1888-N Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Preparations
  • Components
  • Etiquette
  • Starting Capital
• Setup
• Components in Detail
  • Map Board
  • Share Price Board
  • Companies
    • Private Companies
    • Share Companies
• Game Play
• Auctioning the Private Companies
• Stock Rounds (SR)
  • General Information
  • Turn Order in a Stock Round
  • Certificate Limit
  • Sale of Shares
  • Purchase of Shares
  • Inauguration of a Share Company
  • Change of Director
• Operating Rounds (OR)
  • General Information
  • Definitions
  • Company Actions
    • Order of Play for a Company
    • Placing Home Station
    • Laying Track Tiles
    • Upgrading Track Tiles
    • Establishing Stations
    • Running Trains
    • Calculating Income
    • Purchasing Trains
    • Emergency Financing
    • Phase Change
    • A Train may be Exported
• Share Price Changes
  • General Information
  • Changes during Operating Rounds
  • Changes during Share Rounds
• End of the Game
  • General Information
  • Final Totals

Game Preparations

Components

• 1 map board
• 1 share price board
• 1 income table
• 115 cards:
  • 72 shares
  • 7 playing order cards
  • 30 train cards
  • 6 private companies
• 52 tokens:
  • 27 station tokens
  • 8 share price tokens
  • 8 PAR price tokens
  • 8 income table tokens
  • 1 round indicator
• 8 wooden cubes
• 8 major company charters
• 1 rule set
• 110 track tiles: 50 yellow, 30 green, 24 brown, 4 grey, 1 red, 1 blue
• 3 wooden sticks
• game money (¥9,000)

Etiquette

• Players should decide before the game starts what type of agreements are permitted.
• Players should decide before the game starts whether agreements are public and binding.
• Agreements between two players might encompass any aspect of game play. Agreements between more than two players are, in general, forbidden.
• All player and company holdings and all other game material should be open and clearly visible on the table at all times.
• To reduce playing time, during the other players' turns each player should think about what they are going to do in their own turn.
• Have pencil and paper ready for the calculations at the end of the game. There are apps or spreadsheets on the internet to help you with that, if needed.

Starting Capital

Distribute starting capital from the bank (bank size = ¥9,000) to each player:

• ¥1200 for a 2-player game
• ¥800 for a 3-player game
• ¥600 for a 4-player game
• ¥480 for a 5-player game
• ¥400 for a 6-player game

Setup

1. Put the map board, the share price board and the income table on the table.
2. Place the share certificates near the map board with the director's certificate on the top of each stack.
3. The train cards are sorted by range: the D train cards are placed at the bottom, followed by the 6, then 5 and so on descending, finishing with the 2-train cards on the top of the stack.
4. Place the company charters next to this board. During the game, the collected possessions of a company such as trains, treasury, and station markers are kept on its charter. These possessions must be kept strictly separate from that of a player or another company.
5. Put the 27 station tokens (3 or 4 for each of the 8 companies) on the table.
6. Put 1 share price marker for each company and 1 PAR price marker for each company next to the share price board. Put the round indicator token onto the white space marked with "SR" (= "stock round") of the turn indicator. Put one marker for each company next to the income table.
7. Sort the track tiles by color and display them somewhere out of the way so that all players can see them. Only the yellow tiles are needed at first, but the others are relevant to plan next phases of the game.
8. Lay out the play money. It should be ¥9,000 in total. You may use poker chips instead. Choose a player to be the banker.
9. Put the 3 wooden sticks onto the preprinted spaces on the map board.
10. Put the 8 cubes onto the diamond shaped bonus values on the map board.
11. Take as many playing order cards as there are players, shuffle them, and deal one to each player to randomly determine the initial playing order. The player with the lowest-numbered playing order card gets the card "Priority Deal" and starts the game. Then put the playing order cards back into the box.
12. Lay out the private companies (see Auctioning the Private Companies).

