Off the Rails Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Game Objective
• Set Up the Game
• How to Play
  • 1. Action Phase
  • 2. Move Minecarts Phase
  • 3. Deposits Phase
• Minecarts
• Jewels
• Collisions and Derailments
• End Game - The Chasm
• Who Wins?
• Mission Cards
• Solo Rules: 1 Player Variant
• Other Rules Variants

Contents

• 1 Game Board
• 8 Plastic Minecarts
• 90 Double-Sided Track Tiles
• 33 Deposit Cards
• 66 Plastic Jewels + Bag
  • 12 x Rocks
  • 24 x Ruby
  • 15 x Emerald
  • 10 x Gold
  • 5 x Diamond
• 4 Jewel Shield Stockpiles
• 8 Speed Dice
• 20 Chasm Tokens
• 1 Rule Book
• 11 Mission Cards

Game Objective

In Off the Rails, players race underground to gather Jewels from the board and return them safely to the Surface before the Chasm envelopes the play area, burying everything in sight! To do this, players must lay connected routes of Track Tiles in order to run their clan's minecarts from the Surface to the shiny Jewels and back again. The player with the highest value of Jewels retrieved wins!

Each turn, players can perform up to 4 of the following actions:

• Place a Straight or Corner Track Tile
• Upgrade a Straight or Corner Tile to a T-Junction
• Upgrade a T-Junction to a Cross Junction
• Place a new Minecart on the board
• Increase or Decrease a Minecart's Speed

Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, it would be, if it wasn't for all the other Goblin Clans trying to get to the most precious Jewels first and the tiny fact that when the Minecarts are set going, there's actually no stopping them - not until they either make it back to the Surface, derail horrifically in a collision or meet their doom in the endless depths of the Chasm!

Can you outwit your opponents, cunningly connect your tracks, swipe all the Jewels and make it out alive?

Set Up the Game

Game Board: Open the board on a table in reach of all players. The purple stone squares represent the game area, surrounded by 4 Clan Surface Layers consisting of tracks and Minecart Holds.

Mines: There are 4 Mines in the middle of the board. Each Mine has a different colour and Clan icon - Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue - and features a centre square surrounded by 8 Mine squares numbered 1 to 8.

Jewels: Place all the Jewels in the Jewel Bag and leave in reach of all players.

Track Tiles: Place all Track Tiles in communal piles around the board in reach of all players.

Prepare the Deposit Deck & Chasm Deck: Shuffle the 8 Red, 8 Yellow, 8 Green, and 8 Blue Deposit Cards separately, then create 7 Decks consisting of a single face-down card from each Mine. Place the four remaining cards back in the box - they won't be used this game.

Place the Chasm Deposit Card into Deck 4 as illustrated.

• For a quicker first play of the game, place Decks 1 & 2 back in the box.
• If playing with 2 / 3 players, place Deck 1 back in the box.

Reveal Deck 6 and generate Jewels Deposits on the board for each card. See How to Generate a Jewel Deposit below.

Place the Chasm Deck 7 on its space in the corner of the board.

Shuffle all remaining decks separately and combine in turn to create the Deposit Deck - place on its space on the board.

Chasm Tokens: Place one of each mine's Chasm Tokens on top of the Chasm Deck and spread the rest out face down in the box lid for the end of the game.

Determine Player Order: The youngest or least experienced player should choose a side of the board to be their Surface Layer. This allocates a Clan Colour and the Surface Layer that all their Minecarts will join the board from. This player should take their two matching colour Minecarts, one black and one white Speed Die, and an assembled Jewel Shield Stockpile.

Note: This player will have the last turn each round.

In a 2 player game, the 2nd player must use the Clan Colour from the side directly opposite the 1st player.

In a 3 or 4 player game, assign all additional players a random Clan Colour. We suggest selecting remaining Minecarts blind.

The player to the left of the player who chose first will take the first turn and play order will travel clockwise.

How to Play

Each turn is split into 3 phases which each player should complete in order: Action, Move Minecarts and Deposits.

1. Action Phase

Each turn, the Active Player may perform up to 4 actions from those listed below. Actions can be performed in any order and each as many times as desired.

Place a Track Tile: The active player may place a Straight or Corner Track Tile on an empty square on the board. Any Jewels on that square should be placed on top of the tile. Tiles do not have to connect to existing tiles and can be placed in any orientation. Tracks may not be placed on the centre square of a mine.

Upgrade a Track Tile: The active player may upgrade an unoccupied Straight or Corner Track Tile with a T-Junction Track Tile OR replace an unoccupied T-Junction with a Cross Junction Track Tile. Upgraded Track Tiles must ADD to the Tile's exits and never remove any.

Place a Minecart: If you have less than 2 Minecarts on the board, you may place a Minecart of your colour on any unoccupied square of your Surface Layer. All Minecarts are placed with a Speed Die of 3 inside them.

Change a Minecart's Speed: Choose one of your Minecarts on the board and increase or decrease the Speed by 1.

