Paperclip Railways
Paperclip Railways Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- These rules
- 1 Construction Board – with spaces for the draw deck, the discard pile and the score track
- 1 large 4-station Metropolis board
- 25 wooden cubes in 5 player colours (red, white, green, black and yellow)
- 5 sets of 60 paperclips in 5 player colours (red, white, green, black and yellow)
- 1 set of 30 blue and 2 silver paperclips
- 1 set of 12 blue wooden cubes
- 4 obstacle tiles – two rectangular, two L-shaped (mountains and lakes)
- 1 Start Player card
- 1 End of Line (Game End) card
- 5 Starting City cards
- 99 Station cards including:
- 11 City (yellow) stations
- 33 Town (orange) stations
- 29 Suburban (red) stations
- 23 Countryside (green) stations
- 3 Promotional Station Blanks
- 1 piece of adhesive putty
Overview
In Paperclip Railways players will lay out a landscape in which they will place railway stations and build track. The stations give bonuses to players' scores and are connected by customizable lengths of track: the paperclips.
Players score for the stations they connect, for the number of clips in their railway links and for bonuses at the end of the game. The player with the most victory points at the end of the game is the winner.
The game comes in two versions:
- the Metropolis (basic) game, which uses the pre-printed Metropolis board; and,
- the Gigantopolis (advanced) game. Turn over the Metropolis board, so that the blank side is face up. Random station cards are placed onto the central station during set up.
Setting Up the Game
You will need a playing area of about 100 cm by 100 cm for your railways and a bit more space for the Construction Board and stock of playing pieces.
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Make the River by clipping together a single string of 30 blue and 2 silver paperclips. Make sure that a silver paperclip is at the 12th and 16th position in the string - the River is also used as a measuring tool during set up.
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Each player selects a Starting City in a colour of their choice and takes all the cubes and paperclips of their colour. In the 4 and 5 player games, players will need to return some of their paperclips and cubes to the box (some clips and cubes will not be used in a 4 or 5 player game):
- 4 players: return 6 clips and 2 cubes;
- 5 players: return 12 clips and 3 cubes.
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Randomly determine the start player and give that player the Start Player card.
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Remove the End of Line card and the Promotional Station Blank cards from the station cards deck. Shuffle the deck and set aside face down a number of station cards equal to the number of players. These stations are used to help mark the boundary of the playing area (the 'Boundary Stations'). See the diagrams for how to construct the playing area.
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Place the Metropolis board in the centre of the playing area:
- For the basic game, use the Metropolis board face up.
- For the advanced game, complete the game set-up with the Metropolis board face up (you will need to use the printed markers on the board), then turn it face down and place 4 random station cards on it.
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The playing area will be a diamond with 2 players, a triangle with 3 players, a square with 4 players, or a pentagon with 5 players. The Boundary Stations form the points of the playing area. Take the River and put the end closest to the two silver clips on the middle of the Metropolis board. Stretch the River out in a straight line to align with one of the marks (triangles for three players, squares for two or four players, pentagons for five players) around the outside of the Metropolis board. Place one of the Boundary Stations, face up on the playing area at:
Constructing the draw deck
- If you have any promotional station cards for the game, keep them to one side. Take the same number of the Promotional Station Blank cards, up to 3 maximum, and shuffle them into the station deck. When any player draws a Promotional Station Blank card, that player chooses one of the promotional station cards and swaps it in instead of the blank card.
- Deal out 10 cards face-down, add the End of Line card to them and re-shuffle these 11 cards to form the bottom of the deck. Then put the rest of the station cards on top and place the full deck onto the Construction Board.
- Deal 4 cards from the deck to each player.
Placing the remaining pieces
- Place the Construction Board at one end of your game space, so that it is accessible to all players and outside the playing area.
- Put a cube from each players' stock on the '0' space of the score track.
- Place the blue cubes next to the Construction Board and put one of them covering the '3' space on the Obstacle Penalty track (the penalty is 2 at the start of the game).
A Closer Look at Station Cards
Any player with at least one of their cubes on a station owns that station and receives its special ability or bonus. You also own your Starting City. A station can therefore have multiple owners.
The number in the icons at the foot of most station cards shows the minimum number of paperclips required to link from that departure station to a destination station of each type (city, town, suburban and countryside).
If there is no box for a station type on the departure station or the station type icon has no number, then you cannot build to that station type from the departure station.
Treat Boundary Stations and stations on Gigantopolis as normal stations.
An Example of a Station Card
- Station Type: Yellow = City (tower block); Orange = Town (factory); Red = Suburban (house); Green = Countryside (tree)
- Victory points for connecting to/from this station
- Station name
- Capacity: maximum number of cubes allowed on this station
- Special ability: in the example, any player with a cube on this station gets an extra clip (for free) when paying for a link.
- Minimum length of link to the different station types: in the example a link must be a minimum of 3 to Towns, 3 to Suburbs and at least 6 to Countryside stations. The example card has no City box, so you cannot build from there to City stations.