Components in Detail

Map Board

The color of areas on the map show their usage:

• Light green is the main part of the playing area. The track tiles are placed on the hexagonal grid. Some of the hexes show terrain costs for mountains and rivers and the Great Wall.
• Dark green indicates the edge of the map. No track tiles may be laid there.
• The red areas at the edge of the map imply routes continuing off the map. The colored boxes with numbers show their increasing value during the game. No track tiles may be laid there.
• The grey hexes show preprinted track and cities or towns with fix values or with colored boxes with numbers showing their increasing value during the game. No track tiles may be laid there.
• Light blue is the sea. No track tiles may be laid there.
• On the dark blue hex, a special track tile may be laid by using the special power of the "Yanda Ferry" private company.

Share Price Board

The share price board shows the share price table. All companies have a share price. The orange spaces are the possible initial share prices. The red section has a special meaning for shares owners – the shares don't count against the certificate limit (see Certificate Limit).

It also shows the bank pool, a round indicator, and a table for the game setup.

Companies

Private Companies

• A private company can be owned either by a player or by a share company.
• Private companies are auctioned at the beginning of the game between the players (see Auctioning the Private Companies).
• Once acquired by a player, they must never be sold to another player but only to a share company and from phase 3 on. The price must be any amount between 50% and 150% of the initial price. This range is shown in brackets on the card.
• The bank pays a fix income to the owner (player or share company) of a private company at the beginning of each operating round.
• Some private companies (Great Wall, Terracotta Army, Yanda Railway Ferry and Heng Shan) also have a special ability that can be used during the operating turn of a share company if it owns it. The special ability of the Forbidden City can be used by a player during a stock round. See the private companies table for details.
• Private companies' cards do count against the certificate limit (see Certificate Limit).
• If not stated otherwise, private companies are closed at the beginning of phase 5.

Private Companies

Name	Price	Sell for	Ability	Income
Kaiping Tramway	¥25	¥13-37	No special ability	¥5
Terracotta Army	¥50	¥25-75	Comes with the red Xi'an tile which shows higher value for this off-board location. A company owning this private may lay this tile in addition to its normal tile lay step. No connection is required. This does not close the company. If it wasn't laid when the company closes the red tile is out of the game. All trains of all companies can benefit of the new Xi'an tile.	¥10
Heng Shan (Shanxi) (One of the Five Great Mountains of China)	¥75	¥38-112	Comes with the yellow mountain tile. Hex C5 is blocked until this private company is sold to a share company or closed. A company owning this private may lay the mountain tile on hex C5 in addition to its normal tile laying step for free. No connection is required. If it wasn't laid when the company closes the mountain tile is out of the game. If a train runs to or through the mountain tile the share company treasury gets ¥40 out of the bank. It counts to the range of a train. Any company may lay a normal tile on hex C5 at the cost of ¥40 after this private company was sold or closed. Then the yellow mountain tile can't be placed anymore. All trains of all companies can benefit of the Heng Shan tile.	¥15
Great Wall	¥100	¥50-150	A company owning this private may lay one or two yellow tiles for free onto hexes with the Chinese Wall in addition to its normal tile lay step (regardless of the terrain cost). No connection is required. This does not close the company. If laying two tiles, both must be laid during the same turn and must be connected to each other.	¥20
Yanda Railway Ferry	¥125	¥63-187	Comes with the blue ferry tile. A company owning this private may lay this tile in addition to its normal tile laying step on the blue "Yanda Railway Ferry" hex. No connection is required. This does not close the private company. If it wasn't laid when the company closes the ferry tile is out of the game. All trains of all companies can use the Ferry.	¥25
Forbidden City	¥150	¥75-225	During a stock round, a player owning this private company may close it to take one share in the IPO or the bank pool of a share company with a token in Beijing (at that time). This counts as a buy action and the player cannot sell anything the turn they're doing it. If the private is sold to a share company, this ability is lost.

Share Companies

• Share companies consist of one 20% director certificate and eight 10% shares.
• The director's share is always the first certificate to be bought in a share company (see Inauguration of a Share Company).
• Only the director decides what a share company does or does not. He manages the company charter with its treasury, train cards, station tokens and owned private companies, if any.
• All share companies have a share price, which is shown on the share price chart. The initial share price is set by the purchaser of the director's share. Shares are traded during stock rounds.
• The director's certificate always corresponds to two standard shares but only counts as one certificate against the certificate limit (see Certificate Limit).
• The owner of a share is paid a dividend each operating round unless the director has decided that the company retains its earnings for future investments.

