Railroad Rivals
Railroad Rivals Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Railroad Rivals is a tile drafting and laying game where you build a Railroad Empire that stretches across America…and across your table.
Each turn you will draft one new city tile and one new railroad stock tile. You will then lay one of your city tiles next to a city tile that is already on the table so that you create a link between the two cities. Each newly laid city gets one or more randomly drawn colored cubes placed on it that represent the goods that can be delivered from that city. After all players have laid their city tile, you will deliver one goods cube using an available railroad link. This awards you points, and raises the value of the stock of that railroad.
At the end of the game, your score will be the total of:
- Points you received from deliveries
- Minus the points that you paid for your winning bids
- The value of all your railroad stock tiles
Game Components
Scoring Track/Stock Value Board — a double track combining the Scoring Track (spaces 1-64, in four rows) and the Stock Value track (spaces 1-10, one column for each of the twelve railroads).
20 Locomotives in each of 5 colors — used as turn-order/player markers on the Scoring Track and as link markers on the map.
37 City Tiles — each tile shows a City Name, the Railroad(s) on its edges, and the Number of Goods Cubes to draw when the tile is placed. Note: Each of the 37 City Tiles features a unique building/structure that existed in that city around the turn of the century (1900).
48 Stock Tiles (4 for each Railroad) — there are four of each type of Railroad Stock Tile for a total of 48 tiles. The twelve unique railroad stocks represent some of the most historically significant railroads in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The actual railroad company logos are used for their historical significance and accuracy.
Goods Cubes — 16 Goods Cubes in brown (Wood), 10 Goods Cubes in each of Black (Coal), Yellow (Grain), and Gray (Iron).
12 Railroad Stock Value Markers (1 for each Railroad).
1 Goods Bag.
5 Double sided Character Cards (one associated with each player color).
Game Setup
Locomotives
Each player chooses a color and places all of the locomotives of their color as well as that color's Character Card near them.
Starting City Tile
Place the Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati City Tiles face down in the middle of the table and mix them up. Randomly select one of them, placing it face up in the middle of the table. This is the Starting Tile. Draw goods cubes equal to the number shown and place them on the tile.
Return the other two tiles to the pile of face down City Tiles.
City and Stock Tiles
Place all of the tiles face down and separate the tiles into two groups (marked on the backs of the tiles): City and Stock. Randomly mix the tiles in each group.
Give each player two City Tiles. These can be placed face down so that the other players cannot see them.
The remaining City Tiles and Stock Tiles will form two draw piles.
Player Turn Order and Starting Scores
Player Turn Order
Take the Character Cards from each player, shuffle them, and deal them out left to right to create the initial Player Turn Order. The card on the far left is the 1st player, then left to right: '2nd', '3rd' and so on.
Starting Scores
Place a locomotive from the player who is 1st on the '6' spot on the Scoring Track. Place a locomotive from the player who is 2nd on the '8' spot, and so on, with each player starting 2 points higher than the player who is before them in the Player Order.
Goods Cubes
The number of different Goods Cube colors that will be in play is equal to the number of players minus one:
- 2 Players: 16 Brown Goods Cubes + 10 Yellow (see 2-player rules)
- 3 Players: 16 Brown Goods Cubes + 10 Yellow
- 4 Players: 16 Brown Goods Cubes + 10 Yellow + 10 Black
- 5 Players: 12 Brown Goods Cubes + 6 Yellow + 10 Black + 6 Gray
Place these cubes in the bag.
Place the remaining goods cubes out of play – they will not be used in this game.
Game Turn
Each turn consists of four phases:
- Draw Tiles/Bid for Turn Order
- Draft Tiles
- Place a City Tile
- Deliver a Good
1. Draw Tiles/Bid for Turn Order
Draw Tiles
Draw tiles equal to the number of players from each pile (City and Stock), and turn them face up near the middle of the table (for example, if there are 4 players, draw 4 City and 4 Stock tiles). These are available to be selected by the players.
Bid for Turn Order
The turn order for the first turn of the game is decided by the draw during setup, so there is no bidding on the first turn. Each turn thereafter, the players will bid to decide who will become the 1st player. Starting with the last player (furthest right Character Card) and moving left, the players will take turns bidding points or 'passing'. When it is your turn to bid, you must make a bid that is higher than the previous bid, or pass. Once you pass, you may not bid again.
The bidding continues until all of the players but one have passed. The player who made the last (highest) bid pays by moving their locomotive on the Scoring Track down equal to the number of points that they bid. They then move their Character Card to the 1st spot (furthest left), keeping the remaining players' Character Cards in the same relative order to the right of them.
Example: Before bidding, the Player order was red, blue, yellow, gray.
