Rail Baron Rivals

By Jack Neal

(1 Player, 30-45 minutes, Ages 12+)

You are a wealthy industrialist in the height of the railroad boom in the 1800's. Railroads are branching into
cities further and further west into new territory. You have made your fortunate investing in these railroads and
you are arguably the second most wealthy rail baron in the country. Naturally, this isn't enough and you want to
be the wealthiest. To do this, you must invest and guide these companies to your benefit and to the detriment of
your rival. Your rival also has interests in these companies as well so you need to work out more profitable
investments than him. You want to do all of this in 12 years because at some point you need to retire and devote
your time to building sprawling estates. If your rival continues to be the richest man in America it puts a stain
on your legacy and you do not want that.

At the end of the game each of the five major railroads in the country must have increased in value. If so, you
need to have more money than your rival. Do both these things and you have accomplished what you set out to
do.

So, the details. You will be building railroads. Railroads are companies that expand networks by building track.
A network of track gets built to connect to cities and other railroads. They may have to build through difficult or
expensive terrain to expand their track. Ultimately, they will build into cities where they may place stations
which increase a railroad's value. A station also blocks other railroads from building track past it.

You guide these railroads but you don't own any one of them directly. After all, railroads are companies and you
can buy stock in them and you manage a portfolio of these stocks. You earn money by acquiring certificates in
the most valuable railroads. Ideally you want to have a large number of shares in a railroad that is worth more
than the others. You may choose to barely build other railroads to help your most lucrative one. At the end of
the game each railroad's value is multiplied by the number of shares you own in it. You total this for all the
railroads and you either win or you lose.

To complicate things a little you must deal with your rival. He is a shrewd investor and buys shares in profitable
companies as well. You have some influence in his decisions so you want him to have a lot of shares in poorer
companies.

The actions of building track and managing your shares is abstracted down to combinations rolled on five special
dice. Different combinations of dice allow you to do all of the above, however, it will not be possible to do
everything you want. You will need to work with what you have.

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Components

• 1 game board
• 37 track tiles
• 30 dice stickers
• 38 small wooden cubes:
◦ Railroad Cubes: 6 each of red, yellow, blue, green and purple.
◦ Urbanization Markers: 6 wood cubes in any color.
◦ Turn cube: 1 additional cube of any color.
• 48 share certificates

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Setup

Place the game board on the table in front of you. Take the track tiles, shares and stations in easy reach. Take
one wooden cube for each RR's color and place it on the matching symbol on the map. The yellow cube must be
placed on one of the two circles on its starting hex. Take one share certificate for each RR. Put all five dice in
your hand and you’re ready to go.

Turn Sequence

1. Roll Dice
2. Choose Actions.
3. Determine Rival Shares.
4. Check For Rusting Railroads

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Roll Dice

At the beginning of your turn roll all 5 dice. You must keep 3 dice and
then reroll the remaining 2 dice. After this is done you may perform up to
two actions for this turn. You may do two 2-die actions or one 3-die
action in a turn. If you choose to do two 2-die actions but they must be for
different RRs.

Combination dice have two action symbols on them. Joker dice have question marks and may be used for any
RR, Build or Share die.

Choose Actions

Build Actions Share Actions

Build Railroad (x 1) Take Share

You must choose one of the following options: You must take 1 share for the rolled RR.
1. You may build 1 track in a hex without ( ).
2. You may upgrade 1 track.

If you build track in a city you may build a station on

any city that is connected to that RR. If you build a
station then increase your share value. If you enter a Take Shares (x 2)
hex with a private company then decrease your share
value. You must take 1 share or 2 shares for the rolled RR.

Build Railroad (x 2) Take Shares For 3 Railroads

You must choose one of the following options: You must take 1 share from any three RRs of your
1. You may build 1 track in a hex with ( ). choice. Combination dice can not be used for this
2. You may build 2 tracks in hexes without ( ). action but the joker can.
3. You may upgrade 1 or 2 tracks. 4. You may build a
yellow rural track in a single hex.If you build track in a
city you may build a station on any city connected to
that RR. If you build a station then increase your share
value. If you enter a hex with a private company then Redistribute Shares
decrease your share value. (see Adjusting Stock Value
below). You must redistribute the number of shares you have
in two of the rolled RRs. Jokers may be used for any
RR as any die in this action.

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 Build Railroads (3 Railroads)

You must build track for three different RRs as in the

Build Railroad x 1 action. Combination dice can not be
used for this action but the joker can.

City Action

Urbanize City

Choose a city that has a station for the rolled RR. Each RR with a station in that city adds +1 to the share price
bonus for each station belonging to the rolled RR. See Adjusting Share Value below for full details.

Fine Print On Building Stuff

Building Track: There are several restrictions on building track. Track must be traced back to a RR’s station.
This path cannot pass through a different RR’s station. Track may not dead-end off the board or into a water
tile. Track from adjacent hexes cannot dead end into the tile you are placing. Finally, if a hex has a track
symbol then an additional build die is required.

If you do the Build Railroad x 2 action you may choose to place 1 yellow track tile. This track must respect all
of the above restrictions for a single hex only at the end of the turn.