There are eight share companies in the game:

Name	Abbrev.	Destination	Home	Bonus	Tokens	Color
Jingha Railway	JHR	Tangshan	Beijing	30	3	red-brown
Shenshan Line	SSL	Qinhuangdao	Shenyang	20	3	grey
Changda Line	CDL	Dalian	Changchun	20	4	green
Hanji Railway	HJR	Jinan	Handan	20	4	tan
Taijiao Line	TJL	Jiaozuo	Taiyuan	20	4	black
Lanyan Railway	LYR	Qingdao	Yantai	20	3	dark yellow
Jingzhan Railway	JZR	Zhangijakou	Beijing	40	3	purple
Zidong Railway	ZDR	Dongying	Zibo	40	3	light blue

Game Play

The game starts with a stock round during which the private companies are auctioned and after that shares of companies may be bought. Later, stock rounds and operating rounds alternate. As the game progresses, there could be more operating rounds between two stock rounds.

During stock rounds, players use their personal assets to buy and sell shares in share companies. During operating rounds, the companies operate. For each company, the director acts on behalf of the company.

Auctioning the Private Companies

Lay out the six private companies in ascending order of their values. In player order, each player may pay its face value to buy the actual cheapest private company or bid on a more expensive one. For this purpose, players may use station markers of share companies or any other relevant tokens to indicate their bids.

Instead of buying or bidding, a player may pass. In his next turn he may buy or bid again.

A bid for a private company must exceed the face value of the company by at least ¥5. The player must place the bid money in front of him on the table and cannot use it for any other purpose until the private company is bought. Any number of players may bid for the same private company but each bid must exceed the previous bid by at least ¥5. Bidding twice for the same private company gains no benefit.

When the cheapest private company is bought, if the new cheapest company has at least one bid the usual procedure is halted. If only one bid has been made on the private company, it is sold to the concerned player for the amount of the bid. If several bids have been made, an auction is held in which all bidders (but no one else) take part. The player with the lowest bid starts the bidding, then bidding proceeds clockwise. The starting price for the auction is the highest bid and the minimum raise is ¥5. A player purchasing a private company by auction may use the money he has already staked in the original bid to make the purchase.

Unsuccessful bidders are now free to use the money they set aside for their bids. As soon as the auction is resolved, it is checked if the next private company also has at least one bid on it. If there are, this will be resolved as described above. Only if the next company has no bid on it, the buy-bid-turn sequence then resumes with the player to the left of the last player to buy a private company at its face value.

If all players pass in sequence before all private companies are sold, gameplay proceeds to an operating round in which only the private companies in players' hands pay their income, then another stock round starts with the auction of the remaining private companies in the same procedure.

Each time all players pass in sequence before the Kaiping Tramway is bought, its price is reduced by ¥5. If the Kaiping Tramway is offered for ¥0, the starting player MUST take it for free.

After all private companies are sold, the game continues with a standard stock round.

Example: A bids 80 on #3. B bids 147 on #5. C bids 85 on #3. D bids 55 on #2. A buys #1 for 25. #2 goes to D for 55 (only bid). #3 is auctioned between A and C: A bids 90. C bids 95. A passes. C gets #3 for 95. Then it is B's turn (because A bought last): B bids 155 on #6. C bids 160 on #6. D bids 165 on #6. A buys #4 for 100. B gets #5 for 147 (only bid). #6 is auctioned between B, C, and D...

Stock Rounds (SR)

General Information

• During a stock round, players buy and sell shares. Each player will usually have several turns.
• During their turn a player may either pass or perform one or both of the following actions, in this order:
  • Sell as many shares as they wish subject to the constraints listed in Sale of Shares.
  • Buy one share certificate.
• A transaction may only take place between a player and the bank. Share trades between players are forbidden.
• A player wishing to neither sell nor buy passes. A stock round ends when all players have consecutively passed. Thus, a passing player may still take action in a future turn.

