved (depending which side of the tile is face up). Tiles are built one at a time, and players should make sure that the design on each tile links up to the preceding tile.

Towns

Tiles are never placed in a town hex. If the canal design on a tile leads into a town, then that town is connected to that canal.

e.g. On the centre pages, Lancaster is connected to the canal leading from Preston.

Canal-sections

The tiles that connect two towns together (for instance, Lancaster and Preston in the above example) are known as a canal-section. Many canals (for instance, the Lancaster Canal) will be made up of just one canal-section; some, on the other hand, will be made up of several canal-sections (for instance, the Wey and Arun Canal connects Weybridge and Arundel by way of Guildford, and will be made up of two canal-sections).

In the case of canals having more than one canal-section, it will be necessary to construct the canal through a number of towns. When a tile has been built connecting the canal-section to a town, the next tile can be built in any hex adjacent to that town.

e.g. When building the Kennet and Avon Canal, the black player built a stretch tile between Bristol and Bath. He then built a lock on the other side of Bath.

Narrowboats

A player must always begin a Build action by building into a hex next to one of his narrowboats. This narrowboat may be in one of three places:

• on one of the canal's termini
• on the last tile built on that canal in a previous Build action
• on a town, if the last tile built on that canal connects to that town.

Multiple canals

If a player has two face up contracts, he may build tiles on either or both of the canals during the same action. Each such canal will have its own narrowboat somewhere along it, and building on that canal must start next to the narrowboat.

2. Playing Build Cards

Players use cards from their hand to build tiles on the map. Choice is limited by the type of terrain within a hex:

• When building a tile in clear terrain, a player must build either a stretch tile or a lock tile.
• When building a tile in difficult terrain, a player must build either an aqueduct tile or a tunnel tile.

To build a tile a player must play the appropriate number of build cards from his hand.

To build the various tiles:

• stretch tile - play one stretch card.
• lock tile - play one lock card.
• aqueduct tile - play two aqueduct cards.
• tunnel tile - play three tunnel cards.

e.g. The green player wishes to construct a canal from Goole to Sheffield, through three hexes containing clear, difficult and clear terrain. In his hand he has two stretch cards, one lock card and two aqueduct cards.

• He plays a lock card, and builds a lock tile in the first clear terrain.
• He plays two aqueduct cards to build an aqueduct tile in the difficult terrain.
• Finally he plays a stretch card and builds a stretch tile in the second clear terrain.

Note that he still has a stretch card left in his hand: players can use any or all of their cards in the same build action.

Surveyor cards

A surveyor card can be played as any other type of build card (stretch, lock, aqueduct or tunnel).

e.g. The green player is building from Manchester to Huddersfield through two difficult terrain hexes. In his hand he has one aqueduct card, two tunnel cards and two surveyors. He plays an aqueduct and a surveyor to build an aqueduct tile, and then follows this with two tunnel cards and a surveyor to build a tunnel tile.

Ending the build action

At the end of each Build action, all used cards are placed on the discard pile. Narrowboats are then moved to the furthest point reached by each canal, whether this is the last tile built or a town connected to that tile.

• More than one narrowboat can occupy the same hex.

3. Completing Canals

A canal must start from one of its termini, and is considered to be complete when it reaches the other. At this point, points are scored for any locks, aqueducts and tunnels built on that canal, and for completing the canal contract.

Score:

• 1 point per lock
• 2 points per aqueduct
• 3 points per tunnel
• Plus the contract value of that canal

e.g. The Leeds & Liverpool Canal is completed. It contains three stretches (worth 0 points), two locks (worth 2 points), one aqueduct (worth 2 points) and one tunnel (worth 3 points), for a total of 7 points. The value of the canal is 8, which gives a grand total of 15 points.

The narrowboat is now removed from the map, and the contract turned face down.

• Each player should keep the number and total value of completed contracts secret until the final scoring.

4. Building Regulations

Contract restrictions

The number of tiles in a canal may never exceed that canal's contract value.

e.g. The Leeds & Liverpool canal has a value of 8, so may never include more than 8 tiles.

Consecutive tiles

A player may never build two tiles of the same type in consecutive hexes on the same canal-section.

e.g. A player is building the Medway Navigation from Tonbridge to Maidstone through two clear terrain hexes. The first tile built is a lock, so the second tile can only be a stretch tile.