Bidding… Gray bids 2 Yellow bids 3 Blue bids 5 Red passes Gray passes Yellow bids 6 Blue passes
Yellow wins the bid and moves their locomotive on the score track down 6 spaces.
Yellow moves their Character Card to the 1st position and moves red and blue's Character Cards to the right one position. The turn order is now set for the turn.
2. Draft Tiles
In turn order (as shown by the Character Cards) starting with the 1st player, each player selects a tile from those that were drawn in phase one. They may select either a City Tile or a Stock Tile.
Once all players have made their first selection, they each select a second tile of the other type, so that each player draws one City Tile and one Stock Tile. A player may not draw two of the same type of tile.
Place your newly selected Tiles in front of you. Stock Tiles are placed face up and City Tiles face down.
Railroad Stock Tiles
Throughout the game, the value of Railroad Stocks will increase as deliveries are made (see below). By the end of the game, the Railroad Stocks will be worth quite a few points. Drafting the stocks that will eventually have the most value is a key strategy in winning the game.
Note: There are four of each type of Railroad Stock Tile for a total of 48 tiles. The twelve unique railroad stocks represent some of the most historically significant railroads in The United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We have used the actual railroad company logos for their historical significance and accuracy.
3. Place a City Tile
In turn order, starting with the 1st player, each player will take a turn placing one of their City Tiles on the table next to a City Tile that was already placed. The Railroad on the edge of the City Tile that you place must match the Railroad on the edge of the City Tile that it is placed next to.
Example: The St. Louis tile is on the table already. You own the Pittsburgh tile and decide to match the B&O Railroad edge on the St. Louis tile with one of the B&O Railroad edges on the Pittsburgh tile. You may place it either way.
When you place your City Tile by matching a Railroad, you have created a 'Link', which you own. To show that you own that Link, place one of your locomotives across the two tiles next to the matching Railroad names.
Example: Cleveland is placed next to Indianapolis, creating a link with the NYC Railroad. The other NYC Railroad edge is next to the IC Railroad Edge on the St. Louis City Tile above it. The placement is legal, but there is no Link between St. Louis and Cleveland. A locomotive is placed to show the Link between Indianapolis and Cleveland, but not between St. Louis and Cleveland.
If there was a different City Tile in place of St. Louis that had NYC along its bottom edge so that by placing the Cleveland City Tile, it created two Links, then you would place a locomotive on both of them.
After placing your locomotive, blindly draw Goods Cubes out of the bag equal to the number on the corner of the newly placed City Tile, and place them on that City Tile.
Example: Pittsburgh has a '2' on the corner, so you draw two cubes out of the bag and place them on the Pittsburgh tile.
Additional City Tile Placement Rules:
- Tiles may not be stacked on top of tiles already placed.
- Only one side of the tile laid must match another tile's railroad. If placing a tile with a matching railroad edge also creates another matching edge, then place your locomotives along both matches. However, if placing a tile with a matching railroad edge means that there are unmatched edges with other tiles, the placement is still legal, but no locomotive is placed on edges with railroads that do not match.
- If you have a City Tile that can make a legal match, then you MUST place a tile that makes a match. (i.e. If you can make a match, then you must do so).
- Only one City Tile is placed by each player on a turn.
- If the City Tiles that you have do not match with any open railroad edges on the table, then you must place a City Tile with a blank edge (no railroad) next to an already laid City Tile with a blank edge.
Example: Continuing from the previous example (Cleveland, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis), you don't have any City Tiles with NYC, PRR, B&O, C&O, or MP. You therefore place the El Paso City Tile's blank edge next to the blank edge of Cleveland.
- If you cannot make a legal match or match blank edges, then you must 'pass' and place no city tile that turn.
4. Deliver a Good
After each player has placed one of their City Tiles (or passed), then the players will deliver Goods. In Turn Order, starting with the 1st player, each player will deliver one Goods Cube.
You may choose any Goods Cube on a City Tile and deliver it via any existing Link on that City Tile. Take the Goods Cube off the City Tile, declare which link you are using, and place the cube on the table to show that it was delivered.
Goods Cube Delivery Scoring:
Delivering a Goods Cube will score you 1 – 3 points and will increase the stock value of the railroad whose link is used to make the delivery.
- Score points for the player who made the delivery (the acting player):
- 3 points if that color cube has not been already delivered that turn
- 2 points if that color was already delivered once that turn
- 1 point if that color was already delivered twice or more that turn
- If the link used to make the delivery is not owned by the acting player (not his color), the owner of the locomotive scores 2 points.
- The value of the Railroad Stock for the Railroad used (the Link) goes up 1 point. Move that Railroad's Stock Value Marker up one point on the Stock Value Board.
