Americas industrial boom would have been unthinkable without the railroads.

It was only possible to open

up this huge country by
transporting the necessary materials over long
distances.
The industrial development of North America is therefore
synonymous with the expansion of
the railroad networks of individual
companies, many of which were

founded at the time with the help of investors who put

up the necessary capital.

Rules of the games

Names such as Cornelius

Vanderbilt and Charles
Morgan bear witness to
this period, but the financing of the railroad was
not the only thing these investors
had in mind. The most important
goal of all was to make as much
profit as possible.

Game Materials
1 Game Board showing:
- A map with hexes covering the part of the USA
that extends from the east coast to Chicago;
- A track for the income of
the 5 railroad companies;
- Three gauges with rotating
hands to indicate the
players decisions;
- An Industrial City track
showing the development
of the three industrial
cities of Detroit, Wheeling
and Pittsburgh;
- One space for the general supply of development
pieces, the little houses;
- The Charter of the Wabash Railroad Company.
The map has different kinds of hexes:

20 Shares 3 red ones from the Pennsylvania Railroad

Company (PRR), 4 blue ones from Baltimore & Ohio
(B&O), 5 green ones from New York Central (NYC),
6 yellow ones from Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) and 2
black ones from Wabash.

Game Money in denominations of $1, $5 and $25

totaling 140 banknotes.
103 Locomotives in the company colors The locomotives show which hexes belong to the route network of
which company.
20 red PRR locomotives 22 blue B&O locomotives,
24 green NYC locomotives 26 yellow C&O locomotives and 11 black Wabash locomotives.

Mountain
Hex

City Hex
Industrial
Hex

5 Counter Pieces in the colors of the 5 railroad companies to mark off the income track.

4 Charters for 4 Railroad Companies each one showing the name and color of a railroad company and
providing space for its locomotives and shares. There
is also enough space for the money that this company
receives as the game progresses.

Plain Hex
Start Hex

Forest Hex

23 Houses 20 of which serve as development pieces

while the remaining 3 mark the development of the 3 industrial cities on the
Industrial City track.
5 +50 Game Tokens
one for each company

You choose which side of the Charter you want to use the one with
a large space for the locomotives or the other one with 3 compartments for the game money.
The Wabash Charter is printed onto the board, but you should not
turn it over onto the other side.

3 Cardboard Indicators Needles and 3 Rivets for attaching them to the game board, as well as 1 Rulebook
1

Game Layout
The game board and Charters of the four railroad companies are laid out.

The companies counter pieces are placed on the fields

of the matching color on the income track. The Wabash
piece is not placed yet. The +50 game tokens are laid
out.

The three indicator needles should be carefully removed

from their cut-out panel and attached to the game board
as shown in the diagram using the two-part rivets. The
indicator needles should then be turned to the green
START field.

20 houses are placed on the appropriately marked area

on the game board as a general supply.
1 house is placed on each of the boxes 1 (Detroit),
3 (Wheeling) and 4 (Pittsburgh) on the Industrial City
track.

A locomotive from each company is placed on the corresponding start hex with the Wabash start hex remaining empty to begin with.

One player takes over the bank and distributes a total of

$120 among the players as starting capital. Depending on
the number of players, each one receives the following
amounts:

The remaining locomotives and shares of each company are then laid out in the corresponding spaces on
the Charters. The Wabash locomotives and shares are
placed on the Charter on the game board.

2 players
4 players
6 players

The indicator needles are attached

to the game board using the rivets.
They should not be unfastened!

60 $
30 $
20 $.

3 players
5 players

40 $
24 $

1 locomotive is
placed on each
Start field:
NYC green
PRR red
3 gauges with movable
indicator needles:
Auction
Development
Route construction

B&O blue

General supply of
houses
Industrial City track

C&O yellow

Wabash Charter on the

game board
The Wabash counter
piece is placed on the
side.

The C&O / B&O / PRR

and NYC counter pieces are placed on
the fields of the matching color on the
income track.

The Charters of the 4 railroad

companies showing the fields
for placing the locomotives, cash and shares.

Income track for the

5 railroad companies
If a companys income
exceeds the value 50,
a +50 token is placed
on the company Charter
and its counter
piece is wrapped
around the start
of the track.

