1947: Railways of India 1836-1947
1947: Railways of India 1836-1947 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- The Companies of 1947
- 1.0 Introduction
- 1.1 Overview
- 1.2 Winning the Game
- 1.3 Components
- 1.4 Rulebook Abbreviations
- 1.5 Game Etiquette
- 2.0 Setup
- 2.1 Preliminary Preparation
- 2.2 Bank
- 2.3 Game Setup
- 3.0 Private Companies
- 3.1 List of Private Companies
- 3.2 Private Companies Auction
- 3.3 Selling/Purchasing Private Companies
- 3.4 Private Company Revenue
- 3.5 Player Order After the Private Company Auction
- 4.0 Sequence of Play
- 4.1 Stock Round Overview
- 4.2 Operating Round Overview
- 5.0 Stock Round (SR)
- 5.2 Floating a New Railway Company
- 5.3 Purchasing a Certificate
- 5.4 Convertible Bonds
- 5.5 Selling Certificates
- 5.6 Savings Shares
- 5.7 Certificate Limit
- 5.8 Ownership Limit for a Single Company
- 5.9 Change of Presidency
- 5.10 Stock Market
- 5.12 Ending the Stock Round
- 6.0 Operating Round (OR)
- 6.5 Particular Cities
- 6.6 Gray Hexes on Map
- 6.7 Placing Stations
- 6.8 Temples
- 6.9 Trading Posts
- 6.10 Expatriation Sites (ESs)
- 6.11 Workers
- 6.12 Stockbrokers and Stock Market Opportunities
- 6.13 Seasons and Climate Zones
- 6.14 Running Trains for Revenue
- 6.15 Purchasing Trains
- 7.0 Game Phases Summary
- 8.0 End of the Game
- 9.0 Detailed Example of Game
- 10.0 Design Notes & Historical Background
- Appendix 1: Rules Summary for 18XX Experts
- Appendix 2: Glossary
- Appendix 3: Game Tables
- Appendix 4: Tile Manifest & Upgrade Chart
The Companies of 1947
There are 11 Railway Companies that players can float from the start of the game. Each Company has 9 share certificates: 8 are worth 10% and one (the President's Certificate) is worth 20% for a total of 100%.
* Exception: the BNR Company has 8 share certificates because its President's Certificate is worth 30%.
| Abbr. | Complete name | Home City Hex | Temple Hex | Logo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABR | Assam Bengal Railway | S 14 | U8 | |
| B&NWR | Bengal & North-Western Railway | J 11 | B 17 | |
| BB&CI | Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway | D 21 | M 12 | |
| BNR* | Bengal Nagpur Railway | H 19 | F3 | |
| CCSR | Cherra Companyganj State Railways | R 11 | L 23 |
1.0 Introduction
In India between 1836 and 1947, three to six great business magnates are in competition with each other, operating their own railway companies and building the best share portfolios. The aim of the game is to become the richest railroad tycoon in India.
1.1 Overview
Player starting cash varies according to the number of players in the game. In Game Phase 1, players spend some of their cash to buy Private Companies, each with their own particular characteristics and unique advantages. Then, beginning in Game Phase Two, the game proceeds by alternating Stock Rounds with Operating Rounds.
In Stock Rounds (SRs), players buy and sell Railway Company certificates.
During the Operating Rounds (ORs), the President (the largest shareholder) of each Railway Company lays track tiles to connect as many cities as possible and places railway stations in order to obtain the best routes for their trains. Running a train connecting the various cities produces revenue for the railway company that can be paid as a dividend to its shareholders or withheld (kept) in the Company Treasury for future expenses.
The value of a Company's shares depends on both the purchase and sale of shares and upon whether the Company pays dividends or not. Each OR takes place during one of the 4 seasons of the Indian sub-continent (Dry, Monsoon, Intermediate and Fertile), which all influence Company revenue.
The game is divided into eight Phases which represent India's technological and social advancements. The purchase of the first train of each type moves the game from one Phase to the next.
The game ends in one of two ways:
a) when the first Company reaches the highest share value on the Stock Market Table (in this case companies that have not yet operated in that OR still have their operating turn); or
b) when a Player goes bankrupt.
1947 is quite a long game, depending on your experience and the play style of your group of players. Quick and experienced players can finish a game in 6-7 hours. Inexperienced and more thoughtful gamers will take about 2-3 hours longer. If you are new to 18xx series games, we advise you to look at section 8.0 Detailed game example, which shows the initial distribution of Private Companies, the first Stock Round, and the first Operating Round.
Note on the example section number: the printed text here says "section 8.0 Detailed game example"; the printed contents list numbers that section 9.0 Detailed Example of Game. Both are transcribed as printed.
Disclaimer: The game map represents a simplification of some territories due to the size of the hexes and the map scale. Given this limitation, we prioritised playability wherever possible. The map therefore does not fully and exactly represent the territory of India.
1.2 Winning the Game
At the end of the game each player adds up:
a) their total personal cash;
b) the value of their Share Certificates;
c) the value of their Convertible Bonds.
The player who has the highest total wins.
Important: Cash and assets in the Railway Companies' Treasuries, and Private Companies, have no value at the end of the game.
1.3 Components
- 2 Mounted mapboards
- 11 Railway Company Charters
- 9 Private Company Certificates
- 98 Share Certificates
- 110 Convertible Bonds, 10 for each Railway Company
- 67 Stations and Company Tokens
- 63 Light blue water drops
- 275 Tiles
- 121 Expatriation Site markers, 11 for each Company
- 11 Temple tokens
- 42 Train cards
- 6 Player Aid Cards
- 1 Notepad Private Companies Hammer Price
- 26 Worker tokens*
- 18 Stockbroker tokens*
- 6 Player Order Cards
- 1 Phase Pawn
- 1 Season Pawn
- 1 Game Round Pawn
- 210 Banknotes for Personal Cash
- 180 Banknotes for Company Treasuries*
* These items are limited. If the supply runs out, players cannot take anymore until the supply refills.