Example 1: You decide to deliver a black cube from Washington to St. Louis. However, another player has already delivered a black cube this turn. You would therefore get only 2 points for the delivery rather than 3. The value of the B&O stock would go up by '1'.
Example 2: You decide to deliver a brown cube from Washington to St. Louis. However, two other players have already delivered brown cubes earlier this turn. You would therefore get only 1 point for making the delivery. The value of the B&O stock would go up by '1'.
Once all players have delivered a goods cube, place the delivered cubes back in the bag.
When the City Tile Draw Pile Runs Out
At some point in the game, there will be a Draft Tiles Phase where there aren't enough City Tiles in the Draw Pile for all players to get one. When that occurs, remove any remaining City Tiles in the Draw Pile from the game and draw 2 Stock Tiles per player instead of one per player. The draw for that turn and any remaining turns will consist of two Stock Tiles per player rather than the usual one City and one Stock Tile.
Game End & Scoring
The last turn is triggered when any player places their last City Tile. When that turn is complete, the game ends.
Each player now scores points for each Stock Tile they own based on the railroad's current value on the Stock Value track. Add these points to those that they already have on the Score Track.
The player with the most points is the winner! In the case of a tie, the player who owns the highest valued stock is the winner. If players are still tied, whoever owns the next-highest valued stocks wins. If there is still a tie, keep comparing stock values until a single winner is determined.
Example: At the end of the game, the Red player has 16 points on the Scoring Track and the following Railroad Stock Tiles: ACL x3, NYC x2, ATSF x2, C&O x1, B&O x1.
These Stocks had the following values at the end of the game: ACL = 4 | NYC = 5 | ATSF = 1 | C&O = 2 | B&O = 4
So the Red Player gets 12 points for his ACL stocks (3 x 4), 10 points for his NYC stocks (2 x 5), 2 points for his ATSF stock (2 x 1), 2 points for his C&O stock (1 x 2), and 4 points for his B&O stock (1 x 4), for a total of 30 points.
Added to the 16 points that he already had on the Scoring Track, he finishes with 46 points.
Optional Bidding Rule
This optional rule is slightly more complex, but offers interesting bidding strategies.
Starting with the last player on the Track and moving left, the players will take turns bidding points or 'passing'. When it is your turn to bid, you must make a bid that is higher than the previous bid, or pass. Once you pass, you may not bid again.
The first player to pass, places their Character Card in last place (furthest to the right). The next player to pass, places their turn order marker in second to last place, and so on.
The winner pays their bid and places their turn order marker in first place.
Special Rules for Two Players
Before starting the game make the following adjustments:
- Remove 1 of each Railroad Stock Tile (1 B&O Stock tile, 1 ATSF Stock Tile, etc.)
- Remove 6 random City Tiles
- Add a second color of cubes, but treat both colors as one color for game purposes (this is to ensure that there are enough cubes)
Solitaire Rules
Players wishing to enjoy Railroad Rivals as a solitaire game are in luck! The game plays very well solitaire with the following rules.
Setup
Scoreboard
Place all Railroad Stock Value Markers near the Scoreboard, but not on it.
Place a locomotive on the '1' value on the Score Track.
Goods Cubes
Place 6 Goods Cubes of each color (four colors) in the bag (total of 24).
Randomly draw three cubes and place them in front of you in any order that you want left to right. This is the starting Progression of Delivered Goods Cubes.
Starting City Tiles
Place the Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington City Tiles in the middle of the table and connect them via the IC (Chicago to St. Louis) and the B&O (St. Louis to Washington).
Randomly draw three Goods Cubes from the bag and place one on each City Tile.
Place the remaining City Tiles face down in a draw pile.
Starting Stock Tiles
Place all of the Stock Tiles face down, shuffle them, and form a draw pile.
Play
The solitaire game consists of four phases:
- Draw Stock Tiles
- Draw City Tiles
- Place Tile
- Deliver a Goods Cube
Draw Stock Tiles
Draw three stock tiles from the draw pile. Select one and place it in front of you. It is now a part of your stock portfolio. Discard the other two out of play.
Draw City Tiles
Draw three city tiles from the draw pile.
Place Tile
Place one City Tile according to the normal rules. Placing a locomotive is not necessary because all links created between cities will belong to the player. (Remember: Only matching railroads create a valid link). Discard the remaining two drawn City Tiles out of the game.
Randomly draw from the bag the number of goods cubes shown on the newly placed tile, and place them in the center of that tile. (Note: If there are no more Goods Cubes in the bag, then no cubes will be placed).
If no placement is possible, discard all three City Tiles.