Turn Order in a Stock Round

• The starting player in a stock round is the player with the Priority Deal card. Then the game proceeds in clockwise order.
• The stock round ends when each player has passed in sequence. The player at the left of the player who made the last action (sell or buy) receives the Priority Deal card.

Certificate Limit

• No player may own more certificates than is allowed by the certificate limit, depending on the number of players.

Number of players	2	3	4	5	6
Certificate limit	28	20	16	13	11

• A director's share certificate counts as one certificate for the purposes of the limit.
• A private company counts as one certificate for the purposes of the limit.
• Shares of a company whose share price token is in the red area of the share price board do NOT count for the purposes of the limit. If the share marker of such a company leaves the red area it's shares do count for the limit again.
• Players who possess more shares than the limit allows must sell shares during their next turn of a stock round until they are within the limit again.

Sale of Shares

During their turn in a stock round, players may sell as many shares as they wish with the following restrictions:

• A player may not sell shares during the first stock round.
• A director's share certificate can never be sold to the bank. However, it is possible to exchange the director's certificate if another player holds at least 20% of the company. See Change of Director.
• A player cannot sell shares if the number of one company's certificates to be sold plus the number of certificates in the bank pool for that company exceeds five.

Sold shares are put into the bank pool. The player receives from the bank the current share price for each share sold. A player who is selling shares in different companies chooses the order in which they are sold. After each sale by a player of one or more of a company's shares, the company's share price marker is moved down on the share price chart one space for each 10% sold (see Changes during Share Rounds).

Example for sale of shares: Player Q sells 30% of LYR. The share price was at 95. Q receives ¥285. The share price drops to 80.

Purchase of Shares

• On a player's turn they may purchase a 10% share in a company which has its share price marker on the share price chart or the 20% director's certificate of a company with no shares sold yet (see Inauguration of a Share Company).
• 10% shares are available from:
  • initial offering at the initial share price as indicated in the IPO section.
  • the bank pool (if any shares lay there) at the current share price as indicated on the share price board.
• The purchase price is paid to the bank.
• A player may only buy shares if they have sufficient personal cash.
• A player may not possess more than 60% of one share company.
• If a player sold any number of shares of a company during a SR, they may not buy shares of this company until the end of the SR and may buy shares of that company from the next SR on.

Inauguration of a Share Company

• The first available certificate in a share company is always the director's certificate. The player who purchases the director's certificate sets the company's starting share price and pays twice this price to the bank.
• The possible starting share prices are 70, 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95 (marked in orange on the share price board). The starting price is indicated by placing a company marker in the appropriate space on the share price board and a second marker in the PAR table.
• Once 60% of the shares of a company have been sold, it is "floated" and will begin operating in the next operating round (shares sold back to the bank pool do not affect this). The director of this company receives the appropriate company's charter, all station markers as stated on the company charter and ten times the initial share price as treasury.

Change of Director

• If due to purchase or sales, a player has more shares in a company than the current director, a change of director takes place. No change of director takes place if the holdings are equal.
• When a company's director changes, the previous director hands their 20% director's share certificate to the new director, who gives two shares of the company in exchange. The new director receives the company charter with all trains, station markers, private companies and the entire treasury of the company.
• A director can only relinquish control of their directorship voluntarily by selling shares into the bank. Another player must own a percentage of the company which is at least as big as that corresponding to the director's share certificate (20%). The player with the most shares in that company becomes the new director and receives the director's share certificate, returning an equivalent amount in ordinary shares. If several players have the same number of shares, the one next in playing order after the previous director becomes the new director.

Example for change of director: Player A has 50% of JHR, Player B has 20% of JHR. A sells 40% of JHR into the bank pool which was empty before. B becomes director and exchanges his two 10% shares into the director certificate. Result: Player A has 10% of JHR, Player B has 20% of JHR (director).

Operating Rounds (OR)

General Information

During an operating round, it is not the players who take actions but the private companies and the share companies. How a company acts is determined solely by its director.

• After each SR there will be at least one OR before the next SR.
• If a 3-train has been sold, each subsequent SR will be followed by two ORs before the next SR.
• If a 5-train has been sold, each subsequent SR will be followed by three ORs before the next SR.