1.4 Rulebook Abbreviations
This rulebook uses a number of abbreviations:
- 2T, 3T, 4T etc – "T" = train
- BP – Bank Pool
- ES – Expatriation Site
- IO – Initial Offering
- OR – Operating Round
- Px – Private Company Number
- Rs. – Indian Rupees (the game's currency)
- SR – Stock Round
1.5 Game Etiquette
To help keep the game moving along quickly, players should try to do all their planning when it is not their turn.
All game transactions are open and public. All game information, such as players' personal cash and shareholdings, Company Treasuries, etc. is open to all and must be provided upon request, but it is best not to ask for such information from the current player – wait until they have finished their turn; player and Company assets should be displayed clearly so as to minimize such requests.
A polite player doesn't try to influence, distract or give unrequested suggestions to others at the table.
Verbal agreements between players are permitted, but they must be open and public. Players are not obliged to keep their word.
Remember that 1947 is an individual game and not a collective game.
2.0 Setup
2.1 Preliminary Preparation
Each player chooses a position to sit. The actual seating order is not important since the Player Order will vary during the game.
Shuffle the Player Order Cards according to the number of players (3 to 6) and deal one to each player. The player who received the Player Order Card No.1 is first player.
2.2 Bank
The 1947 game Bank is comprised of two sets of banknotes with different graphics. One set is intended for the players' personal cash, the other for the Companies' Treasuries. This choice was made to ensure players do not confuse their personal cash with that of a company they are controlling. For convenience, the denominations are the same and have similar colors. For the personal cash there is also an Rs.1000 banknote. The players can simply use the notes interchangeably if they wish.
Historical note: banknotes. The graphics on the two sets of banknotes are based on historical Indian banknotes from the time period of our game. Place the two Banks at either end of the gameboard.
The game Bank has no limit, although sufficient banknotes are provided to play the game. If the banknotes do run out, each player should provide an equal amount of money to the Bank and the banker will note it for final scoring.
2.3 Game Setup
a) Place the company Shares in their appropriate spaces on the gameboard with their President's Certificates on top. Below all the Shares place the respective Convertible Bonds, rotated 90°.
b) Place the indicated workers on each Expatriation Site on the map.
c) Place the "Temple" markers on their respective hexes on the map, on the "Temple not reached" side.
d) Randomly draw a 10% share from among the following company shares and place it in the Bank Pool:
- Bengal & North-Western Railway B&NWR
- Puducherry Railway Company PRC
- South Indian Railway Company SIR
- East Indian Railway Company EIR
- Great Indian Peninsula Railway GIPR
e) Randomly draw a 10% share from among the following company shares and place it in the Bank Pool:
- Assam Bengal Railway ABR
- Cherra Companyganj State Railways CCSR
f) Place the Season marker on the "Dry Season" arrow.
g) Place the Game Round marker on the "Stock Round" box.
h) Place the Phase marker on the first box of the "Phase Chart".
i) Sort the Train Cards by type and stack them in order by number with the 12T cards at the bottom and the 2T cards on top. Then place the 2T cards on the "Available Trains" box, the 3T cards on the "Next Available Trains" box and the rest of the deck on the "Unavailable Trains" box.
j) Place the 9 Private Companies in ascending order by number on the table where every player can see them.
k) Sort the track tiles by color.
l) Place a light blue water drop on each hex with the matching symbol.
m) Sort the banknotes between the Company Treasury money and the players' Personal cash.
n) Sort the Company Charters and put 11 Expatriation Site Tokens on every "Expatriation Sites not reached" box and the Station Tokens on the allocated spaces.
o) Distribute the starting cash to each player as below:
Players' starting cash
| No. of players | Starting cash |
|---|---|
| 3 | 800 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 4 | 600 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 5 | 480 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 6 | 400 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
You're ready to begin the Private Companies Auction!
3.0 Private Companies
At the beginning of the game is the assignment of the Private Companies by auction. A Private Company's power, whether permanent or one-off, is only usable by the Railway Company that owns it.
Why "Private Companies"? We have purposely kept the term Private Companies to facilitate the logical connection with the other games in the 18xx Series. In reality, the companies in 1947 are better considered as opportunities that grant a technological, economic and/or operational advantage to their owner.
3.1 List of Private Companies
Each Private Company certificate shows:
- description;
- the BOLDED words are the Private Company name reference and they are the same on the Private Company Hammer Price sheet;
- a graphic showing the Private Company's effect;
- a number indicating its position in the initial auction;
- the revenue it pays to the owning player (0 if owned by a Company);
- a symbol indicating whether its use is a permanent or one-time effect;
- a symbol indicating whether its power can be used by a railway company (that has bought it) or by a player.
3.1.1 Revenue
At the beginning of each OR Private Companies will pay revenue of Rs.10 if owned by a player.
The list of Private Companies is shown below.
P1: Construction Breakthrough for Dry Season
Duration: Permanent.
Effect: During the Dry Season, the Railway Company owning the P1 can lay track tiles outside the monsoon zone on the map without suffering a revenue reduction.
P2: Construction Breakthrough for Monsoon Season
Duration: Permanent.
Effect: During the Monsoon Season, the Railway Company owning the P2 can lay track tiles in the monsoon zone on the map without suffering a revenue reduction.
P3: Topographical studies in the Thar desert
Duration: Permanent.
Effect: The Railway Company owning the P3 does not pay any terrain cost when laying track tiles on desert hexes.
P4: Insider Trading
Duration: One-off – remove from game after use. The P4 power may only be used if owned by a player. If the P4 is purchased by a Railway Company it is immediately removed from the game.
Effect: At the beginning of any SR the owning player can announce that they will use this Private Company power and then discard the P4 from the game to take the Player Order No.1 card. All the other players keep their relative positions in the play order and exchange the player order cards as necessary.
EXAMPLE: A Stock Round has the following player order: Andrew, Anna, Robert, John. John owns the P4. and decides to use its power. He announces it to the players and permanently discards the P4 from the game. The turn order becomes: John, Andrew, Anna, Robert; the players take their corresponding turn order cards. John, therefore, becomes the first player; Andrew, Anna, and Robert go down one player order position.
P5: Economic Incentives
Duration: Permanent.