• It does not matter whether a tile shows its 'curved' or 'straight' side for the purpose of this rule.
• This rule only applies to tiles in the same canal-section. Thus, tiles built on canal sections either side of a town could be the same type.

Building over another canal

A tile may be built on top of other tiles. The player must build a tile appropriate to the terrain of the hex, and must play the appropriate build cards. In addition, he must discard two further build cards of any type.

• If there are two tiles in the same hex, neither tile restricts goods token movement along the other canal.

Canal integrity

Each canal must be constructed in its entirety: it may not incorporate part of another canal, even one belonging to the player himself.

e.g. The green player has already constructed the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from Manchester to Huddersfield. He is now building the Rochdale Canal and Calder, Hebble, Aire Navigations from Goole to Manchester. He constructs from Goole to Leeds, and then to Huddersfield. He must now construct the canal-section from Huddersfield to Manchester - he cannot claim the Huddersfield Narrow Canal as part of this canal.

Tile mix limitations

Each player may only use the tiles provided in his tile mix. For instance, when a player has built all his tunnels he may build no more. So have a care!

5. Canal Mismanagement

Once built, tiles may only be changed under the following circumstances:

Unforeseen difficulties

A player may always choose to remove any number of tiles built in a previous turn, moving his narrowboat back accordingly. The tiles are returned to the player's supply and building may recommence when the player chooses.

Breach of building regulations

If a player builds a tile that would prevent a canal from being completed correctly (for instance, if it would require more tiles than its contract value), then that player must begin his build action again: all tiles built as part of this action are removed, any build cards are returned to the player's hand and the action begins afresh.

If a canal has been constructed incorrectly but it is no longer that player's turn, then the tiles must remain unchanged. Players must be vigilant!

Any incorrectly constructed canal that has still to be completed must be completed using the shortest possible route.

The Goods Token Move

A player may select one goods token in any town and use it to score points. The goods token is moved from that town along a series of connecting canal-sections to its final destination. The final destination can be any other town, but the final canal-section used in that journey must belong to the player himself.

The player scores one point for each town visited (including both the town where the goods token began its move and the town where the move ended).

e.g. The red player moves a goods token from Taunton to Bridgwater. He scores 2 points (1 point for Taunton and 1 point for Bridgwater).

e.g. The white player moves a goods token from Chester to Nottingham. He scores 4 points (1 point each for Chester, Stoke, Burton and Nottingham).

e.g. The white player moves a goods token from Guildford to London (using canal-sections belonging to two different canals). He scores 3 points (1 point each for Guildford, Weybridge and London).

On completion of its move, the goods token is returned to the canal basin.

Other Players' Canals

The final part of a goods token's move must be along one of the player's own canal-sections. To reach that final canal-section, however, the goods token may be moved along canal-sections belonging to other players. These players each score points in the usual way.

Whenever such a goods token crosses from one player's canal-section to another player's canal-section, both players will score a point for the town between them.

A goods token may be moved along any number of canal-sections belonging to any number of players.

e.g. The white player moves a goods token from Basingstoke to Arundel. The red player scores 2 points (Basingstoke, Weybridge) and the white player scores 3 points (Weybridge, Guildford, Arundel).

e.g. The yellow player moves a goods token from Coventry to Gloucester, via Birmingham and Worcester. The red player scores 2 points (Coventry, Birmingham), the white player scores 2 points (Birmingham, Worcester) and the yellow player scores 2 points (Worcester, Gloucester).

e.g. The red player moves a goods token from Manchester to Coventry, via Stoke and Birmingham. The red player scores 2 points (Manchester, Stoke), the black player scores 2 points (Stoke, Birmingham) and the red player scores another 2 points (Birmingham, Coventry).

The Colour Restriction

The route taken by a goods token can never include two towns of the same colour.

e.g. There is a goods token on Arundel. Although there is a white canal-section between Reading and Oxford, the white player could only move the goods token as far as Reading; the goods token would already have been moved through Guildford (both Guildford and Oxford are black).

The colour restriction does include the town from which the goods token begins its move.

e.g. There is a goods token on Newark. Although there is a green canal between Leicester and Northampton, the green player could only move the goods token as far as Leicester (both Newark and Northampton are black).

