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Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition FAQ

80 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook

Route Dice ReferenceGame RoundsDrawing RoutesEnd of the GameConnecting ExitsBonus PointsRiver DiceLake DiceCombining ExpansionsGeneralRailroad Ink: Arcade Expansion PackRailroad Ink: Eldritch Expansion PackRailroad Ink: Electricity Expansion PackRailroad Ink: Engineer Expansion PackRailroad Ink: Sky Expansion PackRailroad Ink: Underground Expansion Pack

Route Dice Reference

  • Can you rotate or mirror a route die face when you draw it?
  • Can you rotate or mirror the special route tiles on your board?

Game Rounds

  • Can you erase or extend a route drawn in an earlier round?
  • What is the round number written in the corner of each drawn space for?

Drawing Routes

  • Can the unconnected part of an overpass or bridge face be extended later?
  • Must a new road or railway connect to a matching route, or can it run alongside one?
  • Can a road be connected directly to a railway, including at an exit?
  • When is the rule to draw all four dice routes enforced, and what if one becomes impossible to draw?
  • Must you place every basic white die you roll, even if the only legal spots cost points?
  • Can you order your placements so that later dice have no legal spot, including placing a lake die first?
  • Is there a legal space for a route die when no open route is left to connect to?
  • Can a new route be started from a board edge that has no exit?
  • Can routes you draw in the same turn connect to each other?
  • Can a route touch an existing route's open side and create an error?

End of the Game

  • Does a route that ends against an open lake side count as an error?
  • Do exits with no road or railway attached count as errors?
  • Is a route that runs to a non-exit outer edge of the board an error?
  • Do unused exits, or exits blocked by lakes, count as errors or negative points?
  • How many negative points does an open dead end cost?

Connecting Exits

  • How are connected exits scored at the end of the game?
  • Does an overpass split a network for scoring?
  • Do networks linked through the same lake count as connected for network scoring?

Bonus Points

  • Does my longest highway or railway have to reach an exit or be finished to score?
  • If my network branches, which path counts for the longest highway or railway?
  • Can a longest highway or railway pass through the same space twice?
  • Do routes that touch no exit still count for the longest railway and the central spaces?
  • Do stations interrupt a longest highway or railway?
  • Does a lake interrupt my longest highway or railway?
  • Do river squares count toward the central spaces score?
  • Does an overpass count toward the longest highway or railway?

River Dice

  • Must a river die face, including its bridge face, connect to existing routes?
  • Can a river die face be drawn over an existing road or railway square?
  • Can you ignore the bridge and port faces on the river and lake dice?
  • Can a road or railway touch a river square without connecting to it?
  • Do you have to draw both river dice, or can you use only one?
  • When playing with rivers, do you score every river you draw or only your best one?

Lake Dice

  • Does a lake fill a space that already has a road or railway on it?
  • Does my smallest lake have to be fully enclosed to score?
  • If I have only one lake, does it count as my smallest lake?
  • Do lake tiles that touch only at a corner form one lake?
  • When does an empty space fill with water automatically under the lake rule?
  • Does a lake placed at the end of a row of empty spaces between lakes fill the whole row?
  • Does a lake drawn in the middle four spaces fill all of them?
  • Do I have to draw the lake dice, and must lakes connect to anything?

Combining Expansions

  • Where can you check whether two expansions can be used together?
  • Can you combine more than one expansion in a single game?
  • Do all players in a game have to use the same expansion dice?

General

  • How do you play Railroad Ink solo?
  • Can the red or blue goal cards be used with the base Deep Blue game?
  • Are players' boards meant to be hidden from each other?

Railroad Ink: Arcade Expansion PackExpansion

  • How is a cloud face on the Rainbow die resolved in a solo game?
  • Can a route be drawn into or out of a Rainbow space?
  • Can you connect to a Pluck-Man exit in the same turn you draw its result?
  • What happens when you draw a route in a space with a shielded Galactic Invaders alien?

Railroad Ink: Eldritch Expansion PackExpansion

  • How is a Madness Network with Portals and Rituals sized for scoring?
  • Do you get the all-clues bonus if you skip drawing some Clue results?
  • Can you draw a tentacle into a space that already has a dead end or a tentacle end?
  • Do tentacles count as railways or highways for activating universities and factories?

Railroad Ink: Electricity Expansion PackExpansion

  • Does an Accumulator on the central University space activate the University?
  • What does starting at an exit mean for the Electricity power grid dice?
  • How do you charge the Accumulator when electrifying with the Power Grid dice?
  • Does an Accumulator on the central space count as a drawn cell for the nine central spaces?
  • Can the Accumulator and a Volcano both start in the centre space?

Railroad Ink: Engineer Expansion PackExpansion

  • Can you use Engineer dice on the Giant or Epic boards?
  • How many Engineer dice can be used in one game, and can they combine with another expansion?
  • Can the Construction die's effects be applied to results of expansion dice?
  • Can Engineer dice be applied to a cell that an expansion turned into a basic route?
  • Does the Construction die's free placement also apply to Special Routes?
  • Can a Renovation route be renovated again?
  • Does the Separation die's interrupted route count as a negative point?

Railroad Ink: Sky Expansion PackExpansion

  • Does an Airport connect to an adjacent exit?
  • Do two adjacent Airports join automatically into an air route?
  • Can dice faces that combine airways with roads or railways be drawn anywhere?
  • Can a network be made only of an airport and air routes?
  • Do airports count as stations for connecting villages to networks?
  • Can you draw a route into an isolated airport from an adjacent space?

Railroad Ink: Underground Expansion PackExpansion

  • Do broken water pipes disrupt network connections?
  • Is the score for a large subway network capped?
  • How many rounds do you play on the Giant board when using the Underground expansion?
  • Does a subway connected to only one exit still score if it has a hub?