Effect: When the owning Railway Company reaches an Expatriation Site it has not previously reached, the Company Treasury collects a bonus in addition to that on its Expatriation Track (para 6.10):
- Rs.30 bonus if the company is the first to reach the Site; or
- Rs.10 bonus if the Site has already been reached by another company.
The bonus is not counted as part of the company's revenue.
In addition, the Railway Company that owns the P5 pays no terrain cost to lay track tiles in swamp hexes.
P6: Company Reorganization
Duration: One-off – remove from game after use.
Effect: In it's OR turn the owning railway company discards the P6 from the game to get one of the following benefits, of the Company President's choice (the Railway Company must be able to trace a legal route to the city where the station is placed):
- The Railway Company can move one of its already placed Stations (except its home city station) at no cost to another city, even if that city is already fully occupied by Stations of other Railway Companies; or
- it can place the first available station on its charter on a city with a spare space at no cost; or
- it can place the first station available on its charter in a city completely occupied by stations of other Railway Companies and/or reserved for home city stations of Railway Companies yet to come into play (this placement doesn't block the reserved home city spot), by paying the required cost.
If the city tile is subsequently upgraded, the station placed using the P6 immediately occupies one free space that has been created, otherwise it will always remain as an additional station to those allowed by tiles.
NOTE: Companies may only ever place one additional station in their OR turn: by using either this power, or by using workers – not both (para 6.11.2).
P7: Trading Posts
Duration: Permanent.
Effect: The P7 increases the revenue of any train runs that start and/or end in a City or Town with a Trading Post that has at least one free station space or the owning Railway Company's own station on the tile (ie: the Railway Company must have a legal route to the Trading Post itself, not just the tile it is connected to).
The value of the Trading Posts is based on the currently available train:
- Rs.10 for 2T, 3T, and 4T;
- Rs.20 from 5T onwards.
If the Railway Company has multiple trains, only one train can run to any given Trading Post. A train can only run to a maximum of two Trading Posts; one at the beginning and one at the end of its route.
When calculating the number of Stops on a route, Trading Posts do not count.
For all other Railway Companies the Trading Posts are worth Rs.0.
The picture shows the cities of Goa, with 1 Trading Post, and Hubli with 1 Trading Post.
P8: R&D Locomotive
Duration: One-off – remove from game after use.
Effect: The owning Railway Company discards the P8 from the game to gain one of the following benefits, of the Company President's choice:
- At any time in its OR turn, the owning Railway Company may immediately buy a train. The newly purchased train may be from the available Trains or from another Railway Company (para 6.15.2). If bought before the Run Trains action, it can be used to earn revenue that OR; or
- The Railway Company can obtain an Expatriation Site of its choice (from among those it has not yet achieved) along with all the relevant benefits on the Expatriation Track on its Company charter. The President doesn't gain any workers – they stay on the map.
P9: President's Certificate of the Bengal Nagpur Railway
Duration: Instant.
Effect: The player who purchases the P9 immediately discards it from the game and takes the 30% President's Certificate of the Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR). This causes the BNR to float (para 5.2.3). The player then sets the BNR's PAR price.
3.2 Private Companies Auction
After determining the player starting order, an auction begins with the P1 Private Company: the player with the Player Order No. 1 card decides whether to bid or pass.
The minimum bid is Rs.10.
Then the remaining players, in clockwise order, either raise the bid by a minimum of Rs.10, or pass; the round continues until all but the winner have passed. Any player who passes is excluded from subsequent bidding for that Private Company. At the end of the auction, the winning bid (known as the Hammer Price) is marked on the "Private Companies Hammer Price" sheet.
The auction for the P2 then begins: the player to the left of starting player starts the bidding. After this auction is resolved, the next player to the left has the first bid on the P3 and so on as play continues clockwise around the table with each player starting an auction until all the Private Companies have been bought.
If all the players pass in an auction for a Private Company, a second round of the table is made; if all the players pass again, the Private Company is removed from the game. If this is the P9, then the BNR President's Certificate is still placed on top of the relevant share stack in the IO, and is available to be purchased following the normal share purchasing rules.
At the end of the Private Company auction, players determine the order of play for the first Stock Round (para 3.5).
3.3 Selling/Purchasing Private Companies
Railway Companies may purchase Private Companies from a player at any time during their OR turn, provided at least one 2T has been purchased in the game. The purchase price is a minimum of Rs.01, while the maximum price is calculated based upon the Hammer Price of the Private Company and the most recent train purchased, as shown in the following table:
Selling/Purchasing Private Companies
| Most recent train purchased | Maximum Price |
|---|---|
| 2T | Hammer Price |
| 3T | 150% of Hammer Price |
| 4T | 200% of Hammer Price |
| 5T and up | 250% of Hammer Price |
NOTE: a Private Company sale cannot cause the ratio of Savings Shares to Ordinary Shares to become invalid (para 5.6.2).
A Private Company owned by a player can be bought directly by another player for a freely agreed price.
Once a Private Company is owned by a Railway Company it may no longer be bought, sold, traded or given away.
3.4 Private Company Revenue
At the beginning of each OR, the players receive Rs.10 revenue for each Private Company they own.
3.5 Player Order After the Private Company Auction
At the end of the Private Company auction, players determine the order of play for the first Stock Round.
Player investment determines the Player Turn order in the SR. The Player Order is from most invested to least invested player. Player investment is calculated as follows:
- The player who holds the largest number of Shares and Private Companies, based on the values below:
- 30% President's Certificate (BNR) → 3
- Private Company → 1
- In the event of a tie, whoever owns the most money goes first.
- In the case of an absolute tie, whoever owns the Private Company with the smaller number (P1, P2, etc.).
NOTE: In all subsequent SRs the Player Order Cards are assigned starting with the least invested player (para 5.12.1).
4.0 Sequence of Play
The game setup (para 2.0) and Private Companies Auction (para 3.2) are considered to be Game Phase 1.
Beginning with Game Phase 2, play proceeds by alternating a single Stock Round (SR) with a set of 1 to 3 Operating Rounds (ORs).
The game will run through a number of phases, the phases change immediately whenever the first train of a type is bought in an OR. The Game Phase affects track laying, revenue values, the maximum number of trains that a Company may own (the Train Limit), and the rules for temples. An overview of the various rules changes by Game Phase is in Section 7.0.
