I love cube rails games. They are weird and small and quirky. There's something about shared incentives, trying to outwit your opponents, and the meta-gaming "if-I-do-this-and-then-you-do-that" nature of them all.
Unsure what a cube rails game is? That's okay. Some of the most popular titles are Chicago Express, Paris Connection, Irish Gauge, Ride the Rails, and more. These are 30-60 minute games of route-building, share-purchasing, & railroad-investing. I've made some boxed cube rails games before, like Card Rails, Westward Rails, and Union Station. In those, I tried to do things a bit differently than some other titles.
And that's what I'm trying to do here, too.
A very short list of what you need to play the game.
What you need to play:
One mapsheet per player (I recommend printing 2 per page or buying everyone a tablet so you can play it digitally!)
One pencil per player (and an eraser!)
One deck of cards (You won't use all of it, but you'll need 20 specific cards)
One set of rules
There's a bank so you can spend your money! There are some Out Of State Connections and track to lay. Oh, and shares! Can't have a shared incentives, economic, train game without shares!
What you do when you play:
Deal out 3 cards!
Choose the Company you want to do something with (lay track, buy a share, build junctions, etc.)!
Sell shares, spend money, make connections, but watch out for Robber Barrons. Those punks will show up any time.
Rinse and repeat until someone runs out of money or all the Out Of State Connections are made!
Then calculate up your score:
Add up the track from all players.
Add up the shares sold from all players.
Determine each company's value and then see how much of a payout you get.
Add your own cash and some bonuses to see if you win!
Wait a second! Somewhere I saw this plays solo. Is that true? While I don't think shared incentives games are great, many people expect print and play, flip and fill games to have solo modes. So sure, play the game by yourself. See how you do after 5 reshuffles of the deck. Or make your own solo mode. Or play with friends. It's totally up to you.
You receive a single, solitary Zip file of the map and rules. It will be letter and A4 sized.
There are no print copies, nor are there printed cards. Make your own maps! That would be fun.
There are also Junctions you can build, which increase the value of your company. You see those dotted shapes on the right? Those shapes mean Robber Barons might come out, who try to knock down the value of your company. As you get richer, they do too.
Comments BGG users have left on other of Travis' cube rails games (good & bad!):
A stunningly good, simple company stock game that plays very quickly.
For a small game, it packs quite a wallop! Lots of meaningful decisions, especially towards the end to try and manuever into a better position.
A fine little train game!
Has most of the typical flaws of cube rails games.
Suffering from the typical Kickstarter issue of being only half baked
There's not a TON of stuff below the surface to scratch.
It is totally forgettable, but plays out fast enough, I suppose.
Thanks Travis!
Not my thing
Maybe we just didn't get it.
My first cube rails game.
I really wanted to like this one but it just doesn't work.
Just a ton of fun and strategy packed into a game that lasts around an hour.