Order of Play in an Operating Round:

• First the private companies pay income to their owners (player or company).
• Then the share companies operate in descending order of stock price. If several stock markers are on the same position, the company with its marker on top runs first. If two or more companies have the same share price but their markers are on different spaces, the one whose marker is furthest to the right goes first.
• The operating round ends when all companies have had their turn.

Definitions

Revenue location: a revenue location is a city, town or red off-board location, i.e. any location which gains revenue.

Route: a route consists of at least two different revenue locations that are connected by a continuous segment of track. Each route must have at least one of the operating company's stations at some point along its length. A route cannot go over the same piece of track more than once (no matter how small the track section may be). However, it is permitted for a route to use separate pieces of track on the same tile. A route may not reverse at a junction. A route may not change track at a crossover. A route that enters a revenue location on one track may exit it on any other track. A red foreign location is obligatory the start or end of a route (black arrow). A route can begin and/or end at a city where the company does not have a marker and which has no remaining free spaces for stations, but the route cannot go through such a "blocked" city, i.e. a city in which all station places are taken. A route can go through a city that is not blocked by stations of other companies.

Company Actions

Order of Play for a Company

A company's turn consists of the following actions, which are executed in the order stated.

• Place home station token (on its first OR, mandatory)
• Build track (optional):
  • place one yellow track tile, or
  • upgrade a track tile that is already on the map, or
  • upgrade a pre-printed hex.
• Buy and place one station marker (optional)
• Run its trains to earn revenue (mandatory).
• Calculate and manage the income (mandatory).
• Buy trains (optional unless the company has no train).

Additionally the company may buy private companies from players (from phase 3) or use special powers of private companies it owns at any point during its turn.

Placing Home Station

A company must place its first station on its home base (indicated on the map board with the company logo) at the start of its turn when it operates for the first time, regardless if there is a tile laid or preprinted or not. This first station is free.

Laying Track Tiles

The game board features a hexagonal grid. A share company may lay hexagonal track tiles on this grid to construct railroad routes joining the various revenue locations portrayed on the map. Yellow tiles can be placed on empty map hexes. Yellow tiles may not be placed on the three OO-hexes and Beijing's hex (yellow colored), but green tiles may be placed on these, later in the game.

During its operating round, each company can either place one yellow tile or upgrade one tile that is already in place or upgrade a pre-printed hex.

The black arrows on the red hexagons represent already existing track. On the grey hexes are also pre-printed tracks. These red and grey hexagons may not be built on.

At the beginning, only the yellow tiles are available and these may be placed onto the map.

The following rules apply:

• During their first turn, the three companies TJL, HJR and ZDR must lay a tile on their home base unless a tile has already been laid in that hex. The other five companies have starting points which already show pre-printed track.
• Further tiles laid must be reachable from an owned station token via a route. This route must not be blocked by stations belonging to other companies.
• On a town (black point), only a tile with a black bar can be laid.
• On a hex with two towns, only a tile with two tracks and two black bars may be laid. Only one of those tracks needs to be connected to one of your stations.
• On a city (white circle), only a city tile (white circle) may be laid.
• In open areas, only plain track without revenue location may be laid.
• The first tile laid on a hex with mountains, hills, the Great Wall or a river incurs a cost. The prices are printed on the map. The money is paid to the bank from the treasury of the company building the track.
• No tile may be placed in such a way that one or more tracks head off the edge of the map to a place without another hex of the grid.
• No tile may be placed in such a way that one or more tracks lead to a grey or red hex without track connection.
• A track tile may be built in such a way that it fails to connect to tracks on a neighboring tile.
• There are three impassable blue barriers on the map. Use the wooden sticks to mark them. No track tile may be placed in such a way that one or more tracks lead to a barrier.

Upgrading Track Tiles

Instead of placing one yellow tile, a company can upgrade a tile that is already in place or a pre-printed hex.

• Yellow tiles are upgraded to green.
• Green tiles are upgraded to brown.
• Brown tiles are upgraded to grey.
• Green tiles become available with the sale or export of the first 3-train.
• Brown tiles become available with the sale of the first 5-train.
• Grey tiles become available with the sale of the first D-train.