Exception: The number of ORs in a Game Turn does not change immediately when the Game Phase changes – the number of ORs played will change in the next set of ORs.
NOTE: the Game Phase number matches the available trains (so there is no Phase 7, 9 or 11).
4.1 Stock Round Overview
During the Stock Round (SR), following the assigned priority (first is the player with the Player No.1 card, then the one with the Player No.2 card, and so on), each player can buy and/or sell Shares or Convertible Bonds, or decide to Pass. An SR ends when all players have passed consecutively.
This means that a player who passed during their turn will be able, if all the other players don't pass consecutively, to take another turn.
At the end of the SR the Player Order for the next SR is determined (para 5.12.1) and share prices are adjusted (para 5.12.2).
4.2 Operating Round Overview
Depending on the Game Phase, a set of 1, 2 or 3 Operating Rounds (ORs) may take place. During an OR the following actions are performed in order:
- Private Company revenue is paid out.
- Company Presidents operate their Companies, one by one, in order from the Company with the highest Stock Market value through to the one with the lowest (para 6.0). The Company President, exclusively, makes all the decisions for the Company.
During its Operating Round turn a Railway Company (via its President) may carry out any, some or all of the following activities, in the order indicated:
- lay track tiles (optional);
- place Stations (optional);
- use workers (optional);
- run its trains (mandatory) then either:
- pay a dividend to shareholders or withhold the dividend in the company Treasury (mandatory);
- resolve Expatriation Bonuses (if any);
- buy trains (optional).
When a Railway Company runs a train to a new Expatriation Site it can also use stockbrokers (para 6.12.1) or stock market Opportunities (para 6.12.2) to advance its stock market value.
A Railway Company may buy a Private Company, and/or use the Power of an owned Private Company at any time in its OR turn (para 3.3).
4.2.1 Operating Round Turn Order
The Railway Companies operate in order of their stock market value, from highest to lowest. If several Railway Companies have the same stock market value, the one in the column furthest right operates first.
If more than one Company token is in the same space, they operate in order from top to bottom of the stack.
Each time a stock market token enters a new space, it is placed under any already present.
5.0 Stock Round (SR)
During an SR, starting with the Player No. 1 Cardholder and proceeding in numerical order, players take turns buying and selling Shares, Convertible Bonds and floating new Companies.
Each Company has nine shares: eight single 10% shares, and one 20% President's Certificate, for a total of 100%. Single shares are bought and sold at the Stock Market or Par price. The 20% President's Certificates are bought from the IO at double the Par price.
Exception: the Bengal Nagpur Railway has 7 single 10% shares and a 30% President's Certificate.
On the gameboard there is a Stock Market Table, a Par Chart, a Bank Pool (BP), and the Initial Offering (IO).
The Stock Market Table is divided into squares each with a number inside. These numbers indicate stock prices.
The Par Chart shows the prices of the 10% Company shares available in the Initial Offering.
The Bank Pool holds the shares sold by the players; it cannot hold more than 50% of a Company. The Bank Pool also holds any trains discarded by the Companies.
NOTE: President's Certificates can never be in the Bank Pool.
Before beginning a Stock Round, players should turn over the Convertible Bonds they purchased in the previous SR from the "Just purchased from the Initial Offer" side (reverse) to the front side.
5.1 Limits on Purchases and Sales
During their SR turn, a player can only take one of these four actions:
a) Buy and then Sell, or Sell and then Buy, Share Certificates or Convertible Bonds;
b) Convert one or more Shares from "Ordinary" to "Savings" or vice-versa (para 5.6.4);
c) Issue Convertible Bonds;
d) Pass, if a player does not want to do any of the previous options (para 4.1).
It is not allowed in the same turn to Sell, then Buy and then Sell again.
When buying Certificates a player can only perform one of these three actions:
- Open one new Company by purchasing its President's Certificate; or
- Buy one Share Certificate, (Ordinary or Savings) or Convertible Bond of an existing Company; or
- Issue Convertible Bonds (para 5.4.2).
When selling Certificates a player can always sell as many Certificates (Ordinary and/or Savings Shares, and Convertible Bonds) as they wish, respecting the "Selling Shares or Convertible Bonds" rule (para 5.5) and the "Change of Presidency" rule (para 5.9).
5.2 Floating a New Railway Company
The player who buys the President's Certificate of a Company from the Initial Offering (IO) becomes its President. They then decide the price every player will pay for each 10% share in the Company they buy from the IO – this is called the PAR price. The new Company will not open (float) until 60% of its shares have been bought by players.
On the Stock Market Table there are 4 distinct colour Bands (Yellow, Green, Brown and Blue) representing the range of Company Par Prices available in successive game phases. The player must choose a Par price for the new company based on the range available in the current game phase – they cannot choose values other than those indicated, whether they are higher or lower.
The yellow band must be used until the purchase of the first 3T (Game Phase 2). With the first purchase of a 3T (Game Phase 3) the green band must be used; with the purchase of the first 5T (Game Phase 5) the brown band must be used; with the purchase of the first 8T (Game Phase 8) the Blue band must be used.
After choosing the Par price, the President places the Company charter in front of them and pays to the bank 2x the par price, for the 20% President's Certificate (or 3x Par Price for the BNR President's Certificate). Next, they place the Company's square Par token on the correct place on the Par Chart and a round token on the correct place on the Stock Market Table (on the price on the related colour band).
5.2.1 Making a Company Operational
The President can only begin operating the Company in the OR following the SR in which 60% of the Company's shares have been bought from the IO.
NOTE: the 10% Shares present in the Bank Pool following the share draw at the beginning of the game (para 2.1) allow those Companies to be operational once only 50% of their Shares have been bought from the Initial Offer.
5.2.2 Initial Company Treasury
When a Company becomes operational its Treasury receives cash equal to 10x the company's Par Price.
5.2.3 Bengal Nagpur Railway
The Bengal Nagpur Railway becomes operational with the purchase its 30% Presidency Certificate. The BNR Treasury only receives starting cash equal to the Par Price of the President's Certificate and any additional Shares sold in that SR. The cash paid for any BNR shares subsequently purchased from the IO is paid directly to the Company Treasury.
