Railroad Ink Challenge: Lush Green Edition
Railroad Ink Challenge: Lush Green Edition Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 Boards
- 4 markers
- 6 Goal cards
- 3 Forest and 3 Trail Expansion Goal cards
- 4 Route dice (white)
- 2 Forest dice (dark green)
- 2 Trail dice (light green)
Each Board contains: Goal spaces, Village spaces, Special Routes, a Route dice reference, a Factory reference, a Scoring table, the Network Values, the Central Spaces, and the Exits along its outer edge.
Setup
- Each player takes a Board and places it in front of them.
- Each player also takes a marker.
- Place the white Route dice in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle the Basic Goal cards (including those from Railroad Ink Challenge: Shining Yellow Edition, if you also own that) and randomly draw 3, then place them in the middle of the table. Mark the code of each Goal in one of the Goal spaces of your board (see "Goal Cards"). Put the unused Goal cards in the box, they won't be needed.
- If you play with an Expansion (see "Expansions"), place the Expansion dice in the middle of the table with the Route dice, and replace 1 of the Goal cards with 1 random Expansion Goal card from the Expansion you're playing with.
Playing Without Goals
If you want a simpler experience, you can also play without any Goal cards. Simply skip step 4 of the setup procedure and ignore Goal points during the final scoring.
Game Rounds
At the beginning of each round, the Route dice are rolled once. The results of the roll will determine which Routes all players must draw that round. After the roll, all players play simultaneously, drawing the Routes rolled on their own boards.
Rolling Dice
Take the Route dice and roll them in the middle of the table. Place the dice so that they are easily visible to all players.
Hint: To more easily keep track of the Routes you have to draw, you can use the dice reference on your board to mark the available Routes, if you so desire.
The Kinds of Routes
There are 15 kinds of Routes:
- Straight Highway
- Straight Railway
- Curved Highway
- Curved Railway
- T-junction Highway
- T-junction Railway
- T-Junction Station (1)
- T-Junction Station (2)
- Straight Station
- Curved Station
- Double Curved Highway
- Double Curved Railway
- Dead-End Highway
- Dead-End Railway
- Overpass
Note: Stations allow you to connect a Railway Route to a Highway Route. Overpasses allow the two to cross without being connected to each other.
Drawing Routes
After the dice roll, all players must draw the Routes on their boards at the same time. There are a few drawing rules you need to follow:
- Each Route you draw must be connected on at least one side to either one of the Exits or a preexisting Route. If you can't connect a Route, you can't draw it.
- You must draw all 4 Routes shown on the dice each round, if possible (and each Route showing can only be drawn once, of course).
- You can't draw Routes in a way that directly connects Railways to Highways or vice versa (you need a Station to do that).
Important: When drawing Routes, you can freely rotate and/or reverse the pattern you see on the die.
Using Special Routes
Each player can also use 3 of 6 Special Routes, displayed in the top part of the boards, that do not appear on the Route dice. These Routes may allow you to connect different Networks together and/or make bigger Networks.
You may draw a Special Route once per round, in addition to the Routes shown on the Route dice, but you may use each Special Route only once per game. After you use a Special Route, you must mark it off on your board as a reminder that you can't use it again.
Also, you can only use up to 3 Special Routes during the entire game (and remember, only 1 per round).
Remember: Only 1 Special Route per round, and only up to 3 per game!
Special Buildings
Some of the spaces of your board contain a Special Building (these are represented by the colored icons in the top left corner of some spaces).
When you draw certain kinds of Routes in spaces containing a Special Building, you trigger special effects. These special effects must all be applied immediately or they are lost (you can't draw on a space with a Special Building during the current round and apply its effects in a later round).
There are 3 kinds of Special Buildings:
- Factory: You activate a Factory when you draw a Route with at least 1 Railway and/or 1 Highway stretch in its space. When you activate a Factory, you may "duplicate" 1 of the Route dice that were rolled this round, i.e., draw it twice during the same round.
