Railroad Dice
Railroad Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 40 railroad dice
- 44 stations (green, blue, yellow, red, purple)
- 20 passenger discs (1 disc = 5,000 passengers)
- 40 passenger discs (1 disc = 1,000 passengers)
- 5 company cards
- 50 shares
- 8 terrain tiles "big"
- 35 terrain tiles "small"
- starting player tile
- 4 area marking pawns
Preparation
- One of the large terrain tiles depicting open grassland is placed in the centre of the table. A single die depicting a piece of straight track is placed in the centre of this tile.
- At the same time an identical small tile depicting open grassland is placed elsewhere on the gaming table thereby starting the large overall map.
- Two Game Area Marking pawns of the same colour are taken and one is placed by each of these tiles, indicating their relationship to each other. (The second pair of pawns is retained until such time as a second large and small tile enter the game.)
- Players are each given a screen plus four Railroad Dice, which are placed in front of their screens with the »?« uppermost.
- The remaining Railroad Dice are kept to one side forming a »Dice Bank«.
- The Company Cards are laid out with their Stations (appropriately coloured cubes) on the card and their respective shares alongside
- The rest of the components are also set aside until needed.
- The player who owns the most railway games gets the starting player tile (the round tile depicting a railroad die).
The Format
Only a single continuous rail line is built by all players, so no branch lines are possible. The construction of the network takes place on one or two tiles. These tiles depict terrain. When the track extends beyond these tiles a new tile is brought into play and the previous tile, which is cleared of dice, is replicated by a small tile as part of an overall depiction of the terrain referred to as the map.
The Railroad Dice
The Railroad dice are held both behind the screen and in front of it.
Those behind the screen represent currency; or they can be rolled and they then must be placed in front of the screen.
The upper face (which – apart from the »?« - can never be changed) of a railroad dice in front of the screen depicts
- a curved or straight piece of railway track, which can be used to build railways
- a company share (used to purchase a share in one of the rail companies)
- a »?«, which is »wild« and can be used for (a) any of the above functions, (b) as currency just like the dice behind the screen, or (c) to re-roll plus the addition of a »bonus« die.
Gameplay
Players take turn in clockwise rotation stating with the Start Player. A full round (one turn per player) is regarded as being a game Year. During his turn a player may take five actions in any order.
- Take income (1x) (but not in the first Year)
- Lay Track
- Build Stations
- Roll Dice (1x)
- Buy Shares
Finally, at the end of his/her turn:
- Reduce to five dice
Action: Take Income
This action can be taken from the second Year onward. Income can be taken only once per turn by each player.
a) If the player is the Director of one or more Companies that have built no more than 4 Stations in total, the player receives four dice from the bank, which are placed behind the screen.
b) If the player is the Director of one or more Companies that have built 5 or more Stations in total, the player receives that number of dice from the bank (1 die per built station), which are placed behind the screen.
c) If during the previous Year the player had been a Director but at the end of that Year had lost the Directorship to another player and is no longer a Director of any Company he receives four Railroad Dice, which are placed in front of the screen with the »?« uppermost. (A player could not receive this Income in successive rounds because the conditions would not be met)
d) A player who is no Director and so could not have lost his Directorship receives four dice from the bank, which are placed behind the screen.
Action: Roll Dice
This action can be taken only once per turn by each player. To perform this action the player takes
- as many dice as he wishes (even none) from behind the screen
- as many dice depicting a »?« as he wishes (even none) from in front of his screen. For every dice depicting a »?« that is taken from in front of the screen the bank will give that player one additional bonus die.
- All of these dice are then rolled and the resultant roll is placed in front of the player's screen.
Action: Buy Shares
This action may be taken as often as he likes by each player per turn. At the start of the game Shares may be bought only from the Bank. But later in the game (depending on the number of players) they may be bought from other players.
The cost of each share is a die from in front of the screen depicting a Share symbol or a »?«, which is paid to the bank or to another player as appropriate.
Shares in a Company can be bought by the Director of that Company (and only by the Director) from another player when a certain number of shares have been sold – depending on the number of players as follows: With 2 players all shares from any two companies have to have been sold by the bank. With 3 players it is three companies, and with 4 players four companies. The targeted director may never refuse to sell. (Once bought, shares can never be voluntarily sold. They can only be compulsorily purchased as explained above.)
Action: Lay Track
This action may be taken as often as he likes by each player per turn. To lay track a player takes a die or dice depicting track or a »?« from in front of the screen and places them on a large Terrain Tile (If a »?« is used the die must be turned to depict either a straight or curved piece of track).
Should the track be laid in a mountain additional payment of one die from behind the screen or one »?« from in front of the screen is required. This single payment covers any build in the same mountainous area in the same turn either on the existing tile or on a new connecting tile.
Should the track be built across water this payment is increased to two dice from behind the screen, two »?« from in front of the screen, or a mixture of each. This payment allows to lay the track right across the water during the current turn. Track may only be laid across water if the player has sufficient dice to go right across the water in the turn (track may not stop part way across).
Track can only be laid to extend an existing line with the following restrictions:
- Track can only be laid right up against the edge of the Terrain Tile if in the same turn the player lays a further piece of track extending the line onto a new Terrain Tile (this can only be done if there are already five or more pieces of track on the existing Terrain Tile).
- Track-endings may only be placed so that it would run against water if in the same turn the player constructs a bridge over the water.
- Only two lines of track may be connected to each Station.
- Track may not be placed so that its ending would run immediately against existing track.
- Track may not be placed in a position that would prevent the line from being continued.
