Workshop of the World Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Structure
• Game Set-up
  • Create Demand 1
• Rounds of Play
  • Auctions
  • Player Turns
    • Place Industry
    • Build Links
  • Raising cash
  • Ending a round
• Create Demand 2
• Collect Cash
• Re-set Game
  • Create Demand 3
  • Rounds of Play
  • Create Demand 4
  • Collect Cash
• Game end and Winning
• Miscellaneous
  • Secrecy
  • The Leeds - Liverpool connection
• Playing Workshop of the World with two players
  • Game Set-up
  • Create Demand 1
  • Auction (1)
  • Auction (2)
  • Create Demand 2
  • Collect Cash
  • Create Demand 3
  • Create Demand 4

Components

The map-board shows England, Southern Scotland and East Wales.

On the map-board is a Turn order chart, a Demand chart, spaces for cards and a Revenue track.

There are three types of Town card: general, wild and set-up.

• Towns: Textile town (Value 4), Light Industry town (Value 3), Heavy Industry town (Value 3), Port town (Value 2), Crafts town (Value 2).
• Connections between towns are either Single or Double.
• Demand counters
• Industry wooden pieces
• Canal Links & Railway Links
• £10, £5 & £1 cash counters

Game Structure

The game is in two halves: the Canal Era and the Railway Era. Each Era runs as follows:

• Game Set-up (once only), then Create Demand 1
• Rounds of Play (Auctions, Player Turns: Place Industry, Build Links)
• Create Demand 2, then Collect Cash
• Re-set Game
• Create Demand 3
• Rounds of Play (Auctions, Player Turns: Place Industry, Build Links)
• Create Demand 4, then Collect Cash

Game Set-up

1. Each player takes a coloured set of Industries and Links, and £50 cash (in any combination). Each player places one Industry on zero on the Revenue track.
2. One Industry from each player is used in a random draw. The first Industry drawn is placed in the 1st box of the Turn order chart, the second in the 2nd box and so forth.
3. Separate the six set-up Town cards from the deck.

Shuffle the remaining Town cards and set aside the following:

• In a 5-player game, set aside 9 cards.
• In a 4-player game, set aside 11 cards.
• In a 3-player game, set aside 12 cards.

Place these cards face down on the Set-aside cards space. Place the remaining cards face down on the Town deck space. Shuffle the six set-up Town cards and place them on the top of the Town deck.

Create Demand 1

Place the Demand counters face down and shuffle them. Each player draws two counters, keeping them secret. In turn order each player chooses one of their counters, and places it on the respective space on the Demand chart. Each player's other counter is kept secret.

Rounds of Play

Auctions

Turn over Town cards equal to the number of players. Place them face up on the card spaces beside the deck. These are the Towns that are available this turn.

Players now take part in a 'once-round' auction to determine who receives which Town card. The 1st player selects a Town card, but does NOT make a bid. Instead, bidding starts with the player to his left. This player may make a bid or 'pass'. Continuing clock-wise, each of the other players may either make a bid or pass. The 1st player concludes the auction, but may only pass if a bid has already been made.

• The minimum bid is £1.
• Bids must be greater than previous bid.

The winning bid is paid to the cash supply and the player takes the Town card. That player's Turn Order marker is positioned (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.) to show the Turn Order for the next Round of Play. The player then immediately takes his Player Turn (see below).

Then, whoever is now the earliest remaining player on the current Turn Order, will start the next auction. Auctions and Player Turns continue until the penultimate Town card has been taken. The final Town card will be taken by the player yet to receive a card, for the minimum bid of £1. That player will then take his Player Turn to conclude the Round of Play.

Player Turns

When a player receives their Town card, they immediately take their Player Turn.

In your turn there are two actions.

• You must Place Industry
• You may then Build Links

Place Industry

Place one of your Industries in the town indicated on the Town card. If a wild Town card is taken, you may place your Industry in any town of that value.

Occasionally a face-up Town card may show a town that has Links already built on all its connections, making it impossible to build from the town. This card may still be taken. Alternatively, it can be discarded and the top card taken from the Set-aside cards. This new card must then be used (a gamble is a gamble).

• A wild card could only be discarded if it is not possible to build from any of the towns of that value.

A number of Industries equal to the town's value is the maximum allowed in each town. If an extra Industry is placed, then you must remove any one Industry already in the town, returning it to its owner.

Build Links

Building a Link is simply a matter of placing one of your Links on an unoccupied connection. In the Canal Era place the Link so that the canal side is face-up; in the Railway Era place the Link so that the railway side is face-up.

In each turn you may build no Links, or one Link or two Links.

The first Link must be built from the town where your Industry has just been placed (1).

A second Link may also be built from that town (2) or from a town reached by the first Link (3) or may be built along with a first Link on a double connection (4).

• A double connection must be built in its entirety in one turn.

(Illustration: Roger has just placed an Industry in Reading. He already has Industries in Southampton and Gloucester. The illustration shows examples of possible builds corresponding to the numbering above.)

Each Link built in the Canal Era costs £3 per Link. Each Link built in the Railway Era costs £2 per Link. You must immediately pay cash for the Links built.

One or more towns, which have been connected by the Links just built, will be occupied by your Industries. Add the value of each such town to your total on the Revenue track.

• If you build two Links from a town, you only add the value once.
• If you have more than one Industry in a town, you only add the value once.