Deliver a Goods Cube
Deliver a Goods Cube from any city via a valid link to an adjacent city. Place the delivered cube on the table to the right of the last Goods Cube delivered to continue the Progression of Delivered Goods Cubes.
Increase the value of the stock of the railroad used for the delivery by '2' (by moving the Stock Value Marker of that Railroad two spaces to the right on the Stock Value portion of the scoreboard).
(Note: '10' is the highest Stock Value for any Railroad)
Increase your score as follows:
Score 1 point for each cube in the four spots to the left of the delivered cube that is a unique color.
Example 1: On turn two, the delivered cubes progression (left to right) is: Yellow, Brown, Yellow, Black. Therefore, you would score '3' since three of the four cubes to the left of the delivered cube are unique (no duplicates).
Example 2: On turn three, the delivered cubes progression (left to right) is: Yellow, Brown, Yellow, Black, Gray. Therefore, you would score '4'.
Turns
There are 11 turns in the game. Repeat steps 1 through 4 on each turn.
End Game Scoring
After the 11th turn, increase your score by the correct value for each of your eleven Stock Tiles (based on their values on the Stock Value area of the scoreboard).
Rank
Your success is ranked as follows:
| Score | Rank |
|---|---|
| 35 or less | Train-Hopping Vagabond |
| 36 – 40 | Porter |
| 41 – 45 | Stoker/Boilerman |
| 46 – 50 | Conductor |
| 51 – 55 | Signalman |
| 56 – 60 | Locomotive Engineer |
| 61 – 65 | Train Dispatcher |
| 66 – 70 | Road Foreman of Engines |
| 71 – 75 | Manager |
| 76 – 80 | Railroad CEO |
| 81+ | Tycoon |
Solitaire Challenge
If you are looking for a more challenging experience, during setup, draw three random City Tiles. Create links, if possible. If not, place them adjacent without a link.
Credits
- Game Design: Glenn Drover
- Artwork: Jacoby O'Connor
- Cityscape Color & Character Artwork: Mark Page
- Cityscape Artwork: Renato Imana
- Cover Art: Brian Kesinger
- Graphic Design: Jacoby O'Connor
- Rules Editing: Dan Vujovic & Ralph Anderson
- Playtesting: Jack Provenzale, Jacoby O'Connor, Dan Vujovic, Sean Brown, Simon Mounsey, Christine Drover, Ethan Drover, Emma Drover, Jack Drover, Paul Koenig, David Rutter, Christopher Murphy, Bill Meyers, Brad Brooks, Brian Tessier, Michael McCarthy, Brian Cable, Paul Koenig, John Brust.
- Special Thanks: Jayme Boucher and Mark Streed.
This game is dedicated to my wife, Christine.
Disclaimer: All product, company names and logos of Atlantic Coast Line, ATSF/Santa Fe, B&O, C&O, CBQ/Northern Pacific, Burlington Route, Illinois Central, PRR, Missouri Pacific Line, New York Central System, Southern Pacific Lines, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific Railroad are trademarks and property of their respective holders. They are included in the game for historical context and do not imply any affiliation or endorsement by the holders.
Overview of Gameplay (Reference Card)
Each turn consists of four phases:
- Draw Tiles/Bid for Turn Order — Draw City and Stock tiles equal to the number of players and place them face up. Starting with the player in last turn order, place a bid or pass. Continue until only one player remains. That player pays their bid and moves their Character Card into the 1st turn order. All other players' Character Cards stay in their relative turn order: 2nd, 3rd, etc.
- Draft Tiles — In turn order, each player drafts one City Tile or one Stock Tile. Repeat, with each player drafting the tile type that they have not already drafted.
- Place a City Tile — In turn order, each player lays a City Tile. Lay the City Tile so that the railroad on one edge matches the railroad on the edge of a city tile already laid. Place that player's locomotive to show that they own that link. Draw from the bag and place Goods Cubes on the new City Tile equal to the number shown on that City Tile.
- Deliver a Good — In turn order, each player delivers one Goods Cube. Select one cube to be delivered. Select the railroad link with a locomotive to deliver it. Score points based on cube color (see below). If the locomotive used belongs to another player, they score two points. Increase the value of the stock of the railroad used to make the delivery by 1 point.
Scoring — Delivery
- Delivering a Goods Cube color that has not yet been delivered = 3 points
- Delivering a Goods Cube color that has been delivered once that turn = 2 points
- Delivering a Goods Cube color that has been delivered twice (or more) that turn = 1 point
- A player delivers a Goods Cube using a locomotive that is owned by another player = 2 points to the player that owns the locomotive
Scoring — End of Game
Points = Points on Scoring Track at Game End + the final value of each railroad stock tile that you own