Metropolis
Treat the four sections of Metropolis as normal station cards of their colour, except that each player can place only one cube in the whole of Metropolis, and it counts as only one station. You can build into or out of any part of Metropolis once you have a cube in it. Metropolis counts as both a Town and a Suburban station for all card text, except where specified otherwise.
Playing the Game
Players take turns clockwise beginning with the Start Player.
On your turn you will either draw cards or build a link from a station you own to a new or an existing station (EITHER draw cards OR build a link - NOT BOTH).
You will either use cards as stations and place them into the playing area or discard them face up onto the top of the discard pile.
Drawing cards
Draw a number of cards from the top of the draw deck:
- In a 2 or 3 player game, take 3 cards;
- In a 4 or 5 player game, take 2 cards.
The maximum hand size is 6. If you have more than 6 cards immediately after you have drawn, choose 6 of them to keep and discard the rest.
Building a link
Carry out these steps in order, obeying the restrictions on placing stations and building links (see below):
- Indicate the departure station from which the link is to be built. This station must be either your Starting City or a station with one of your cubes in it. In both cases there must be at least one remaining capacity in the station (see 'An Example of a Station Card').
- Announce the destination station. This can be either a new station card played from your hand or a station already in play with capacity for you to place another cube. You don't have to announce where you will be placing the new station.
- You may now measure the length of the proposed link to make sure you are able to pay for it. (Links have a minimum length specified by the departure station.)
- Place any new station announced in step 2 into the playing area following the restrictions on building (see below).
- Create your chain of paperclips (your link) by buying paperclips from your stock using cards from your hand: you receive up to 3 clips for each card you discard. Some stations give you extra free paperclips whenever you build a link. You may add these extra clips from your stock to those you buy using cards to make your link.
- Lay out your link between the two stations you chose to join together, so that part of the paperclip at each end is inside the linked station. Only the paperclip at the end of the link is allowed to touch the linked station. The link can be as straight or as curved as desired, except that it must not touch or cross itself. (Join your clips together and lay them out; only one clip in the link can touch the station at each end.)
- Put a cube of your colour on both stations. If one of them is the face up Metropolis board and you already have a cube there, do not place another one there. When a station has reached its capacity, move the cubes to cover the name, as a reminder that no further links can go there.
- Carry out any instructions on cards that are relevant to building a link or placing a station.
Scoring
After you have built a link, adjust your score as follows:
- Add the victory point values of the two newly linked stations plus the number of paperclips in your link.
- Deduct 1 point for every link owned by any other player that your link touches or crosses. The other player also gains 1 point per link.
- Deduct 2 points for every obstacle tile or part of the River that your link touches or crosses.
Restrictions on building links
- You can only build a link to a station of a type with a length listed on the departure station. For example you cannot build a link to a City station, if there is no City icon on the departure station or if the icon has no number.
- You must discard at least one card when building a link. This applies even if you are entitled to enough bonus clips to link two stations (you must discard at least one card EVEN IF YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY ANY CLIPS).
- You can start a link only from a station you own. You own your Starting City and any station with one of your cubes on it.
- You cannot build a link that starts and ends at the same station.
- If you have already built a single link between two stations, you cannot build another single link that joins the same two stations.
- You cannot build a link from or to a station that has reached its cube capacity.
- Only the clip at either end of a link is allowed to touch the departure and destination stations.
- Links that touch or cross obstacles, the River or other track should be laid on top of them, applying penalties as described in 'Scoring'. You can cross your own links with no penalty.
- You cannot build a link that has any part of its paperclips outside the playing area.
- You cannot build a link that crosses a station in play.
Restrictions on placing stations
- You cannot place a new station so that it touches, or overlaps, another station.
- If your new station touches or crosses an obstacle or the River, you suffer the scoring penalty indicated on the Construction Board.
- You can place a new station on top of your existing links.
- You can place a new station so that it crosses the outside border, as long as it is still partly within the playing area.
Finishing the Game
The game ends when either:
- the 'End of Line' card is drawn from the deck; continue taking turns until all players have had the same number of turns. The player to the right of the start player will have the last turn; or
- only one player has any paperclips or cubes left in stock; that player gets one more draw action and one more build action and then the game ends.
End game scoring
- Score 'Game End' bonuses as stated on stations that each player owns. If you have more than one instance of a station with a particular bonus, you score that bonus multiple times. Metropolis counts as a single station for scoring purposes.
- The player with the longest individual link of paperclips in play gains 5 extra victory points. If there is a tie for longest link, all tied players gain 5 victory points.
- The player with the biggest score is the winner. In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most remaining paperclips in their personal stock is the winner. If there is still a tie, then all tied players win.
A Note About Moving, Wobbling and Nudging
The clips are wobbly and knobbly, the stations are cardboard and can be accidentally moved during play. Some movement of the pieces is expected, and no player should take advantage of this! If it becomes a problem in your group of players, we recommend using an adhesive putty to fix them in place (check that the surface will not be damaged before doing this). If you want to stop the components moving around, use a little adhesive putty!