Mogul
Mogul Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
1 game board, 37 stock cards, 1 crash card, 1 start position placard, 45 chips, 35 depots, 1 bowl
Set Up
The players choose a starting player.
The game board shows the rail networks of the 5 railroad companies with their important stations.
Each player chooses a color and places a depot in this color on 0 of the score track. The scoring track represents the real estate investments of the players in dollars.
Each places the other 6 depots in his play area.
Place the bowl near the game board in easy reach of all players.
The chips are the players' bidding tokens.
Each player takes 6 chips, which he keeps secretly in his hand during the game.
Place the remaining chips as a bank near the game board.
Each player places the indicated stock cards face-up in his play area. The start position placard shows each player's beginning stock portfolio based on the number of players.
Shuffle the remaining stock cards and place as a face-down supply next to the game board.
Shuffle the crash card into the last 3 stock cards in the supply, such that no player sees where it is.
Each stock card offers 4 pieces of information:
- The locomotive color indicates which company the stock card represents a share in.
- The number indicates the total number of shares available for this company.
- The color on the box indicates which kind of stock a player can sell.
- The color on the box indicates also in which station spaces a player may erect a depot.
Sequence of Play
The game is played in rounds and each round has four phases:
- Turn over top card
- Pay dividends
- Auction stock options
- Perform stock options
1. Turn over top card
Turn over the topmost stock card of the supply and place face-up next to the supply.
2. Pay dividends
Each player earns 1 dollar for each stock card he owns in the color of the just turned-over stock card (move the players' depots forward along the scoring track).
3. Auction stock options
The starting player begins the auction for the stock options, and bidding continues in the clockwise order around the table. On a player's turn in the auction, he must bid 1 chip by placing it in the bowl or pass, placing nothing in the bowl.
Players continue placing chips in the bowl, until one player passes, placing no chip in the bowl, thus leaving the auction.
When a player passes, he takes all the chips from the bowl, placing them in his hand.
A player who passes, may not bid again in this auction. He will be able to participate in later auctions.
After a player passes, play continues in a clockwise order with the next player either placing a chip in the bowl or passing. If the next player chooses to pass, he gets nothing as the bowl is empty.
Ideally a player will pass when he sees the right number of chips in the bowl.
The bidding and passing continues until only 1 player remains. This player has won the stock option auction.
4. Perform stock options
The winner of the auction has 2 possibilities to choose from: either he takes the turned-over stock card or he sells shares of stock.
The player must choose 1 of the 2 options:
- Take the turned-over stock card, placing it face-up in his play area. It now belongs to him.
- Sell shares he owns that match the color in the box on the lower part of the turned-over stock card. He can only sell stock he owns of this color.
Whichever option the winner chooses, the second place bidder (the last player to pass) performs the other option. See Example 2.
Example 1
The player turns over a yellow (Ocean Pacific) stock card with a blue (Santa Fe) box. Thus, the winner's options are to take a yellow share (Option 1) or to sell his blue shares (Option 2). In this case the winner chooses to sell his two blue shares.
The player earns as many dollars for each sold share as shares of this company currently held by all players in their play areas (including those in the selling player's play area).
When a player chooses to sell his shares, he must either sell all his shares or sell nothing (and erect a depot on this rail network: see Erect Depot).
Since the winner chose to sell his Santa Fe shares, he counts up the total number of Santa Fe shares in play, in this case 5. Thus the winner earns 10 dollars (2 shares x $5/share = $10) and moves his depot ten spaces forward along the scoring track, then puts the sold shares back in the box.
Example 2
Since the winner chose to sell his shares, the second place bidder (the last player to pass) must take the turned over card, placing it in her play area. She now owns this share of stock.
The new starting player is the player who took the stock card from the last auction, thus, in this scenario, the second place bidder becomes the new starting player, and she flips over the next card from the supply, beginning a new round.
Erect Depot
When a player chooses the stock option sell shares, he may instead erect one depot, if he wishes. This is a player's only way to erect a depot.
To erect a depot, the player places one of his depots on any empty station space on the rail network shown by the color in the box on the lower part of the turned-over card.
If a player has already placed all his depots on the game board, he may, if he wishes, move one of his already placed depots.
On each station space, there may only be 1 depot. Some station spaces are on 2 rail networks.
Ending the Game
The game ends immediately when the crash card is turned over.
Determining the Winner
Now each player earns the following bonuses (move players' depots on the scoring track accordingly):
- For each depot marker on a station space the owner earns as many dollars as he has depots on this entire rail network.
Example
A player has 3 depots on the blue rail network. He earns 3 dollars per depot. Thus: (3+3+3=) 9 dollars earned in total for the blue rail network for this player.
If a depot is on a station space which is on 2 rail networks, it will score for each of the two rail networks.
- For each share that the player has in his play area, he earns 1 dollar.
- For each 5 chips the player has, he earns 1 dollar.
The player with the most dollars (furthest along the scoring track) is the winner!
In the case of a tie for most, the player among those tied for the most with the most shares in his play area is the winner.
Credit
Each player may once in the game (on his turn) take a credit in chips. He takes 3 chips from the bank and moves his depot on the scoring track backwards 3 spaces.
The player cannot repay the credit. Thus, a player without chips can take the credit at the cost of dollars to remain in the game.
Tactical Note
If the first player in an auction passes, he takes no chips as there are none in the bowl yet. This usually occurs when a player has spent his last chip and has none left. In this case, the player will likely want to take a credit unless it is very late in the game.
The Story Behind
Mogul was first released as a card game in 2002. The original game introduced the "no thanks" auction mechanism, which has since been used in many other games. Now the original returns as a complete re-worked boardgame!
The author Michael Schacht, a passionate bicycle-rider and music-lover, lives in Frankfurt. With over 200 publications, the game designer ranks Zooloretto, the 2007 Spiel des Jahres winner, among its greatest success. www.michaelschacht.net
Credits
Game Design: Michael Schacht Graphics: Marcel-André Casasola Merkle Editing: Haydon Hensley
PO Box 1033 Placitas, NM 87043, USA [email protected] www.riograndegames.com
Made in Germany © 2013 Rio Grande Games