NOTE: When selling shares of a company during an OR in which it floats, see para 5.5.
5.3 Purchasing a Certificate
During the Stock Round a player may only buy one Certificate per SR turn. A Certificate is an Ordinary Share, a Savings Share, or a Convertible Bond. The Certificate can be purchased:
- from the Bank Pool (BP), or
- from the Initial Offer (IO).
A player who has sold a certificate in a Company may not subsequently buy certificates in that Company until the next SR (unless Price Protection, para 5.4.5).
5.3.1 Buying from the Bank Pool
The player pays the Stock Market price to the Bank for a share and takes it from the Bank Pool, placing it in front of them; the player decides whether the share is an Ordinary Share or a Savings Share. If they are buying a Convertible Bond, they pay half the Stock Market price.
NOTE: The two shares drawn and placed in the Bank Pool at the beginning of the game cannot be bought until after players have bought their Companies' respective President's Certificates and set a price for them.
5.3.2 Buying from Initial Offer
If there are shares still available, the player pays the Par price to the Bank and takes the share from the top of the IO stack, placing it in front of them. The player who buys the 20% President's Certificate of a Company from the IO sets the Par price for that Company.
Exception: the price for a BNR share bought from the IO is paid to its Company Treasury.
Stock Market Price and Par Price
The Stock Market price of a certificate is shown on the Stock Market Table by a token with that Company's logo.
The Par price of a share is shown on the Par Chart; this value is set by the player who buys the President's Certificate from the IO.
5.4 Convertible Bonds
Convertible Bonds are a loan that a Railway Company can ask the market for. Convertible Bonds act like shares in that their value will increase (or decrease) based on the Company's stock market value – however they do not pay a dividend at all. For the Railway Companies they are a way to attract additional finance, while for the players they are another way to invest their money during the game.
5.4.1 How Convertible Bonds Work
a) Convertible Bonds are considered to mature after the end of the game and therefore (for game purposes) Companies will not "repay" them.
b) Convertible Bonds are considered to be Certificates for all purposes. Exceptions: i. they do not count against the Certificate Limit. ii. There is no limit to the number of Convertible Bonds that may be in the Bank Pool. iii. There is no limit to the number of Convertible Bonds a player can own.
c) Convertible Bonds do not pay a dividend. They represent a non-interest bearing investment in the Company.
d) Convertible Bonds allow a company President to "Price Protect" the value of their shares in a company against the sale of its shares by other players (para 5.4.5).
e) Convertible Bonds can be purchased by any player and resold, following the rules for buying / selling Certificates.
5.4.2 Issuing Convertible Bonds
A Company's Convertible Bonds can be issued at any time in an SR by the Company President; the number that can be issued is determined by the number of Shares already purchased from the Initial Offer. The remaining Convertible Bonds are permanently removed from the game.
EXAMPLE: If a Railway Company still has 2 Shares in the Initial Offer, it can issue (10-2=8) eight Convertible Bonds and the two excess Bonds are permanently removed from the game.
The issue price of a Convertible Bond is equal to 50% of the Par Price of the Company's Shares. A Convertible Bond in the Bank Pool or in player hands is valued at 50% of the Company Stock Market value.
When the President decides to issue Convertible Bonds, an offer is first made to the shareholders of the Railway Company, beginning with the President themself, then in clockwise order around the table. Each shareholder can buy (using their available personal cash) one Convertible Bond for every 10% Ordinary or Savings Share they own of the Railway Company. The money is paid into the Railway Company Treasury. At the end of this issuing turn, any unpurchased Convertible Bonds are placed in the Initial Offer for subsequent purchase: when players buy them in an SR the cash is paid to the Company Treasury.
Important: Convertible Bonds purchased from the Initial Offer in an SR, whether in an issue or purchased subsequently, cannot be sold in that same SR.
To distinguish their newly purchased Bonds from those purchased in previous SRs, players place them in front of them with the wording "Just purchased from the Initial Offer" face-up. The Bonds are turned over to the other side only at the beginning of the next Stock Round: this means that they cannot be sold during an OR following their purchase, even if there is forced train purchase by a Railway Company and related insolvency of the Company (para 6.15.5).
The issue of Convertible Bonds ends the player's SR turn, they may still take actions in their next SR turn.
5.4.3 Purchasing Convertible Bonds
During their SR turn players can purchase one Convertible Bond from the IO or the BP.
If purchased from the IO, the price is 50% of the Company's Par value and paid to the Company Treasury.
If purchased from the Bank Pool, the price is 50% of the Company's Stock Market value and paid to the bank.
5.4.4 Limits on the Purchase and Ownership of Convertible Bonds
During a Convertible Bond issue a player may purchase one Convertible Bond for each 10% Ordinary or Savings Share they own in that Railway Company. During the subsequent SR turns, players may purchase one Convertible Bond at a time (para 5.1).
There is no limit to the number of Convertible Bonds a player may own in a single Company. There is also no limit to the total number of Convertible Bonds a player can own in total. Convertible Bonds do not count towards the Certificate Limit.
5.4.5 Share "Price Protection"
If a player sells one or more Shares of a Railway Company of which they are not the President, the Company President can choose to "Price Protect" the Company's Shares from falling in Stock Market value. To do this, the Company President converts 2 Bonds they own for each of the sold Shares (for the first 80% of the shares – the last 20% of Shares must be converted at a rate of 3 Convertible Bonds per Share Certificate). The Convertible Bonds used to Price Protect are permanently removed from the game while the Price Protected Shares are now owned by the President. The player who sold receives from the Bank the Stock Market value of the shares they sold. The Stock Market value of the sold Company doesn't change.
NOTE: As President, when you're obtaining shares up to 80% via price protection, it's two bonds per share. To obtain 90% or 100% shares via price protection, it's three bonds per share.
Important: Price Protection must include ALL of the Shares offered for sale; partial Price Protection of only some Shares is not permitted.
EXAMPLE: Anna sells 2 Shares worth Rs.80 of a Company of which Paul is the President and owns 60% of. Paul decides to "Price Protect" the Company's stock market value by converting 4 of his Convertible Bonds: 2 for each of the Shares sold. Anna receives Rs.160 from the Bank, and Paul now owns 80% of the Company. The Company's stock market price does not change.