- Village: You activate a Village when you draw a Route with a Station in its space. When you activate a Village, mark the leftmost unmarked Village space in the scoring area of your board. At the end of the game, you will gain points equal to the value of the highest-value marked space. The Village spaces are worth 2, 4, 6, and 8 points from left to right.
- University: You activate a University when you draw a Route with at least 1 Railway and/or 1 Highway stretch in its space. When you activate a University, mark 1 of the University spaces in the scoring area of your board. When you mark your third and last University space, you may immediately draw 1 Special Route "for free," i.e., it won't count towards your limit of 1 per round and/or 3 per game. You must still mark this Special Route off your board (each single Special Route can still be used only once per game).
Note: Drawing Routes obtained thanks to the effect of a Factory or a University on a space containing another Special Building does trigger the effect of the second Special Building: if you use them wisely, you can trigger chains of effects!
Destructive Expansions
When playing with Expansions which may erase routes from your board, if a route is erased from a space containing a Special Building, you don't lose the effect obtained from its activation, and the Special Building can even be activated again by drawing another route in its space!
Checking Goals
Once all the players have drawn all of the available Routes, it's time to check and declare if you achieved any Goals. This is the only way to score points during the game (the rest of the points are calculated only at the end of the game). For more details, see "Goal Cards".
Note: Wait until the end of the round to declare which Goals you achieved. If you do it earlier, your opponents may be able to match you and get the same score!
End of the Round
Once all players have declared the Goals they achieved, if any, the round ends.
Each player must mark the spaces where they drew Routes this round by writing the number of the current round in the white boxes of each space they drew on. Normally, you cannot erase the Routes you drew in a previous round.
After that, roll the Route dice to start the next round.
Goal Cards
Introduction
As described above, Goal cards are the only way to score points during the game: the rest of your score is calculated at the end of the game. Each Goal card shows a code and a task. The code is marked on your board during setup. The task describes what you must do in order to score points for the Goal.
Note: The Expansion Goal cards are described separately in the rules for each Expansion (see "Expansion Goals").
Scoring Goals
At the end of each round, declare to the other players if you achieved a Goal and show your board to prove it. Then, write the highest score still available for that Goal in the corresponding score space on your board.
If more than one player achieves the same Goal at the end of the same round, they all get the same number of points.
Finally, mark the highest Score dot on the Goal card. Players who achieve that Goal in a later round will gain fewer points (the lowest score, worth 1 point, is never marked and will always be available). Each Goal card carries scores of 4, 2, and 1 points.
Example: You are the first to complete this Goal. You mark the leftmost available score space on the card, which won't be available any more during this game. Then, you write the corresponding number of points on your board, in the Goals area next to the space where you marked the code for the Goal you just achieved.
End of the Game
The game ends after the 7th round. Now it's time to count your score! Each player counts the points they earned for their connected Exits, their Longest Railway and Longest Highway, and the Central Spaces they drew on, marking their points on the designated spaces of the Scoring Table on their boards. For more details, see "How to Score Points".
Then, each player must check for incomplete Routes. Each end of a Route that does not connect with any other Route or the outer edge of the board counts as an Error. Mark each one of these Errors with the Error symbol (a cross). You lose 1 point for each Error on your board. Mark these penalty points on the matching space of your Scoring Table.
Note: If you are playing with an Expansion, mark any additional points on the Expansion space of your scoring board.
Finally, add up all the points you earned, including those from the Villages you activated and the Goals you achieved during the game (and subtracting any points from Errors), then write your total score on your Scoring Table. The player with the most points wins! In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the fewest Error marks on their board. If they're still tied, the victory is shared.
The Scoring Table contains a space for each of: Networks, Longest Highway, Longest Railway, Central Spaces, Village Points, Goal Points, Expansion Points, Errors, and Total.