Alternative Choices of Route

If a player has two alternative choices of route to move a goods token, and both routes use only his own canal-sections, then he must move it by the shortest route.

e.g. The green player has four canal-sections linked together - Huddersfield-Leeds, Leeds-Goole, Goole-Sheffield and Sheffield-Huddersfield. He wishes to move a goods token from Huddersfield to Sheffield; he will score 2 points for this. He may not claim 4 points by sending it through Leeds and then Goole.

Ending the Game

1. The Final Rounds

The end of the game begins when one player's scoring marker reaches the trigger marker on the score track (or moves past it).

The remainder of the current round is played, followed by two further complete rounds.

The player using the red tiles began the game, so the current round ends when the player to the right of the red player has had his turn.

e.g. In a three-player game, Player 2's scoring marker reaches 70 points. Player 2 will finish his turn, followed by Player 3. The two final rounds of turns will then begin.

• It is very likely that there will be contracts in parliament at the end of the game; indeed, some contracts may still be face down in the contract deck.
• It is possible (although unlikely) for every contract to be taken from parliament. If this is the case, then any player who has no contract may choose a different first phase action instead.

2. Final Scoring

Final scoring now takes place. Points are scored for the following:

• Incomplete canals
• Goods decline

Incomplete canals

Some canals may end the game incomplete.

In each case:

• The owner scores 1 point per lock, 2 points per aqueduct and 3 points per tunnel (as if that canal had just been completed).
• The narrowboat is removed from the map.
• The contract is returned to parliament; the player does not score the value of the contract.

Goods decline

The order of play is now determined by the birth date of each player's engineer. Each round begins with the earliest birth date (lowest card number), followed by the next earliest and so forth. During a round, each player in turn simply moves one goods token.

Points are scored according to the usual rules for goods token movement.

• If a player cannot move a goods token, then he must pass.
• The final series of goods token moves may continue for several rounds. It ends when no more goods tokens can be moved.

3. Winning Canal Mania

The winner is the player with the most points at the end of the game.

In the event of a tie, the player who has completed the greatest number of contracts wins the tie. If players are still tied, then compare the total values of these contracts. If players are still tied, the player whose engineer has the latest birth date (highest card number) wins the tie.

Engineers

Each engineer has a number printed on the card. This number is used in three ways.

• When determining the first player at the start of the game - the engineer with the earliest birth date (lowest card number) will go first.
• When determining the order of play during goods decline - the engineer with the earliest birth date (lowest card number) moves the first goods token, followed by the next earliest and so forth.
• When breaking a tie - the engineer with the latest birth date (highest card number) wins the tie.

Each engineer also has a particular skill. This skill can be used any number of times during the turn.

Brindley: Allows the player to play a stretch card but to build a lock tile instead. Note that this does not allow a player to build two consecutive lock tiles on the same canal-section.

Jessop: Allows a player to build a tunnel tile after playing just two tunnel build cards.

Telford: Allows a player to build an aqueduct tile after playing just one aqueduct build card.

Rennie: Allows a player to pick up four face up build cards rather than three. In addition, when using the draw one card from the top of the build deck action, Rennie may instead pick up any one face up card (and then replace it from the build deck).

Smeaton: (A complex fellow, who allows all manner of complication.)

When using Smeaton as his engineer, a player can use a surveyor card to represent any two other build cards, played one immediately after the other and on the same canal. The cards can be any combination (for instance, two tunnels, or a lock and a stretch, etc, etc).

Smeaton's use of a surveyor card must comply with all building regulations.

e.g. A player could not build two consecutive lock tiles on the same canal-section.

Miscellaneous

1. Variable Game Length

For players wishing to play a longer version of the game, add 10 points to the trigger marker's starting position.

Similarly, for a shorter game, deduct 10 points from the trigger marker's starting position.

2. Design Notes

Design notes for Canal Mania can be found on the Ragnar Brothers website along with any rule clarifications that may become necessary. For more information, visit: www.ragnarbrothers.co.uk.

There is also a link to a history of canals and canal engineers.

3. Game Credits

Ragnar Brothers is a partnership of three long-time gamers:

Gary Dicken, Phil Kendall and Steve Kendall.

Game Design

Steve Kendall and Phil Kendall

Art Work

Box-top illustration by Colin Jones.

Design and artwork: studio@d-blue.

Narrowboat sculpture by Geraldine O'Reilly.

Production

Creative Design Partnership 01252 617929

[email protected]

Canal Mania © Ragnar Brothers 2006