NOTE: Paul cannot make a "partial" Price Protection for only 1 Share.
Price Protection allows the President to exceed the normal Company Share ownership Limit of 60% and to keep it throughout the game. Note that the Certificate Limit must still be respected. The Convertible Bonds purchased in previous SRs must be used first for Price Protection, followed by those bought in the current SR if necessary.
After Price Protection, the player who sold the Shares that were converted continues their SR turn or, if they have finished, the turn passes to the next player. Price Protection does not alter the Player order in the SR.
A Company President is still allowed to Price Protect their Company even if they have sold shares in that Company themselves in that SR (this is an exception to basic rule 5.3).
It is not possible to "Price Protect" against the sale of Shares by using cash.
EXAMPLE: A Company President owns 80% of the company's shares due to Price Protection. They decide to sell one 10% share and their new share ownership limit is now 70%.
In a subsequent turn they decide to buy a 10% share of the same Company they had Price Protected (which the SR buying and selling rules allow) but they must sell that share at the end of the SR as per para 5.8. The president may only regain and maintains a 80% share limit via further Price Protection (if it is possible).
5.4.6 Selling Convertible Bonds
During their SR turn a player can sell to the Bank Pool one or more Convertible Bonds, including those of different Companies (but only from among those purchased in previous SRs) at a price equal to 50% of the Stock Market value of the relevant Company. The sale of a Convertible Bond never reduces a Company's share price.
5.5 Selling Certificates
In the SR turn a player can sell any number of Certificates (Shares and/or Convertible Bonds), subject to the limitations below:
a) no certificates may be sold during the first Stock Round of the game;
b) if there is already 50% of a Company in the Bank Pool, no one can sell Shares of that Railway Company;
c) a player can only sell a President's Certificate if there is another player who owns at least two 10% Ordinary Shares in that Company.
EXAMPLE: Paul wants to sell 2 WIPR Shares and 1 ABR Share. There are already 4 10% Shares of the WIPR and 1 10% Share of the ABR in the Bank Pool. Paul therefore can sell only 1 WIPR Share (bringing the total amount of WIPR shares in the Bank Pool to 5) and 1 ABR Share (bringing the total amount of ABR shares there to 2).
There is no limit to the number of Convertible Bonds that may be in the Bank Pool.
When certificates are sold, they are placed in the Bank Pool. For each Ordinary or Savings Share sold the player then receives from the Bank an amount equal to their Stock Market value; while for each Convertible Bond sold they receive 50% of the Stock Market value.
After the player has received their cash, the Company's Stock Market token is moved down by one row for every Share sold (not Convertible Bonds) unless the sale has been Price Protected (para 5.4.5). If the token moves down to the last row in the column it does not move any further.
NOTE: In the Stock Round in which a player buys the President's Certificate of a Railway Company from the IO (even if it does not become operational) and at the end of the SR in which the Railway Company floats the value of its Shares does not fall even if other players buy and sell Shares of that Company. If, on the other hand, the President sells Shares, they do decrease in value; if other players buy the Shares sold by the President and then resell them, they further lose value.
5.6 Savings Shares
Each 10% Railway Company certificate is printed on both sides. One side (shown below), is an Ordinary Share in the Railway Company colour; while on the reverse is the "Savings Share", also in the Company colour but with a white band across the middle.
[Image: Ordinary Share certificate, 10%, East Indian Railway Company (EIR).]
An Ordinary Share represents a Share Certificate as it is known in all other games of the 18xx series. The President of a Railway Company can only hold Ordinary Shares of that Company. The other players, on the other hand, can choose whether to buy Ordinary or Savings Shares, but they cannot have Shares of both types in the same Company.
[Image: Savings Share certificate, 10%, East Indian Railway Company (EIR).]
5.6.1 How Savings Shares Work
a) they are not counted when determining the Presidency of a Railway Company;
b) if a player owns multiple Savings Shares from the same Railway Company, then each pair they own counts as only one certificate towards the certificate Limit. If the player has odd numbers, the unpaired certificate counts as 1 Certificate. NOTE: Two Savings Shares from two different Railway Companies each count as 1 certificate;
c) when a Railway Company withholds its revenue in an OR, it receives all the payment less that paid to the Savings Shareholders who always receive their dividend payment;
d) when a Railway Company pays out a dividend, half the value of a Savings Share is paid to the owning player, the other half is lost to the bank.
e) the value and price of a Savings Share at any time during the game is always the same as that of an Ordinary Share.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Anna has 2 Savings Shares in Company A which pay half of the dividend of an Ordinary Share, so she will be paid 10% of the total revenue (para 6.3) whether Company A pays out a dividend or not. If Company A withholds, the Company Treasury will receive all the revenue except that paid out to Anna: in this case it receives 90%.
Example 2: Paul has 4 10% Savings Shares in Company A (for a total 40% shareholding) and the President (Richard) has the remaining 60% held in Ordinary Shares. President Richard decides to payout the dividend, so he receives 60% (6x 10%) for his Ordinary Shares; Paul receives 20% (½x 40%) for his 4 Savings Shares; the remaining 20% (½x 40%) is lost to the bank.
5.6.2 Ratio of Savings Shares to Ordinary Shares Ownership
Players may only own 1 Savings Share for every 2 Ordinary Shares they own, rounded down. For example, if a player holds 9 Ordinary Shares they can own a maximum of 4 Savings Shares. When calculating this ratio, remember that:
- President's Certificates count as 2 (the BNR's for 3);
- a player owned Private Company is counted as 1 "Ordinary Share".
The ratio must always be respected at the end of the player's own SR turn and during every Company OR.
EXAMPLE: A player who has 8 Ordinary and 4 Savings Shares can sell one Ordinary Share and buy another one, thus keeping the ratio unchanged.
This rule must also be respected in the case of forced sale.
EXAMPLE: Forced Sale: Anna owns 8 Ordinary and 4 Savings Shares, but is forced to sell 1 Share. This cannot be one of the Ordinary Shares because it would violate the ratio (changing it to 7 to 4) and during a forced sale obviously the player cannot purchase other Shares to meet the ratio.