How to Score Points
Connecting Exits
Connecting Exits is the main way to score points in Railroad Ink Challenge™. At the end of the game, each set of Exits that are connected to each other via the same Network of Routes is worth a number of points determined by the number of Exits connected together, as shown on the Network Values on your Board:
| Exits connected | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 40 | 45 |
Note: Overpasses only allow you to make two of your Networks cross each other, but they don't create a connection between the two.
Note: You can use Stations to connect Railway Routes and Highway Routes to each other.
Example: Heiko's board at the end of the game has 2 Networks. One (A) connects a total of 4 Exits and is worth 12 points. The other (B) connects 5 Exits and is worth 16 points. The two networks are worth 28 points in total!
Bonus Points
While the points you get for connecting Exits may end up being the bulk of your score when you add up points at the end of the game, do not underestimate the importance of the bonus points you can earn from your Longest Highway, Longest Railway, and Central Spaces.
- Your Longest Highway is the single longest unbroken line of Highway Routes that connects a streak of adjacent spaces, not counting any branches. Your longest path can cross itself, but you can't count the same stretch of highway more than once. Stations do not interrupt your line. You score 1 point for each space that has a part of your single longest Highway path drawn on it. Spaces may be counted more than once if your line goes through them multiple times.
- Your Longest Railway is determined the same way as the Longest Highway, only counting Railway Routes instead of Highway Routes.
- Your Central Spaces are the 9 spaces in the middle of your board. You score 1 point for each Central Space you drew anything on.
If you have two Longest Routes of the same kind (with the same number of spaces), only 1 counts towards your final score.
If you must count a Route stretch that you already counted to proceed, your Longest Route is interrupted.
Example: The Longest Highway (marked in blue) is worth 16 points, the Longest Railway (marked in orange) is worth 14 points, and the Central Spaces are worth 7 points.
Goal Cards Explained
- A — Draw anything in at least 5 of the Central Spaces of your board (the spaces don't need to be connected to each other, just in the Central Area).
- B — Activate 3 Villages by drawing a Station inside their spaces.
- C — Draw anything in all of the spaces of a single row or column of your board (the spaces don't need to be connected to each other, just in the same row/column).
- D — Draw anything in at least 3 of the corner spaces of your board.
- E — Draw anything in all of the spaces of a 3x3 area on your board (the spaces don't need to be connected to each other, just in the same 3x3 area).
- F — Create a circular path that starts and ends at the same point.
Solo Mode
Timed Goals
The solo mode of Railroad Ink Challenge™ follows the same rules as a regular game, with one exception: instead of achieving Goals before your opponents (since there are none), you will have "Timed Goals" to achieve before the end of a certain round. See the table below:
| Goal | Time limit |
|---|---|
| Top Goal | 3rd round |
| Middle Goal | 4th round |
| Bottom Goal | 5th round |
If you complete a Goal before its time limit expires, you gain 4 points. If you complete it after the time limit expires, you only gain 1 point.
Example: You completed the Top Goal during the second round (1 round in advance!), so it will be worth 4 points at the end of the game. The Middle Goal was completed during the fourth round... just in time. It will be worth 4 points at the end of the game. You also managed to complete the Bottom Goal before the end of the game, but during the very last round: it will be worth 1 point only. Still better than nothing: if you didn't complete it, it would have been worth no points at all.
Draft Mode
Note: To play with this game mode, you will need 1 "Railroad Ink" box for each player joining the game (either "Railroad Ink" and/or "Railroad Ink Challenge").
The draft mode of Railroad Ink follows the same rules as a regular game, with a very important exception: instead of using a single set of basic (white) Route dice for all players, you will draft your dice from a common pool at the beginning of each round, creating your own personal set!
Setup
Follow the regular setup procedure as described in "Setup", with the exception of step 3. Instead, take 1 set of 4 basic (white) dice for each player, put them all inside one of the game boxes and mix them. This will be the Dice Pool. Also, randomly select a first player: this player will have to draw a little star somewhere on their board (don't erase the star during the game, it could be used to break ties at the end of the game).