Additional rules:

• A company may only upgrade a tile if, after the upgrade, it contains track which is connected to a station of the company without being blocked by stations belonging to other companies. It is not necessary that any of the new track on the tile is usable by the company.
• Existing track may not be broken or lost as a result of an upgrade.
• Tiles without revenue location may only be upgraded to tiles without revenue location. Tiles with revenue location(s) must, after upgrade, retain any revenue location they had before. These revenue locations must be of the same type as, and maintain all connections of those that were present before the upgrade.
• It is possible that, as a result of the upgrade of a city tile, additional places for station markers become available.
• As long as a free space remains on a city tile, any company can trace a route through it for the purpose of upgrading tiles.
• Exchanged tiles are available for re-use.
• The first tile placed on yellow colored hexes marked "OO" or "B" must be a green tile. This counts as an upgrade. On these hexes marked "OO" and "B" only tiles marked with the same letters may be placed, and "OO" and "B" tiles may be placed nowhere else.
• There is no cost to upgrade a tile, regardless of the terrain (except the "upgrade" of the yellow B-hex and the yellow OO-hex on H4).

Consult the printed "Upgrade Chart" for the full set of tile-to-tile upgrade possibilities.

Establishing Stations

When a company places one of its tokens on a city circle, that token becomes a station for that railroad. Stations serve the following purposes:

• Each route run by a company must contain one of its stations somewhere on the route.
• A city that is fully occupied by stations can only be run through by companies owning one of these stations (other companies may run to/from it).
• A company can only build a tile or place a token if it is on a route connected to one of its existing stations.

Rules for placing stations:

• A company must place its first station at its home base at the start of its turn when it operates for the first time, no matter if there is already a tile placed or not. Establishing this first station is free.
• During its turn in an operating round, a share company may place one token in a city circle to establish a station. This may be in addition to the placement of the home station. Only one station token (except the home station) may be placed during an operating round.
• The first additional station that a company places costs ¥40. Each further station costs ¥100.
• A company may place no more than one of its stations on each hex.
• After its home station, a company may only place a new station if there is an unblocked route between the location and one of the company's established stations. The connection may be of any length, but it may not involve reversing at junctions.
• If a city contains the home base of a company that is not yet in operation, other companies may only build stations there if they leave at least one free place on the tile for the not yet operating company so it will be able to place its home station.

Example: The CDL can place a token on a city where the SSL cannot, because SSL has no station there and the space is limited. If both CDL and JHR already have a token in a city, the SSL can run its trains only to that city but not through it.

Running Trains

• Each of a company's trains may run once during its turn in an OR to earn revenue.
• A route consists of at least two different revenue locations that are connected by track.
• Each route must have at least one of the operating company's stations at some point along its length.
• Trains may travel through a number of revenue locations up to the number stated on the card. A Diesel train may run to an infinite number of revenue locations. The actual length of the track is immaterial. You may not omit any of the revenue locations on the route.
• A route may not contain the same revenue location (including red off-board locations) more than once, but can contain separate towns or cities on the same tile. Thus, it is allowed to travel from Beijing to Beijing before it was upgraded to brown or to the two cities on a green OO-tile.
• If a company owns more than one train, the routes they run must be completely separate. The routes may meet or cross at revenue locations provided they use separate sections of track. A junction, for example on a green tile, may therefore only be used by one train in a game turn, because the two tracks merge together.
• If a train's route contains both home and destination, the bonus mentioned on the company's charter and in the share companies table is added to the income.
• The harbor on H16 must be the end of a train's route. It doesn't count towards the range of a train but running a 2-train from any revenue location with a station marker on it to the harbor is a valid route.
• Heng Shan (the special mountain tile on C5) may be the end of a train's route. So it's allowed, for example, to run a 2-train from Datong (with a station marker there) to the mountain. It is allowed to run several trains to Heng Shan as long the trains don't use the same piece of track.