If the forced sale involves several Shares, a player can sell Ordinary and Savings Shares in such a number as to respect the ratio between the two types. It is forbidden to sell more Shares than necessary when selling to meet the ratio between Ordinary and Savings Shares.
If a Railway Company wants to buy a Private Company during the OR, the owner of the Private Company can sell it only if the ratio of 2 to 1 between Ordinary and Savings Shares is respected.
5.6.3 Purchasing Savings Shares
When purchasing a Share from the IO or the BP, players can buy whichever type of Share they wish, choosing which side to use. Whether a Share in the Bank Pool was previously a Savings Share or vice versa does not oblige a player to keep it of that type.
The only rule players must respect is that if they already own a particular share type in a Company, all subsequent purchases of that Company's shares must be of the same type.
5.6.4 Converting Ordinary Shares into Savings Shares and vice versa
During their SR turn, players can convert the Ordinary Shares into Savings Shares, or vice versa, that they own in a single Company, as their sole SR turn action (they cannot also buy or sell Shares or Convertible Bonds). Conversions still need to meet the required ratio between Ordinary Shares and Savings Shares (para 5.6.2 above).
Converting Savings Shares into Ordinary Shares can only be done with the consent of the Company's President.
Since it is not possible to own both Ordinary and Savings Shares in a Company, a conversion must therefore include all the Shares of the type converted.
5.7 Certificate Limit
Players may not own more certificates than indicated in the table below.
Certificate Limit per No. of Players
| Players | Max. number of Certificates |
|---|---|
| 3 | 26 |
| 4 | 20 |
| 5 | 16 |
| 6 | 13 |
The Certificate Limit is calculated as follows:
- A President's Certificate always counts as 1;
- an Ordinary Share counts as 1;
- a Savings Share counts as 1 (therefore 2 Savings Shares from 2 different Companies are worth 2, and so on);
- two Savings Shares of the same Company count as 1;
- a Private Company counts as 1;
- a Convertible Bond counts as 0;
The Certificate Limit must be respected at all times: a player cannot buy a certificate if this would put them even temporarily (for example when they buy and then sell) over the limit.
If, due to a change of one or more Presidencies, a player finds that at the beginning their SR turn they are over the Certificate Limit, the first thing they must do is sell-down Shares to or below the Limit. If in that SR turn they fall below the Limit, they may buy back up to the Limit if they wish.
5.8 Ownership Limit for a Single Company
No player may own more than 60% of a Railway Company unless the additional Shares were purchased using Price Protection (para 5.4.5).
However, during their SR turn a Company President may purchase Shares, from the Initial Offer only, above the 60% limit, (they must still respect the Certificate Limit, para 5.7). The player should put to one side any shares they have bought over the 60% ownership Limit because before the SR ends they must sell any they still have in excess (except for any acquired by Price Protection, para 5.4.5); they are not allowed to "pass" until this is done.
During the first Stock Round of the game (only), no player may purchase more than 60% of a Railway Company.
NOTE: A company President may sell shares over the 60% limit that they acquired from Price Protection (para 5.4.5), but their ownership limit will drop accordingly. Eg: Player A holds 80% of a company due to Price Protection, but they sell one 10% share: their new limit is 70%.
EXAMPLE: John, the president of the South Indian Railway Company (SIR) owns 60% of the Company, Andrea owns 10% and the remaining 30% is still in the Initial Offer. In the SR John could buy, one at a time, the remaining 30%, thus coming to own 90% of the Company. At this point, in subsequent turns he can also buy other Shares and Convertible Bonds, but as his last turn in the SR he will have to sell 3 SIR Shares to meet the 60% limit. This sale will cause the company share price to fall.
Why temporarily buy over-limit Certificates? There are several reasons that can justify this move, but we will mainly mention two because they are linked to two characteristic elements of this game:
a) the President of the Bengal Nagpur Railway wants to bring as much money into the Company as possible – remember that the BNR can begin operating with only the President's Certificate sold and because it only has initial Treasury Cash equal to the number of its Shares purchased from the IO, additional purchases from the IO are necessary to provide additional capital to the Company;
b) a Railway Company President wants to issue as many Convertible Bonds as possible and therefore seeks to have as few Shares as possible in the Initial Offer.
5.9 Change of Presidency
The Presidency of a company does not change as long as another player does not exceed the President's shareholding of at least 10% of the Railway Company.
If, after purchasing Ordinary Shares, a player now has the single largest shareholding in a Company, they become its new President. The old President gives them the President's Certificate in exchange for two of their 10% Ordinary Shares. If the purchasing player's shareholding is the same as the President's, the Presidency does not change hands.
If a Company President sells their shares so another player then has a larger shareholding, then they give that player their 20% President's Certificate in exchange for two of the player's 10% Ordinary Shares; if two or more players are eligible, then the player with the lowest Player Order Card becomes the new President.
Note that to change a Presidency by selling shares, there must be at least one other player who owns at least two 10% Ordinary Shares in that Company.
Players with Savings Shares cannot become Presidents.
A change of Presidency can also occur due to a Forced Sale (para 6.15.7).
5.10 Stock Market
The stock market is represented on the gameboard by a grid on which there are numbers representing the share value of the certificates of the various Railway Companies.
The coloured squares (yellow, green, brown, blue) are where the stock market tokens of new Railway Companies are placed when they begin operation (para 5.2). Some boxes have arrows, these indicate that if tokens at the end of a stock market row are moved they move up (instead of right), or down (instead of left).
A Company's stock market token may move as follows:
- Up: when all of the Company's Shares and Convertible Bonds (if issued) are owned by players, its token moves up one row.
- Up: When resolving an Expatriation Bonus, the Company President can decide to move its token up one row by spending the amount equal to that of the space the token is moved to.
- Down: for each Share sold in a Company, its token moves down by one row (unless Price Protected, para 5.4.5).
- Left: If a Railway Company withholds its dividend in an OR its token moves one space to the left.
- Right: If a Railway Company pays out its dividend in an OR its token moves one space to the right (para 6.14.2).