If Roger built the Link between Reading and Oxford, he would add £2 on the Revenue track as he has an Industry in Reading. If he built the Link between Reading and Southampton, he would add £4 on the Revenue track: £2 for Reading and £2 for Southampton. If he built both these Links he would still only add £4. If he built the two links between Reading and Gloucester he would add £4: £2 for Reading and £2 for Gloucester.

Raising cash

Should you run short of cash you may raise some by moving your Industry backwards on the Revenue track. For every two spaces moved, you raise £1 of cash. This can be done at any time.

Ending a round

A round ends when all players have received their Town card and had their Player Turn. Make sure the Turn Order markers are now positioned in the Turn Order boxes ready for the next Round of Play.

Create Demand 2

Eventually the final round of the Era will happen and there will be no Town cards left in the Town deck. Players may now place (using the same method as before) their second Demand counter on the Demand chart. Alternatively they can retain the counter.

Collect Cash

Cash is now collected in three ways.

1. Collect cash equal to your Revenue. Return your Industry on the Revenue track to zero.

2. Collect cash for your Links. Links that are contiguous are called a network. First calculate which of your networks has most Links and collect £2 cash for each Link in this network. Take these Links back to your supply. Now collect £1 cash for each of your other Links and then take these back to your supply.

   (Example: Roger's network around Reading has most Links (four), for which he collects £8 cash. He collects a further £1 cash for the non-contiguous Link between Portsmouth and Guildford.)

3. Collect cash for your Industries. Each of your Industries is worth a value equal to the amount of Demand shown on the Demand chart.

   (Example: If there are three Port Demand counters on the Demand chart, then Roger will collect £3 cash for the Industry in Bristol and £3 cash for the Industry in Southampton.)

   • If a player has several Industries in one town, then cash will be collected for each Industry.
   • It is possible that an Industry type has no Demand counters on the chart. In this case an Industry in such a town will collect zero cash.

Industries stay on the map at the end of the Canal Era, ready to be used for greater profit in the Railway Era.

Re-set Game

The Railway Era starts with Industries already on the map and Demand counters on the Demand chart. Each player has an Industry on zero on the Revenue track and the Turn Order chart is already set-up.

Shuffle all the Town cards together.

• This includes those set aside in the Canal Era and the six set-up Town cards (these are shuffled in with the rest, not placed at the top of the deck).

Set aside the same number of cards as in the initial game set-up and place these face down on the Set-aside cards space. Place the remaining cards face down on the Town deck space.

Begin the Railway Era, following the game structure in the same way as in the Canal Era.

Create Demand 3

Each player draws two more Demand counters, keeping them secret. In turn order each player takes one of their counters (which might be one previously retained), and places it on the Demand chart. Each player's other counter(s) is retained.

Rounds of Play

Rounds of play now take place, following the same mechanics as in the Canal Era. Remember that each Link built in the Railway Era costs just £2 per Link.

Create Demand 4

Eventually the final round of the Era will happen and there will be no Town cards left in the Town deck. Each player may now place (using the same method as before) one more Demand counter on the Demand chart. Alternatively, they may choose to retain their unplaced Demand counter(s).

Collect Cash

Cash is collected in the same way as in the Canal Era. In the unlikely instance of the supply being depleted, each player must return £50 to the supply.

• Players may prefer to use the Revenue track to calculate their final cash collection, rather than using coins.

Game end and Winning

The game ends after collecting cash in the Railway Era. The player with most cash at game end is the winner. In the event of a tie the player whose Industry is earlier on the Turn Order chart will be the winner.

Miscellaneous

Secrecy

Players may keep their cash and Demand counters secret by whatever means they see fit.

The Leeds - Liverpool connection

This is a crossing of connections. A player placing an Industry on Leeds or Liverpool cannot build a Link on the connection between Manchester and Lancaster. Similarly a player placing an Industry on Manchester or Lancaster cannot build Links on the connection between Leeds and Liverpool.

Playing Workshop of the World with two players

Whilst the game was designed for three, four or five players, it is possible to play with just two players using the following rule amendments:

Game Set-up

Each player uses two coloured sets of Industries and Links and starts with £100 cash, shared by both coloured sets. Each player places just one Industry on the Revenue track. There is no random draw of industries. In the 2-player game, set aside 11 cards.

Create Demand 1

Each player draws four Demand counters and places two of their counters on the Demand chart.

Auction (1)

Each player take a number of coins and one of their Industries, holds them out in a clenched fist and then reveals them simultaneously. The highest bidder places his Industry in the 1st box of the Turn order chart. The lowest bidder places his Industry in the 2nd box.

In the order indicated, each player now plays a turn for the coloured set on the chart.

Auction (2)

A second auction now takes place to establish the turn order (3rd and 4th) for the remaining two coloured sets.

Each player plays a turn for their second coloured set.

The remainder of the rules from the Player Turns section are the same as for the 3 - 5 player game, except that Revenue is tallied using just the one Industry per player.

Create Demand 2

Players may now place two, one or zero Demand counters on the Demand chart.

Collect Cash

Cash is collected in the same ways as in the 3 - 5 player game.

Create Demand 3

Each player draws four Demand counters and places any two of their counters on the Demand chart.

Create Demand 4

Players may now place two, one or zero Demand counters on the Demand chart.

All other rules of the game remain the same.