Example for running trains (Brown Phase): TJL (black) has a 4-train and a 5-train. The 5-train runs A-D-G: 30+10+40+40(Bonus)=120. The HJR station token at G blocks the TJL. The 4-train can't run, because it must start at A (a station token is required) and would have to use part of the 5-train's track. HJR (tan) has a 5-train and runs B-G-D-A, in total 100. Because there is no station token on E-C-F no train could ever run there.

Calculating Income

• The revenue of a train is the sum of the revenue values for each revenue location on its route. The revenue of a company is the sum of the revenues of all of its trains.
• The revenue value of each city and town is printed on the tile or hex. Red tiles have different values in different phases of the game (see Phase Change).
• The revenue claimed must be the highest total revenue that any player can show. It can be indicated with a token in the income table. An exception of this rule is Heng Shan (the special mountain tile on C5): a director may decide to run to Heng Shan instead of a revenue location with a higher value or to a revenue location with a lower value instead of Heng Shan.
• The director of the company collects the revenue from the bank. In the next step, they decide what to do with that money.
• The income from Heng Shan is treated separately. It is always paid into the treasury of the company. Concerning the rest of a company's income, the director has the sole decision as to whether it is paid out completely in dividends to the company's shareholders or retained in its entirety in the company's treasury. As the director owns the biggest share in that company, they are of course interested in paying out the dividends to enlarge their personal wealth. Still, sometimes a company requires extra money to lay track, place stations and buy new trains.

Paying out Dividends: When a company pays a dividend, players receive the amount of the revenue corresponding to the number of shares they own. Shares in the bank pool pay out to the company's treasury. Shares in the IPO pay out to the bank. If a company pays out a dividend which is higher than ¥0, the share price rises (see Share Price Changes).

Retaining dividends: The director may decide to put all of the revenue into that company's treasury instead. If a company does not pay out a dividend or has a dividend of ¥0, the stock price falls (see Share Price Changes).

Purchasing Trains

• As the last step of its turn a company may buy one or more trains, so a train can never be used in the same turn it is purchased. The purchase of a train may trigger a phase change (see Phase Change).
• If a company has no train at the end of its turn, it must buy one. This requirement holds even if the company currently has no legal route.
• Trains are bought from the bank in order of increasing size. The smallest, the 2s, are bought first. When all these have been sold, the 3s become available, then the 4s, etc. (A complete list of the number of trains of each type is given in the train overview table.)
• After all 6-trains were bought, Diesels may be purchased for the ¥900 face value or for ¥700 with a trade-in. Either a 4-train, 5-train, or 6-train may be traded in for the ¥200 discount, but note that the purchase of the first Diesel removes the remaining 4-trains from play. 5-trains and 6-trains traded in may be purchased from the bank at face value.
• There is a maximum number of trains any company may own (the "train limit") depending on the current game phase:
  • At the beginning, each company may own up to 4 trains.
  • During phase 4, each company may own up to 3 trains.
  • From phase 5, each company may own up to 2 trains.
• A company that already owns its maximum number of trains may not buy a new train, even if by this purchase some of its own trains will be scrapped and the company will be within the permitted train limit. But, for example, one owning a 3-train and a 4-train may buy the first 5-train offered because prior to this sale it was allowed to hold three trains. Immediately after the purchase, however, one of its trains must be returned to the bank as the company is now over the new train limit of 2.
• New trains are bought from the bank at the purchase price printed on the train card.
• Companies can also buy trains from other companies if both directors agree, but only after the sale of the first 3-train. The price is negotiable, but must be publicly stated. The purchase price must be at least ¥1.
• The purchase of trains from another company always happens during the buying company's turn. A company may buy trains only during its turn. It may not sell trains during its turn.
• Trains can never be sold back to the bank.
• Trains can never be scrapped voluntarily. Scrapping only happens during a phase change.
• Trains that are surplus as the result of a phase change go into the bank pool. No compensation is paid.

