Empire Express
Empire Express Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Demo Set Up
Note that most of the setup and rules you need can be found in the box in the bottom right corner of the board. This introductory game is for 2, 3 or 4 players (do not use the black or yellow pieces for this game).
- Choose a color, and take the crayon and train piece in your color.
- Sort through the demand cards and create several piles: demand cards (those with two deliveries on them), locomotive (loco) cards and event cards. Event cards are not used in this game; place them back into the box. Give each player the loco card for their color. Place your train piece in the city shown below, and take a load chip as listed below (place it on one of the two spots on your locomotive card). Sort through the demand cards and pull out the cards listed on the board for your color (the sequence number is in the lower right corner).
- Shuffle the remaining demand cards and place them face-down as a draw deck.
- Find your track symbol on the board; these symbols appear between two mileposts on the board. Connect all mileposts with a symbol between them. (See map at upper right).
- Mileposts connect vertically, or diagonally (never horizontally).
- If there are less than four players, players may build track on unused symbols later in the game.
- You receive NO money at the beginning of the game (your initial track represents your "starting capital").
- The youngest player goes first.
| Demand Cards | Track Symbol | Train Starts In... | Starts With | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | 1, 2, 3 | orange star | Pittsburgh | Steel x2 |
| Red | 4, 5, 6 | red star | Charleston | Coal x2 |
| Blue | 7, 8, 9 | blue star | Knoxville | Marble x2 |
| Green | 10, 11, 12 | green arrow | Akron | Tires x2 |
Demand Cards
Demand cards are how you make money in the game. Each card has two possible deliveries on it; you may only use ONE of the two deliveries listed on the card! You may only deliver one good for the price shown to a city.
New York wants tobacco and will pay you $28M for a delivery. OR Knoxville wants chemicals and will pay you $12M for a delivery.
The map in the center of the card shows you where the goods are available, and where the delivery cities are.
Experienced Empire Builder Players Only!
If you're familiar with Empire Builder games, there are several changes to the rules that may trip you up! These are the major changes from a "typical" Empire Builder game:
- BUILD, and then MOVE, on your turn!
- Draw demand cards ONLY at the end of your turn, NOT when you make a delivery. (You also get a free discard at the end of each turn!)
- Any number of players may connect to a city.
- Connecting to any size city costs $3 million.
- Rivers cost $1 million to cross.
- You may only build track off of your original track; you cannot start new track from a major city.
On a Turn
- Build track
- Move your train
- Discard one demand card (if you choose); draw demand cards until you have three
Build Track
You build track by connecting mileposts. When you build track, you must follow these rules:
- You must connect to (or from) a milepost you are already connected to.
- You cannot draw over another player's track.
- You cannot spend more than $20 million on a turn.
The cost to build track (always pay for the milepost you are connecting to):
- $1 million to build to a clear milepost
- $2 million to build to a mountain milepost
- $3 to connect to any other symbol
- Add $1 million to the above for each river that you cross.
You never draw track inside major cities; if you connect to one corner, you (and all players) may pass through and draw track out of any other corner. You cannot cross any heavy black lines (such as those along the Atlantic coast or the Great Lakes).
Move Your Train
After building track, you may move your train up to 12 spaces. You do not have to use your entire move. You may stop and pick up, or deliver, a load at the beginning, middle or end of your move, and you may continue to move after doing so.
If you visit a city that produces a good that you want to pick up, you may take one or two load tokens and place them on your locomotive card. You may never hold more than two tokens. You may discard a token from your loco to take another one without cost. You do not have to have a demand card requiring an item to pick up a token.
If you find it necessary to move onto another player's tracks, you pay that player $4 million for any turn that you move on their tracks. They cannot refuse, and you may travel on more than one opponent's track in a turn.
If you arrive at a city listed on one of your demand cards, and you have the good listed on the demand card for that city, then collect payment, discarding that demand card and load.
Discard Cards
After building track and moving your train, you may discard one demand card if you wish. After discarding, draw demand cards until you have three.
Game End
If a player has $150 million or more on their turn, finish the current round (all players get an equal number of turns). The player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner!
Empire Express Introductory Strategies
Part of the challenge in a typical Empire Builder game is receiving three random demand cards at the beginning of the game, and deciding the most efficient place to start building track. In order to teach the turn order and rhythm of the game, you start with built track and demand cards appropriate to your track. Here's how your first few turns might work:
Orange: You start in Pittsburgh with two steel loads. You'll be headed towards Boston to deliver one of your steel loads for $33 million, dumping a load of steel to pick up passengers in New York for an additional $9 million when you reach Boston. You can then go back to Hartford, pick up a machinery load, and then go back to Boston for $7 million. Alternately, you can pick up machinery instead of steel on your first run, and then pick up electronics in Boston to take back to Pittsburgh.
Red: You have three loads headed for Chicago: coal, swine (which you can pick up on the way in Columbus), and tires (which requires a detour to Akron, but would let you use card 6 to pick up passengers in Chicago and deliver then back to Charleston for $20 million). If you do swine and coal, you can always head back to Akron and get tires for Chicago later.
Blue: You have three loads destined for Washington DC: the fastest two are the marble you already have and the wood you can pick up on your way through Roanoke (leaving you a second Charlotte-Washington run for cotton). Detouring to Charlotte for cotton instead of wood will take longer, but gives you $9 million more and the chance to run passengers from Washington back to Charlotte.
Green: You have tires, and will detour briefly to Pittsburgh to pick up steel. Deliver both of these to New York for a total of $48 million, and then either make a short run for your textiles for New York (building track to Harrisburg), or run passengers from New York back to Akron for $18 million.
These are only suggestions! There are other possible ways to play these cards, and after you draw new demand cards (once you make your first one or two deliveries), you may receive cards that are more attractive than your original plan. However you choose to proceed, remember these cardinal rules:
- Never run empty! Always have a full train, since you might get lucky and draw a demand card for just the load you have onboard!
- "Deadheading" is bad! Sometimes, you will have to travel to pick up a load for a demand card you have, and you won't have any other goods on board to deliver. This is called "deadheading" (running without any active demand cards). It's often better to make short, small deliveries that overlap than to run empty for one big delivery!
- Build track efficiently! You can run out of money in this game, so always know if you have enough money to build the track you need for your next delivery. Sometimes, it is better to simply pay another player to use their track, than to build track that you may only use once late in the game. Money, not track, is how you win the game!