Before the game begins, one share from each railroad

company (except Wabash) is auctioned off in the
sequence PRR B&O C&O NYC.

The player who has offered the highest bid pays the bid
amount to the railroad company (the money is placed on
the corresponding Charter) and is given the share, which
is laid out face up in front of the player.

The banker is the starting bidder in the first auction.

If no player bids for the share, the starting bidder gets it

for free.

To begin with, a PRR share is auctioned with a minimum

bid of $7.

The player who acquired the share becomes the next

starting bidder in the subsequent auction. Each auction
is conducted in exactly the same manner as the first one.
The further sequence of the auctions is:

The starting bidder can either bid or pass. Moving

clockwise, each player must then offer a higher bid than
the curreny bid or pass. A player who has passed can
no longer participate in the auctioning of the same share.
The Auction continues until all of the players except one
have passed.

One B&O share with a starting bid of $6, then a C&O

share with a starting bid of $5, followed by an NYC
share with a starting bid of $8

Sequence of the auctions and starting bids:

The player who received the PRR share starts the game.
Note: Wabash is only opened
as the game progresses.
No shares are offered yet.

7 $*

6$

5$

8$

* The owner of the PRR share starts the game.

Objective of the Game

As investors in the economy of late 19th century
America, the players try to make as much profit as
possible in the thriving railroad sector.

Each railroad company receives the necessary capital

essentially by selling shares to the players.
Only the player who has invested wisely and expanded
the right companies is likely to receive the highest dividends. The player with the most cash wins in the end.

They use their money to acquire shares in the railroad

companies so that they can influence their development
and earn money through the dividends that are paid out
during the game.
Each railroad company generates an income, which is
distributed completely among the shareholders (players)
in the form of dividends during the Dividend Phase. The
income of a company can be increased in two ways, by
either connecting up new City and Mountain hexes to
a route network or by developing those hexes already
connected to a route network.

English

Preparing the Game

Game Sequence
In turns, beginning with the starting player, the player
whose turn it is chooses an action and then decides to
either implement the action or do nothing.
After a certain number of actions, the game is interrupted by a Dividend Phase.
The following options can be selected:

Auction

Route Expansion

Development

Auctioning of a share
Expansion of a railroad companys route network
Development of a hex or Industrial City
To begin with, the indicator needle of the selected option
is moved one space to the right after the player selects the
action.

The corresponding indicator is moved one space to the right every

time a course of action is decided upon.

If the indicator of an action points to red, the player

cannot select this action.
If two indicators point to red, a Dividend Phase is called
after which all indicators are set back to green. Only
after this phase does the player make his move.

Note: The Dividend Phase is explained in a separate chapter on

Page 7.

Note: Although every player must select a course of action and

mark it with the corresponding indicator, they do not have to
implement it. In this way, it is possible to deliberately cause a shortage of certain courses of action during a round of play.

Example: A player does not have much money, so they could not keep
up with the bidding at an auction. For this reason, the player chooses
the option Auctioning of a share but does not offer one. By doing
so, the player misses out on a course of action but ensures that there
will be one auction less during this round of play.

The Individual Options

Auctioning of a Share
The player can select a share for auction belonging to
any railroad company.
Exception: Shares in the Wabash railroad company
(black) are only available once the route network of one
of the other companies has reached Chicago (see Page 8).
The selecting player must bid at least the minimum bid
or pass.

Note: It can happen in the course of the game that all of a railroad
companys shares are auctioned off. The shares of this company
are then no longer available.

The minimum bid is calculated from the current income

of the corresponding company (marked on the income
track) divided by the number of shares already sold,
including the one currently being auctioned. The result
is the minimum bid, whereby decimals no matter how
high are always rounded up.

Example: Andy offers a New York Central share. The companys

income currently amounts to $22. Bert and Charlie each already own
1 New York Central share. This results in a starting bid of $8 (22 3
= 7.33 which is rounded up to 8).

English

Moving clockwise, each player either offers a bid, which

must be higher than the previous one, or passes. Players
who have passed cannot rejoin the auction. Bidding continues until all players but one have passed.
The player with the highest bid pays the offered sum
to the company (the money is placed on the company
Charter) and is given the share, which is placed face up
in front of them.
Note: It is not always an advantage to buy a share at the lowest
possible price, because it is only the proceeds from the sale of
shares which enable the railroad companies to expand their route
networks, thus increasing their income (and therefore the share
dividends too).