Game Round
In draft mode, each round is divided into 3 main phases:
- Rolling phase: You roll dice from the Dice Pool and create pairs of dice.
- Drafting phase: You pick pairs of dice in turns, to create your personal sets of dice.
- Drawing phase: You draw the routes from your personal sets of dice.
Rolling Phase
Take 2 random dice from the Dice Pool and roll them. Then, take the newly formed pair of dice and put them in the middle of the table (without changing their result).
Repeat this process until all of the dice from the Dice Pool have been rolled and placed in the middle of the table in separate pairs.
- Take 2 dice.
- Roll them.
- Create separate pairs.
Drafting Phase
Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player must pick 1 pair of dice and place it in front of them (without changing their results, of course).
When all players have 1 pair of dice in front of them, each player must take another turn, starting with the first player and going clockwise, and pick a second pair of dice.
After this process, each player will have a personal set of 4 dice in front of them: these are the dice they will have to draw on their boards for the current round.
Determining the First Player
Before proceeding with the Drawing Phase, determine who will be the first player during the following round. This will be the player with the lowest-valued dice in their set.
Each player adds up the point value of their dice (see the table below). The player with the lowest total will be first player for the next round.
In case of a tie, the player who picked last between the tied players will be first player for the next round.
| Value | Routes |
|---|---|
| 0 points | Double Curved Highway, Overpass, Double Curved Railway |
| 1 point | Dead-End Highway, Dead-End Railway |
| 2 points | Straight Station, Curved Station, Curved Highway, Straight Highway, Curved Railway, Straight Railway |
| 3 points | T-Junction Station (1), T-Junction Station (2), T-junction Highway, T-junction Railway |
The value of the dice is easy to remember: notice that the value of a piece is equal to the number of open ends it has, except for the 0 point pieces.
Example: Player 1 has 8 points, more than the other players, so he won't become the first player. Player 2, player 3, and player 4 are tied with a total of 6 points. Since player 4 is the last in turn order between the tied players, she will be first player for the next round.
Drawing Phase
The Drawing Phase follows the regular rules for the standard game, with the exception that each player will be drawing their own set of 4 dice instead of a common one.
End of the Round
At the end of the round, put all of the basic (white) dice back in the Dice Pool, then start the next round with a new Rolling Phase.
End of the Game
At the end of the 7th round, the game ends, just like in the regular version of the game. Follow the regular rules of the game to determine the winner.
Ties are won in reverse turn order (counter-clockwise), starting from the player to the right of the player with the star on their board.
Playing with Expansions
The Draft mode can also be played with any Expansion: all of the regular rules for that Expansion also apply to the draft mode, but the Expansion dice will not be drafted: they will be shared by all players as usual.
Expansions
Once you feel confident enough with the ins and outs of Railroad Ink Challenge™, you can spice things up by using 1 of the 2 optional Expansions included in this box.
If you play with an Expansion, you must roll the respective Expansion dice along with the 4 Route dice at the beginning of each round. In addition, the Expansion may change the number of rounds you must play and give you new ways to score points.
During the game, follow the same rules as the regular game with a few changes, as described below.
At the end of the game, when you add up your score, remember to count the points you earned from the Expansion you're using, and mark them in the designated space of your scoring table.
Forest Dice
Difficulty: Easy — 6 rounds
Build lush forests and make them seamlessly interweave with your regular networks to create beautiful scenic routes in a natural paradise. Your goal is to build the biggest Forest you can, to score bonus points. You can score up to 2 different Forests, but the second one will be worth less points. When playing with the Forest Expansion, apply these changes to the regular game rules:
- The game only lasts 6 rounds.
- When you draw Routes, you do not have to draw any of the Forest dice if you don't want to (you still have to use all 4 Route dice).