Building a Station: A station may only be built on an empty station space on an urban hex which is directly
connected to an existing station for that RR - cities cannot be “skipped”. You may build a station on a different
hex than the one just played. Once built, stations cannot be removed from that hex. A RR can only have one
station on a city hex. Adjust share values based as above.

Upgrading Track : For the purposes of upgrading track there are two kinds of hexes - urban hexes have station
spaces while rural hexes do not have station spaces.

1. White tiles upgrade rural hexes.

2. Rural yellow tiles upgrade white tiles.
3. Urban yellow hexes upgrade “clear” urban hexes.

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 4. “Colored” urban hexes (aqua, brown, green and orange) must be upgraded by the matching color tile.
a) New York (blue) and Washington DC (orange) require 2 RR dice to upgrade.
b) The Blue RR and Green RR each must upgrade its home hex before building out of its starting hex.
The upgrade tile may be placed in any orientation.
c) The Yellow RR must choose one of the station spaces on its home hex.
5. When an urban hex is upgraded, the stations on the hex are placed back in their original positions.
6. If a green tile is upgraded you may place your station on either station space.
7. Hexes may only be upgraded once.
8. Gray hexes are never upgraded.
9. Two track dice used for a RR's action may be used to build track where one track would usually only be
built.

Fine Print On Money Stuff

Increasing Share Value : When a new station is built, that city’s value is added to the RR’s share value. If an
existing station is on a city that is about to be upgraded then add only the difference.

Example: Green starts the game with a share value of $2. Green then builds a new station in a $2 city so Green
immediately adds $2 to its share value. Later in the game this city is upgraded to $3. Green adds $1 to its share
value. Finally, Red builds a station in this city. Red adds $3 to its share value.

A city can also be urbanized. Each RR in the city increases its share value by $1 for each station the rolled RR
has on the map.

Example: Red has 2 stations on the map and Green has 4 stations. Green decides to urbanize a city. Red and Green
would receive $4. If Red had urbanized then Red and Green would each receive $2.

Decreasing Share Value : When a RR builds track into a hex with a private company (a green dollar sign/dot)
the RR must purchase the company before continuing; deduct $1 from the RR’s share value. Track may then be
built in that hex as normal. Buying a private company has no other benefits. If a RR builds a city in a hex with
a private company the RR’s share value is decreased first and then increased if it places a station in the same
hex.

A RR also has the possibility of dropping value. This is handled at the end of the 3rd, 6th, 8th and 10th turns
and is described in that section of the rules.

Taking a Share: You can have a maximum of 12 shares. If your Rival is about to acquire his 7th share of a
particular rank then the share is assigned to the next lowest place (i.e 3rd to 4th). If your Rival is about to
acquire the 7th fourth place share then he receives a third place one.

Redistribute Shares: For this action combination of shares may be redistributed. The sum of shares between
the two RR’s must stay the same.

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Example: Blue, Green and Red are rolled and you have 3 Green shares and 1 Red share. You may exchange all of
your Green shares to end up with 4 Red shares, 4 Green shares or any combination of the 4 shares. The Blue RR
cannot receive or gain shares because none are owned. You may never transfer your rival’s shares - only your own.

Fine Print On Actions

Passing: You must attempt to perform at least one action in full per turn even if it is not to your advantage.

Combination Dice: Actions on a combination die are resolved top to bottom. If both actions on a combination
die cannot be performed then that die cannot not be used. Two combination dice can be used for a single RR
on a 3-die action. Actions must be resolved one die at a time.

Determine Rival’s Shares

Next, take the lowest number (located on the bottom center of each) from any of the dice that were not used in
an action. You rival receives a share of this rank.

Check For Rusting Railroads

Just because you a RR expands doesn't mean it keeps its value. Due to maintenance and wear and tear it is
possible for a RR to lose value. This can wreck havoc toward the end of the game if a RR suddenly dips in value.

At the end of the 3rd, 6th, 8th and 10th turns one RR loses $1 in Share Value. Roll the dice again.
• If no RR's are rolled the RR with the lowest share value drops $1.
• If one RR is rolled then that RR's share value drops $1.
• If more than one RR is rolled, the lowest share value of any of the rolled RRs drops $1 .

In the event of ties, the company that you have the most shares in is chosen. If still tied then the RR with the
highest valued city is used. If things are still tied then you may choose.

Final Scoring

Yours Score: Using pad and pencil list each RR and its share value. For each RR multiply its share value by the
number of shares in it you own. The total for all five RR's is your final score.

Rival Score: List each RR and its share value in descending share value. If there is a tie then the RR which are
most valuable to you is placed higher. If this is tied you may choose the order. For each RR determine the
number of shares your rival by has at that place by its share value. Total the sum final RR's for his score.

Example:

Your Score
Railroad Share Value Shares Total Place Shares Total
Red $10 4 $40 1st 2 $20
Blue $9 2 $18 2nd 4 $36
Yellow $4 3 $12 3rd 4 $16
Green $3 1 $3 4th 2 $6
Purple $3 0 $0 5th $0
$73 $78

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If all railroads have increased in value AND you have more cash than your rival at the end of the game then you
win. Ties go in your rival's favor.

Credits, Design, Licensing

Change Log
- 7/9/2014 – Added rules for company rusting and removed company shares.