If all of the players have passed, the share remains on

the company Charter and no money is paid.

Expansion of a railroad companys route network

Note: Only 1 locomotive from each company

can be placed on each hex. Each company has
a certain number of locomotives. Once these
have been used up, the company can no longer
expand its route network.

A player can expand the route network of a railroad

company if they own at least one share in it.
Conducting a route network expansion
A route network can be expanded by up to 3 hexes.
The player places a locomotive of the corresponding
company in each new hex.

Locomotives from all companies are allowed in the following hexes:

All hexes along the route of a company must be

connected to their starting city by means of their locomotives (routes). Start hexes may not be developed.
Branching is permitted.
City Hex

Locomotives from all companies can be placed on all

City, Industrial and Plain hexes.

Industrial Hex

Plain Hex

Only the locomotive of one company is allowed on the following

hexes:

Only one single locomotive can exist on Forest and

Mountain hexes and no other companies can build there.
Mountain Hex

Important: Every time one of the 5 companies places a

locomotive in Chicago (i.e. expands their route network to that city), the game is interrupted and a Chicago Phase begins.

Cost of route network expansion

Forest Hex

Note: The Chicago Phase is explained in a

separate chapter on Page 8.

-3 +1

When a locomotive is placed in a hex, the corresponding company must pay the costs from its available money
(cash on the Charter) to the bank.
The costs are calculated from the red value indicated in
the hex multiplied by the number of all locomotives in
that hex (including the one that has just been played).

Example: Andy is expanding the NYC route network. He decides

to build in Binghamton, 2 hexes away from New York, and places 1
green locomotive in the Forest and City hexes of Binghamton respectively. The Forest hex costs $2 and the City hex $2 per locomotive
placed there. As a PRR locomotive (red) is already positioned here,
the following total costs are incurred by NYC:
$2 (Forest) + 2 x $2 (City) = $6. This sum must be paid to the bank
in full from the NYCs funds.

Note: A company can only spend as much money as it currently

posseses. A player may not lend their own money.
The money owned by the companies and players must be strictly
separated!

Increasing the income of the railroad companies

City and Mountain hexes

(not yet developed)

A company can increase its income by placing a locomotive on a hex. The increase is marked on the income
track:

-3 +1

City and Mountain hexes (not yet developed, i.e.

without any houses) increase a companys income
by the value listed in second place in the
-3 +1
railway symbol (-3 + 1).

Income (for green):

Example: Green increases
by 2.

+1

City hex
(already developed)

City hexes (developed, with hous) increase a

companys income by the value listed in second
place in the railway symbol
plus the value listed in the house
+1
-3 +1
symbol (-3 + 1 + 1).

+2

-3 +1

+1

Income (foe Green):

+3

+3

Industrial hexes

Industrial hexes increase a companys income by the

value currently marked on the industrial city track of
the city in question.

Forest and Plain Fields do not increase income.

Income (for Green): +3

Development of a game hexes

Players may develop game hexes.
Conditions for developing a game hex
The following fields can be developed with this option:

Note: Plain and Start City hexes (New York, Philadelphia,

Baltimore and Washington) and the City hex Chicago cannot be
developed.

City / Mountain / Forest hexes At least one locomotive must be in the hex. Each hex can only be developed
once. A house from the general supply is placed on the
hex.

Although it is the Start City hex

for Wabash, Fort Wayne may be
developed and built upon because it
is also regarded as a City hex.

Industrial City At least one locomotive must be in

the industrial city. An industrial city can be developed
several times. Its development is marked on the industrial track on the game board. The marker piece is moved
one space to the right for every development.
Exception: Detroit This industrial city is only developed automatically, by one space on the industrial track
at the end of the Dividend Phase. A locomotive does
not have to be in Detroit.
Detroit is the only City hex that is not developed by
the players.

Note: If the marker piece is already positioned on the last box

on the Industrial City track, it remains there. The income of this
industrial city can no longer be increased.

Effects of the development of a game hex

Example: The income of the C&O

railroad company (yellow) increases
from $12 to $13 through the development
of Charleston (+1). This is marked
accordingly on the income track.