- The Forest dice you draw don't have to be connected to preexisting Routes and/or Trees.
- Each group of orthogonally adjacent spaces with trees on them (whether they also contain Routes or not) becomes a "Forest".
- At the end of the game, choose up to 2 different Forests on your board. You gain 2 points for each space occupied by the first Forest you choose, and 1 point for each space occupied by the second Forest you choose, if any. Note: an individual Forest can only be scored once.
The Forest dice show faces with routes and trees, and faces with trees only.
Example: Julia has 5 Forests on her board, 1 with 6 spaces, 2 with 3 spaces, and 2 made by a single space. She obviously chooses to score the one with 6 spaces first (marked in green), obtaining 12 points. Then, she chooses one of the Forests with 3 spaces as her second (marked in yellow), scoring an additional 3 points.
Trail Dice
Difficulty: Hard — 6 rounds
Build panoramic trails and turn your board into a hiker's dream! Your goal is to connect Stations to each other through a parallel network of Trails, to score bonus points. Trails travel through the corners of your spaces, not through their sides, and they auto-connect to Stations when they are touching a corner of a space containing one. When playing with the Trail Expansion, apply these changes to the regular game rules:
- The game only lasts 6 rounds.
- When you draw Routes, you do not have to draw any of the Trail dice if you don't want to (you still have to use all 4 Route dice).
- The Trail dice you draw must be connected to preexisting Routes and/or Trails.
- Trails with open ends do not count as Errors at the end of the game.
- When a Trail is touching the corner of a space containing a Station, it immediately auto-connects to that Station through the shortest diagonal path.
- At the end of the game, each set of Stations connected to each other via the same network of Trails is worth an amount of points determined by the number of Stations connected together, scoring half of the Network Values shown on your Board. Note: 12 Stations (23 points) is the maximum number of Stations that you can score. If you connect more, you don't obtain any additional points.
Example: When a Trail enters the corner of a space containing a Station, it immediately "auto-connects" to that Station (as marked in red in this example).
Example: To calculate the value of a set of Stations connected to each other via the same network of Trails, check the Network Value for the corresponding number of Exits and halve it. For 5 Stations, that would be 16 / 2 = 8 points.
Expansion Goals
Setup changes
As described in "Setup", when you play with an Expansion, instead of drawing 3 random Goal cards to use during the game, you must draw 2 random Goal cards and 1 random Expansion Goal card from the Expansion that you are playing with.
Forest Expansion Goal cards:
- FA — Draw at least 5 separate Forests (they can be merged after you achieved this Goal).
- FB — Draw an uninterrupted streak of 4 diagonally adjacent spaces with Trees inside.
- FC — Draw Trees in at least 4 spaces adjacent to Exits.
Trail Expansion Goal cards:
- TA — Draw Trails in 5 adjacent spaces on the same row or column (the spaces don't need to be connected to each other, just adjacent).
- TB — Connect at least 3 Trails to the same Station.
- TC — Draw Trails in 5 spaces in the Central Area of your board (the spaces don't need to be connected to each other, just in the Central Area).
You Can Also Play from Remote!
Download the printable version of the board at horribleguild.com/challenge-board.
- Roll the dice.
- Take a picture.
- Share it with your friends.
The Railroad Ink series includes: The Blue and Red Railroad Ink games, the Green and Yellow Railroad Ink Challenge games and 7 Expansion packs. All Expansions, both the ones in the Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow boxes and the ones in the Expansion Boxes are modular and 100% compatible with any version of the game.
Credits
- Design: Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva
- Artwork: Marta Tranquilli
- Art Direction: Lorenzo Silva
- Graphic Design: Rita Ottolini, Noa Vassalli, Antonio Delbono
- Project Manager: Hjalmar Hach
- Production Manager: Flavio Mortarino
- Rulebook: Hjalmar Hach, Alessandro Pra', William Niebling
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