2. Move Minecarts Phase

When a player has completed their Action Phase, they MUST move each of their Minecarts currently on the board a number of connected Track Tiles equal to its individual Speed. This must be in a continuous line and begin in the direction the cart is facing. If both of a player's Minecarts are on the board, their controller can decide which moves first.

If moving this way brings two carts into contact, or causes a Minecart to leave a Track Tile without having a connected tile to move onto, see Collisions and Derailments below.

Any Minecart that moves over or finishes their move on a tile with one or more Jewels may collect them! See Collecting Jewels below.

If a Minecart enters any square of any surface level, place all Jewels collected by that Minecart into your Stockpile and return the Minecart token to your supply. See Stockpile Jewels below.

3. Deposits Phase

At the end of each player turn, a new Jewel Deposit will be generated. A Deposit is defined by a square that contains one or more Jewels.

How to Generate a Jewel Deposit: The current player should draw the top Deposit Card. Each card represents one of the squares that surround one of the four Mines on the board. They display the Clan Icon & colour of the mine, the number of the mine square and the amount of random Jewels to be drawn from the Jewel bag and placed there.

If the Chasm Card is drawn, it signals the beginning of the end of the game. See End Game - The Chasm below.

Minecarts

Minecart Player Tokens: Each player controls up to 2 Minecarts at any one time. Each Minecart holds either a black or white 6 sided Speed Die and has an associated black & white Minecart Hold. All Minecarts have a front, back and 2 sides for the purpose of moving and colliding.

Speed Dice: A Minecart's speed is determined by the number shown on the Speed Die within that Minecart. Minecarts enter the game with a Speed of 3 meaning they MUST move exactly three Track Tiles during that player's next Move Minecarts Phase. Each Minecart has a minimum speed of 1 and a maximum speed of 6.

Moving a Minecart: A Minecart must begin its move in the direction it is facing at the start of its turn. It may then change direction based on the tile it enters and leaves. A Minecart that finishes its move on a T-Junction or Cross Junction must choose which direction to face at the end of its move, not at the start of its next move.

For example, a Minecart begins its move facing left and ends its move on a T-Junction. It therefore must choose whether to face either up or down when it stops. If the player chooses to face up, it must therefore travel in that direction at the start of their next Move Minecarts Phase.

Jewels

Jewels come in different colours and rarities, and are worth different points. Players should try to avoid Rocks that will only take up space in their Minecart and Collect and Deposit precious Jewels in order to score their points at the end of the game.

• 12 x Black Rocks - 0 point each
• 24 x Red Rubies - 1 point each
• 15 x Green Emeralds - 2 points each
• 10 x Yellow Gold - 3 points each
• 5 x Clear Diamonds - 4 points each

The player who collects the most Rubies at the end of the game also gains a bonus +5 points.

Collecting Jewels: To collect Jewels, players must run their Minecart over the top of or onto Track Tiles that contain one or more Jewels. If a Minecart begins its move on a tile with Jewels, they may not collect them.

If a Minecart passes over one or more Deposits, that player may collect 1 Jewel from each tile. If multiple deposits are crossed, players must collect a Jewel from the first Deposit they enter before collecting a Jewel from the second and so on.

If a Minecart lands on a Deposit, they may collect up to 2 Jewels from that tile.

Minecart Holds: Each Minecart has a matching Hold (White or black depending on colour of Speed Dice) positioned either side of their Surface Layer on the board.

When a Minecart collects a Jewel, it should be placed in the matching Minecart Hold.

Minecart Holds can carry up to 5 Jewels at any time. If a Minecart lands on or moves over a Jewel with a full Hold, it may not collect the Jewels. Players must Stockpile Jewels (see below) or be involved in a Collision (see Collisions and Derailments below) in order to pick up more.

Stockpile Jewels: Only Jewels in a player's Stockpile contribute towards scoring at the end of the game. To Stockpile Jewels, a Minecart must reach ANY square of the surface, at ANY speed. Transfer all the Jewels in that Minecart's Hold to that player's Stockpile Shield. That Minecart is then returned to their supply.

Collecting Rocks: When collecting Jewels from a Deposit, Rocks MUST be collected before any other Jewel can be claimed. Apart from this rule, Rocks are treated exactly the same as Jewels, with all other rules applying to both.

Collisions and Derailments

When a Player's Minecart moves onto a tile occupied by another Minecart, there is a Collision! The ACTIVE Minecart of the player whose turn it is collides with an OPPOSING Minecart.

When a Collision occurs, resolve the following steps in order:

1. ACTIVE player's Minecart immediately ends its move action. (Even if there are movement points remaining.)
2. ACTIVE and OPPOSING Minecarts carrying NO Jewels are derailed. (See Derailments below.)
3. OPPOSING Minecart must drop half their collected Jewels from their Minecart's Hold. To choose which Jewels are dropped, the OPPOSING player should secretly split their Jewels into two equal piles and place them in closed hands. The ACTIVE player then chooses which hand of Jewels are dropped. Those Jewels are placed on the square of the OPPOSING player's Minecart, the other hand of Jewels are returned to the Hold.
4. ACTIVE and OPPOSING Minecarts who collided front first must turn around and face directly away from the collision. If there is ever deliberation as to which direction is directly away from the collision, the Minecart's controller chooses.