Train overview

Train type	Cost	Number	Rusts
2	¥80	7	-
3	¥180	6	-
4	¥300	5	2
5	¥500	3	-
6	¥630	2	3
D	¥900 (¥700 with trade-in)	∞	4

Emergency Financing

• If a company is forced to buy a train and does not have enough in treasury, then it must do an emergency financing: the director must make up the deficit from his private cash and by selling shares if his cash is not sufficient.
• The train may be bought only from the bank or the bank pool, not from another company. If different trains are available, then the director must buy the cheapest train available.
• The director may not buy a further train for the company with his private money or put more money than needed for that train into the company. The company must not have a single ¥ left after the purchase.
• If a director does not have enough cash to make up the shortfall, he must sell shares. This happens immediately and must follow all rules concerning share sales. Also, sales of shares must not lead to a change in the presidency of any company.
• If the director is not able to raise the required sum of money, even by selling everything he is allowed to sell, he is declared bankrupt. The game ends immediately.

Phase Change

The start of each new phase is triggered by the purchase of the first train of a new type, or by the export of the first train of a new type to a foreign country (see A Train may be Exported). Each phase has limitations and additions as follows:

Phase 1 (starts with the game)

• Yellow tiles are available.
• Train limit for companies is 4.

Phase 2 (starts with the sale/export of the first 2-train)

• The yellow value for red off board areas is used.

Phase 3 (starts with the sale/export of the first 3-train)

• Green tiles are available.
• Buying trains from other companies is allowed.
• Buying private companies from players is allowed for a price between 50% and 150% of face value.
• The green value for red off board areas is used.

Phase 4 (starts with the sale/export of the first 4-train)

• Scrap all 2-trains without compensation.
• Train limit is reduced to 3.

Phase 5 (starts with the sale of the first 5-train)

• Brown tiles are available.
• The brown value for red off board areas is used.
• Train limit is reduced to 2.

Phase 6 (starts with the sale of the first 6-train)

• Scrap all 3-trains without compensation.

Phase 7 (starts with the sale of the first D-train)

• Grey tiles are available.
• The grey value for red off board areas is used.
• Scrap all 4-trains without compensation.

A Train may be Exported

At the end of a set of operating rounds the train card on top of the card stack in the bank is removed from the game ("it is sold to a foreign country") if it shows a 2-train, 3-train or 4-train.

Share Price Changes

General Information

• The share price of a share company is recorded on the share price board. Private companies don't have a share price.
• For all movements a marker that moves onto an already occupied space is put under any markers that are already there.
• If a company marker is at the right edge of its row and should move one space to the right it goes one space up instead (as indicated by an arrow). If it is already on the top row it doesn't move.
• If a company marker is at the left edge of its row and should move one space to the left it goes one space down instead (as indicated by an arrow). If it is already on the bottom row it doesn't move.

Changes during Operating Rounds

• If a dividend greater than zero is paid to the shareholders, the share price goes up by moving the marker one space to the right.
• If a company does not pay out a dividend or has a dividend of ¥0, the stock price falls by moving the marker one space to the left.

Changes during Share Rounds

• After each sale by a player of one or more of a company's shares, the company's share price marker is moved down on the share price board one space for each share sold. If a company's share price marker is at the bottom of a column, the marker does not move.
• If all the shares of a company are in players' hands at the end of a SR, move its share price marker up one space on the share price board. If the company's share price marker is at the top of a column, the marker does not move. If several companies are sold out move them in share price order (like they operate during an OR).

Example: 3 shares of LYR are sold - the share price token drops down three spaces. ZDR and JHR are sold out at the end of a share round. The ZDR token moves one space up, the JHR token remains where it is.

End of the Game

General Information

• The current set of ORs is always played to its completion (exception: bankruptcy).
• If the game ends when the bank has run out of money, any dividends due to players will need to be recorded on a piece of paper. These recorded dividends are included as part of a player's cash in the final totals. If the bank runs out of money during a SR, the game ends after the SR and a further complete set of ORs have been played.
• If the game ends due to the bankruptcy of a player, no further actions may be taken by any player or company. A bankrupt player can win the game.

Final Totals

• Each player adds to their cash the value of their private companies (possible but unlikely - the game would have to end before a 5-train had been bought) and their shares as determined by the share price board.
• Share companies' assets in the form of trains, private companies or treasury play no part in the final reckoning.
• The player with the greatest wealth wins the game.