City / Mountain hex The income of all railroad

companies present on these hexes increases by the
value shown in the right-hand symbol . This increase
is transferred to the income track. (The marker pieces
of the companies in question are moved by the given
number of hexes).

English

Industrial City + The income of every railroad company present on this hex increases by the difference
between the new and the old box on the industrial track.
(This means that the income increases by 1 for every development in Detroit and Wheeling and by 2 in Pittsburgh).
Example: Wheeling is developed from 3 to 4. The income of PRR
(red) and B&O (blue) increases by $1 respectively. PRR increases
from $17 to $18 and B&O from $14 to $15.

Forest hex $ The company in question receives $2

immediately from the bank (placed onto the Charter). Its
income does not change.

Dividend Phase
When it is a players turn and two indicators on the gauges are already in the red area, the game is interrupted
and a Dividend Phase is called. The player does not
make their move until this phase has been completed.
The following three steps are conducted in turn during
this phase:
Example: Andy owns 2 NYC shares and Ben has 1 share in the same
company. Its current income amounts to $16. Each share receives a
dividend of $16 3 = $ 5.33. Andy receives $12 for his two shares,
Ben gets $6 for his one share.
Second example: Andy is the only player to own NYC shares. He has
two of them. The current income of the company amounts to $17.
Andy receives a dividend of $18.
Because the income of an individual share is calculated to begin with
and then rounded up if necessary, before adding up a players shares,
a slightly higher dividend results from the rounding up process. 8.5 +
8.5 correspond to $9 + $9 = $18.

General Dividends
The players receive a dividend for every share in their
possession. The amount of the dividend is calculated
from the current income of the company as shown
on the income track divided by the number of sold
shares in this company. Decimals behind the point are
rounded up. The money is paid to the players by the
bank.

Note: The game ends here if at least one of the four Game Over
conditions has been satisfied (see End of the Game on P.8).

Reset Dials
Once the general dividends have been paid, the three
gauges on the game board are reset to green.

Developing Detroit
Thereafter, the marker piece on the industrial track
for Detroit is moved forward by one space and the
income of the companies present there is increased by
one space on the income track.
Detroits income increases by 1 (up to a maximum of 8) after every
General Dividend.

The game then continues with the player whose turn it is.

Chicago Phase
Chicago Dividend
Each time a railroad company expands its route network to Chicago (i.e. places a locomotive there), the
game is interrupted after the income of the company
has been increased accordingly on the scale.
An extra dividend is paid out immediately to the
shareholders of this company. The amount of this
dividend is calculated in exactly the same way as the
General Dividend.

Note: It can happen that a General Dividend phase is also activated once Chicago has been reached. In this case, the Chicago
Phase is dealt with first, then the General Dividend phase.

Opening Wabash
Once the first company has reached Chicago, the
Wabash Railroad Company is opened after the Chicago Dividend has been paid out. A black locomotive is
placed on the Fort Wayne hex and the black counter
piece is placed on the 1 field of the income track. If
Fort Wayne has already been developed, the counter
piece is placed on the 3 field of the track.

Note: The placement of its first

locomotive on the Fort Wayne hex
does not cost the Wabash Railroad
Company any money.

Auctioning the first Wabash share

The player who reaches Chicago by making a move
now auctions the first Wabash share and makes the
first bid. The general rules apply to the starting bid and
auction (see Page 3 - 4).
The remaining Wabash share is now available for selection during the Auctioning of a Share option.

Note: If no player bids for Wabash, the share remains on the

Charter and Wabash is still regarded as open and shares may be
auctioned.

After the auction, the game continues with the next player on the left.

End of the Game

When one of the following four conditions has been met:
3 or more companies have no more locomotives on
the Charter.
3 or more companies have no more shares on the
Charter.
The general supply contains only 3 houses or fewer,
or
Detroits income is at 8,
the game ends as soon as the next General Dividend has
been paid out.

Note: Shares do not count when

determining the winner.

The players now count their money. The player with the
most money wins.
In the event of a tie, the players concerned share the
victory.

Copyright 2008 Queen Games, D-53842 Troisdorf, Germany

Copyright John Bohrer 2007. All rights reserved.
8