In an example collision, an OPPOSING Green Minecart is on a T-Junction when the Blue Minecart causes a Collision. Since there are two facings that could be interpreted as directly away from the collision, the OPPOSING Minecart's player may choose which way they should end up - either up or down in this case. The ACTIVE blue Minecart has no choice and must turn back to face the direction they came from.

Collisions over unconnected Track Tiles: On occasion, a Collision will occur over Track Tiles that are not connected. In these instances, treat the Collision as if the tracks were connected but the OPPOSING Minecart does not discard a Jewel and no Derailments will occur.

Derailments: There are three ways in which a player's Minecart can be Derailed:

• When a Minecart must move further than the number of connected Track Tiles available.
• When a Collision results in empty Minecarts being derailed.
• When a Minecart occupies the same square as a Chasm Token. (See End Game - The Chasm below.)

When a Minecart derails, place all Jewels on that Minecart's Hold back in the Jewel bag and place the Minecart back into its player's supply.

End Game - The Chasm

When the Chasm Card is revealed during the Deposits Phase, it signals the beginning of the End Game! Your goblins have disturbed one too many deposits and the mines will begin to collapse into the Chasm!

1. The ACTIVE player should place the Chasm Card in front of them, face up.
2. Every player should now take one final normal turn, generating Deposits as usual.
3. After the player who drew the Chasm Card generates their final Deposit, that player should reveal the Chasm Deck deposit cards to see which mines have collapsed! Place a single Chasm Token of the mine's colour / icon on each of those squares as if generating Jewels. Remove any Track Tiles, Minecarts and Jewels underneath from the game.
4. During each subsequent player's Deposits Phase, instead of drawing a card, the ACTIVE player must draw a Chasm Token at random and place it orthogonally adjacent (i.e. not diagonally) to any other Chasm Token of the same icon / colour. Any Track Tiles, Minecarts or Jewels under the newly placed Chasm Token are removed from the game.

End Game Rules:

• If a player's Minecart is derailed during The Chasm, remove that Minecart from play and return any Jewels in its Hold to the bag - it may not return to the game.
• A Minecart that has not derailed, and is in a player's supply at the end of the game is worth +3 points when scoring.
• Players may NOT place Track Tiles over Chasm Tokens.
• Players whose minecarts are in their supply or derailed at the beginning of their turn may still place Chasm Tokens.

When all players' Minecarts have left the board, or all Chasm Tokens have been placed, the game is over! All Minecarts still on the board after the final Chasm Token has been placed are derailed.

Who Wins?

After the game, each player should total up the points value of precious Jewels in their Stockpile. Rocks are worth 0 points.

• Rubies: +1 point
• Emeralds: +2 points
• Gold: +3 points
• Diamonds: +4 points

Minecart bonus: Minecarts in your supply (i.e. not derailed) at the end of the game are worth +3 points each.

Ruby Bonus: The player with the most Rubies in their Stockpile gains +5 points. If multiple players have the most Rubies, they all gain +5 points.

The player with the most points wins! If there is a draw in points, the player with the most Jewels in their Stockpile is the winner. If there is still no winner, the player with the least number of Rocks in their Stockpile wins. Otherwise, players share the victory!

Mission Cards

Included in the game are additional Mission Cards which make the game more competitive! It is recommended these are only added after players have got to grips with the base game, or for more experienced gamers.

Mission cards are communal objectives that should be shuffled at the start of the game and, depending on the number of players, dealt out face up in reach of everyone:

• 2 players - 3 cards
• 3 players - 4 cards
• 4 players - 5 cards

When a player completes the criteria on a card, they may claim it immediately and place it next to their stockpile. Each card is worth +4 bonus points at the end of the game. Players may only claim ONE Mission Card per turn.

Solo Rules: 1 Player Variant

Coming soon.

Other Rules Variants

Based on pre-release feedback, the designer has compiled a few game rule variants shared below. These are only intended as optional fun varieties on the standard game and are printed here to give additional modes of play.

Bumper Cars - 2 Player Friendly Mode: To lessen the "take that" nature of the game when playing with 2 players, we have introduced the following rule change to play a less competitive, more strategic version of Off the Rails: Collisions no longer cause Minecarts to drop Jewels or derail. Treat changing direction with head on collisions as normal.

The Chasm Die: As an alternative rule to placing the Chasm Tokens where players desire during the Chasm Phase, an 8 sided die could be introduced to make a more random finish to Off the Rails. If players do not have a D8, tokens or a spinner could be used: After drawing a Chasm Token, roll the Chasm Die to decide which mine square collapses. If a Chasm Token already occupies that square, the player who drew the token can choose an adjacent unoccupied square to place it.

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Game design, illustration and production by Andrew Platt. Special thanks: Stuart Platt & Stephanie Platt.