Tchu Tchu Train Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective
• Preparation
• Game Play
  • 1. Action (Play cards)
  • 2. Replenishment (Draw cards)
  • Usage of the Joker
  • 3. End of a turn
• End of the Game
• Scoring
• Railroad King!

Components

• 1 Game Board
• 4 Scoring markers (1 x 4 colors)
• 120 Train tokens (30 x 4 colors)
• 1 First player marker
• 8 Station markers
• 8 Crossroad tokens
• 2 packs of Playing cards
  • 104 cards
  • 4 Joker cards

Objective

Each Player manages a railroad company and places trains and builds and connects the railroads. The one who earn more points than any other competitors wins.

Preparation

• Place the Station marker and Crossroad token and Joker cards (from the Playing cards) near the Game board.
• Players select their color and their scoring marker on '0' on the scoring track.
• Take Train token, according to the number of game participants. (30 pcs. for 2 players, 25 for 3 players, 20 for 4 players) Any left overs go into the box and not used in the game.
• Exclude 2 Joker cards from each pack of playing cards. (You've already done this above.)
• Shuffle the 2 packs of playing cards (= 104) and place them on the center of the table, face-down. This becomes a draw deck.
• Players take 7 cards from the draw deck. If a player doesn't like his/ her hands, he/ she can change all cards once. (To do this, shuffle all the thrown over and draw deck and take a new 7 cards.)
• Open the top 4 cards from the draw deck and place them face-up in a line.
• The player who took a midnight train most recently goes first.

Example: set up for 3 players. Each player takes 25 pcs. of train token in 3 players.

Game Play

The turn sequence is like as below:

Action > Replenishment > End of a turn

1. Action (Play cards)

A player have to do one action, out of the following two - place trains or building a station:

1. Placing trains: Player can place trains on the board, by playing 1 to 7 cards.

• 1 card can place 1 train. If the board has 2 cells for 1 card, player can choose 1 cell to place the token among 2.
• If a player wants to place many train tokens in his/ her turn, the tokens should be adjacent to each other. This rule is only applied to the single turn.
• Scoring marker is moved as follows:
  • 1 train placed: 1 point forward or hand refresh
  • 2 trains placed: 2 points forward
  • 3 trains placed: 4 points forward
  • 4 trains placed: 6 points forward
  • 5 trains placed: 8 points forward
  • 6 trains placed: 10 points forward
  • 7 trains placed: 13 points forward

2. Building a station: Player can build a station by playing 1 card.

• The board has 8 areas. A station can't be adjacent to another. Only 1 station can be built in a area.
• Joker can't build a station.

The played cards are discarded and not used in the game. 'Joker's are recycled and go back to the Joker card pool, however.

Example: Placing trains.

• Since the current player has the cards which correspond to the 4 adjacent cells, he/ she can play the 4 cards. (King Diamond, 7 Club, 2 Spade, and 5 Spade)
• The Train tokens have to be placed on the corresponding cells, covering the contents. Now, the cells are occupied, and no other train tokens or station marker can be placed on the cells. The cells correspond to the 2 packs of playing cards. 2 identical cells are on the board.
• In the picture, the current player gets 6 points, since he/ she placed 4 tokens in this turn. he/ she moves his/ her scoring marker 6 spaces (along the board edges) forward.

2. Replenishment (Draw cards)

1. After train tokens are placed: cards are replenished as many as used in the turn.

• There are 4 open cards beside the draw deck. The current player may take the cards from it up to as many as used in the turn.
• And then the player takes remains from the draw deck. If the player once takes card from the draw deck, he/she cannot take the open cards.
• The 4 open cards should be maintained. Cards are replaced to open from the draw deck.
• Hand Refresh: If a player placed only 1 train in a turn, he/ she can refresh the cards in his/ her hand, after card replenishment. The player can change his/ her cards with the 4 opened cards on the table, up to 4. The card which was in the player's hand goes to the table. In this case, the player can't get a train score.

2. After a station marker is placed: the current player takes 1 Joker card.

The player takes 1 Joker card and a Crossroad token.

The number of cards in the player's hand should be 7 after replenishment.

Example: Building a station & Replenish.

• Player plays 1 card (Diamond 7) and build a station in the cell.
• A station marker are placed in the cell, covering the contents.
• He/ she takes 1 Joker card and a Crossroad token.

Example: Cases of cannot build a station.

• If a station is built in a area, no other station can be built in the same area.
• A station can't be adjacent to another, even though they are being built in different areas.

Usage of the Joker

• The train token can be placed any unoccupied cells, using a Joker card.
• Joker is usually used with other cards, to make a connected trains.
• If a train token is placed using a Joker card, Crossroad token is also place in the cell. (This shows the train is placed by the power of Joker.) Later on, if any player can place a train token in the cell, without using the Joker, He/ she can place the train token and the Crossroad token in removed from the game. This is the only case that 2 tokens can exist in a cell.
• Used Joker card and Crossroad token are not discarded but go back to the Joker card deck where they are from.
• A player can have only 1 Joker in the game. i.e., A player can't build a station if he/ she has the Joker card.

Example: Use a Joker card.

• Joker is used as Club 7, in the picture.
• A Crossroad token is placed in the cell, since the train is place using a Joker. A contents of the cell should be shown, for another placement.
• Used Joker goes back the Joker card deck, and the others are discarded.
• The current player used 4 cards in this turn, and draws 4.

Example: Place a train on the Crossroad.

• If a blue player had Club 7, not Joker, he can place the train token, including the Crossroad.
• He/ she dispatches the Crossroad token to the Joker card pool, and place his/ her token on it. Now the train tokens can cover the contents of the cells.
• You can place a train token on the Crossroad made by yourself previously. In this case the train token is included to check the Longest rail points at the end of game.

3. End of a turn

A player's turn finishes after 1 action and replenishment. The turn goes clockwise.

End of the Game

When a player uses up his/ her train token, but the round continues until the last player's turn. (Every player played the same number of turns.)

Scoring

Each player calculates the score like as below:

Total score = Train Points + Longest Rail Points + Station Points

• Train Points: The current location of Scoring marker.
• Longest Rail Points: The biggest mass of train markers of a player counts. The 'mass of train' doesn't have to be connected in a line. It counts as long as it's not separated.
  • 1st: 8 points
  • 2nd: 4 points
  • 3rd: 2 points
  • In case of 2 players game, Only the 1st gets 5 points.
  • If there's a tie, sum all the points concerned and share them evenly. (Each point is rounded down to the nearest whole number.)
• Station Points: Only the stations connected with trains counts. Square the number.

Example: Station Points.

• The yellow player has 3 and 2 stations connected with trains, so he/ she earns 13 points with stations.
  • 3 stations connected: 3*3 = 9
  • 2 stations connected: 2*2 = 4
  • Station Points: 9+4 = 13
• A station which is not connected to another is counted as 0 (not 1).

Railroad King!

The biggest scorer wins. If there's a tie, the more train placer wins. If there's a tie again, they wins together.

The winner is conferred as a Railroad King!