Connecting to a New Terrain Tile
If a player places a piece of track leading off the edge of the current tile he/she must immediately lay a connecting piece of track on a new Terrain Tile. To carry out this action there must be at least five pieces of track on the existing tile (which can include any track just laid).
The new tile chosen must at its connecting edge depict the same terrain as depicted on the existing tile. Furthermore, a corresponding small tile must be available before a large tile can be used.
This small tile must be able to fit into the large map so that terrain is unbroken throughout the map (any adjacent tile edges must match).
Should it be impossible to fit a new tile because no small corresponding tiles are available, it is not permitted to extend the track to that edge of the existing Terrain Tile (It will be noted that the necessity to fit a new small tile into the map each time a new large tile is introduced means that it would never be permitted to extend the line to an edge of the present tile where a gap in the large 'map' does not exist.)
Once a player has connected a line through to a new Terrain Tile he then must fit the corresponding small tile into the map without changing its orientation. At the same time he places the two Area Marking pawns against the new large and small tiles thereby indicating their relationship.
Finally (except at the very early stages of the game – see below), the following happens:
- All track on the previous tile is returned to the bank.
- All Stations on the previous tile are placed on their corresponding small tile in the map (Precise positioning on the small tile has no significance).
- The player carrying out the action of introducing the new Terrain Tiles receives two dice from the bank, which are placed »?« uppermost in front of his/her screen.
Exception:
At the beginning of the game the lines will be extended in two directions from the single piece of track that starts the game. Therefore, the existing tile will not be removed until the track extends to two of its edges. And from this stage on there will be two large tiles in play
Action: Built Stations
In his turn a player may build as many stations as he likes. To build a Station the following conditions must be observed:
- The player must be the Director of the Company whose station is being built
- The Company must still have unbuilt stations remaining that are appropriate to the terrain on which they are being built (see »The Companies« below)
- The player must pay to the Bank the appropriate number of dice (see »The Companies« below) from behind his screen and/or dice depicting »?« from in front of his screen.
Having built a Station the player is rewarded with two dice from the Bank which are placed in front of his/her screen with the »?« uppermost.
Restrictions on Building Stations
The station must be connected to the end of existing track (the track, in effect, goes 'into' the station and subsequently out of it). It must not be built on a square at the edge of the tile. It must not be directly next to another station (but diagonal is permitted). It may only be built on the terrain shown on the Company Card.
Building a Station on a Mountain space requires the additional payment of one die (the same as for »Track Laying«). Each Railway Company may build only one station on each Large Terrain Tile but several Companies (perhaps even belonging to the same player) may build on a single tile.
The Companies
Each Company Card shows the types of terrain on which its stations must be built and also the cost of each station (3 or 5 dice).
- The station has to be built on a mountain space with at least three surrounding mountain spaces (whether track is there or not is of no consequence.). The terrain of the five other adjacent spaces is unimportant.
- The station has to be built on an open grassland space with at least three surrounding water spaces (whether track is there or not is of no consequence.). The terrain of the five other adjacent spaces is unimportant.
- The station has to be built on an open grassland space with at least three surrounding open grassland spaces (whether track is there or not is of no consequence.). The terrain of the five other adjacent spaces is unimportant.
Action: Reducing to Five Dice
At the end of a player's turn (and only at the end) any dice in front of his screen must be reduced to five (his/her choice).
End of the Year
After each player has had his turn the Year comes to an end. The following things then occur
1. Transporting of Passengers
The longest connected chain of Stations is established by each Company. The map is consulted to see how many small tiles are connected orthogonally (including the large tile currently being worked on). The longest chain for each Company is considered to have transported 1,000 passengers per connected tile. The Bank gives the Director of the Company the appropriate number of discs (the small orange discs represent 1,000 passengers, whilst the large brown ones represent 5,000) which are placed behind the screen. Only Directors receive discs. Shareholders receive nothing.
Illustration: In this example the »Berg&Tal-Bahn« (red) has three stations, of which only two are connected.
Thus the »Berg&Tal-Bahn« has in this round a station chain length of »1« and another chain with the length of »2«, which is the longest.
If there had been another red station on space »A« all red stations would be connected and would result in a chain of »4«.
The spaces »B« and »C« are the ones which are currently being played on at the moment (on the »big« terrain tiles). Stations that were built on them have to be considered during chain determination as well. So if for example another red station would be on space »C« the red chain would be extended by »1«. It would be similar with space »B«, if there is a red station on »A« as well.
»Insel Hopper« (yellow) has a station chain of length »2« in this example.
2. Appointment of Directors
The player with the largest Shareholding becomes the Director and takes the Company Tile. In the case of a tie with the current Director, the Directorship remains where it is. In the case of a tie among rival claimants the Directorship goes to the closest player to the current Director in a clockwise direction.
If a player acquires more shares than the current Director he is not regarded as being the new Director until this moment in the game.
3. Change of Start Player
This changes one place to the left.
End of Game
The game ends when
a) a company has built its last station
b) all the small terrain tiles have either been used up or cannot be placed on the map
c) both railway tracks are at »dead ends«
d) the bank is unable to meet a demand for Dice
In the case of a), b) and c) the game is played until the end of the Year (a full round). In the case of d) a collapse of the state happens, which leads to the immediate end of the game leaving the player unable to acquire the number of dice from the bank to which he/she is entitled.
In all cases the game is treated as an »End of Year« and the number of passengers carried is established and tokens distributed accordingly.
The winner is the player who has carried the most passengers during the game. Ties are broken in favour of (a) the most »?« in front of the screen, then (b) the greatest total of dice in front of the screen.
If the game ends due to one of the above conditions before each of the five companies has at least built one station, there is no winner. The game is declared a tie.