- Right: When resolving an Expatriation Bonus, the Company President can decide to move its token one space to the right by spending one and a half times the amount equal to that of the space the token is moved to.
- No Movement: if, once a Company's token has to move past or has already passed the Red Line on the Stock Market Table, its dividend is not GREATER THAN or EQUAL TO the value in the space it would otherwise move to.
5.11.1 Red Line
The Stock Market grid has a red line dividing it into two sections.
[Image: Stock Market grid excerpt showing values 120, 130, 146, 190, 210, 230 across the top row, 110, 120, 130, 146, 190, 210 in the second row, 100, 110, 120, 130, 170 in the third row, and 90, 100, 110 in the bottom row, with the red line dividing the grid, and a token on the 130 space.]
A Company stock market token to the left of the line is moved right whenever the Company pays out a dividend. However, for a Company's token to move past the red line, or to move once already past it, the value of the dividend paid out must be greater than or equal to the value marked in the space to which it will move. If the Company withholds the amount in its Treasury, or in the case of certificates completely sold or in the case of lack of trains, the rules remain unchanged.
[Image: Stock Market grid excerpt with the 130 space occupied by a Company token, the 146 and 190 spaces on the red line, and the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway token.]
Example: In this example, in its OR turn the Bombay Baroda & Central Indian Railway Company stock market token is in the 130 space. Its President decides to pay out the dividend. The Company revenue that OR was Rs.170 and so therefore its token can move across the red line. If, on the other hand, the revenue was less than Rs.170 the token cannot move to the right so does not move at all.
[Image: Stock Market "MARKET" grid excerpt showing a token moved from the 250 space diagonally down to the 250 space in the next row, illustrating a token at the end of a row moving down and then right.]
- If a token is moved to a space where there are already other tokens, it is placed on the bottom of the stack.
5.12 Ending the Stock Round
A stock round ends when all players have passed consecutively. Players then determine their turn order for the next SR and take their turn order cards.
5.12.1 Player Order
Player Turn order in the SR follows from the least invested to the most invested player. Player investment is calculated as follows:
- Number of Shares and Private Companies, based on the values below:
- 30% President's Certificate → 3
- 20% President's Certificate → 2
- 10% Share Certificate (Ordinary or Savings) → 1
- Private Company → 1
- In the event of a tie, Player No.1 is whoever owns the most Convertible Bonds
- In the event of a further tie, it is the player with the most money
- In the case of an absolute tie, the Player Order cards are exchanged (whoever had the highest gets the lowest and vice versa).
If no player buys or sells in the SR, the order of play does not change.
5.12.2 Adjusting Company Stock Market Tokens
After assigning the Play Order cards, the Company stock market prices are changed as follows:
- If all of a Company's Shares and issued Convertible Bonds are owned by players its Stock Market token is moved up one row.
- If the token is already in the top row, then it moves down one row and then right one column. The Red Line does not affect this movement.
- If a token is moved to a space where there are already other tokens, it is placed on the bottom of the stack.
6.0 Operating Round (OR)
In the Operating Round the Private Companies will pay revenue of Rs.10 to their owning players and the Railway Company presidents will operate their Railway Companies on the map.
In Game Turns during phase 2, there is only one OR after each SR. In Phases 3, and 4 (i.e. after the sale of the first 3T), there is a set of two ORs after each SR. From Phase 5 to game end (i.e. after the sale of the first 5T), there is a set of three ORs after each SR. An Operating Round consists of the following sub-Phases in order:
- Advancing the Season Marker (para 6.1);
- Private Company Revenue (para 6.2);
- Railway Company operations (para 6.3).
6.1 Advance the Season Marker
The season marker is moved one arrow clockwise.
NOTE: Skip this step in the first OR. The first OR is in the DRY season.
6.2 Private Company Revenue
At the beginning of each OR, the players receive a revenue of Rs.10 from each Private Company they own.
6.3 Railway Company Operations
In this sub-Phase, the Company Presidents operate the Railway Companies in order of their value on the Stock Market Table (para 4.2.1). During its Operating Round turn a Railway Company (or its President) carries out the following activities, in the order indicated:
- Lay (or upgrade) track tiles on the map (optional) (para 6.4);
- Place one station in a city (optional) (para 6.7);
- Run their trains for revenue (mandatory) (para 6.14);
- Withhold the revenue in the Company Treasury or pay it out as a dividend to shareholders (mandatory) (6.14);
- Resolve Expatriation Bonuses (mandatory) (para 6.10);
- Buy one or more trains (optional) (para 6.15).
At any time during its OR turn, a Railway Company may purchase one or more Private Companies from their player owners (para 3.3). A Railway Company may use the power of an owned Private Company at any time in its OR turn.
Any costs for tile lays or station placements have to be paid from the available funds in the Company Treasury at that moment: so, for example, it is not possible to use revenue from the train runs to lay a track tile on a mountain hex. Credit is not allowed, even to the end of the same turn.
6.4 Laying Track Tiles
The game map depicts India with a hexagonal grid superimposed on it. Hexagonal track tiles are laid on the grid to simulate the construction of railway lines that connect various cities, towns and spaces shown on the map. The "map border" is shown by a black line. The red lines indicate the Expatriation Sites (ESs, para 6.10) which can be connected to by laying track tiles so that a track segment touches a red border. Tiles cannot be laid on the gray hexes that depict already existing lengths of track. Tiles cannot be laid on yellow hexes until the green tiles are available.
[Image: Map excerpt of southern India showing town hexes (small black dots) and city hexes (large white circles), with Trading Post symbols on some city hexes, and the Ceylon box.]
The image below shows town hexes (small black dots) and city hexes (large white circles) on the map. Some city hexes have sidings and/or tracks with a Trading Post symbol (these can be seen in the image below). Track tiles laid on these cities can be placed to connect with these tracks (para 6.9).
NOTE: Towns with al least one black edge can never be upgraded beyond green track tiles.
The map is divided into two distinct zones: the Monsoon Zone and the Dry Zone.
[Image: Map excerpt of northern India showing the Delhi, Meerut, Agra and Jaipur area with yellow tiles and water droplets marking the Monsoon Zone.]
NOTE: in the image above, the water droplets indicate the Monsoon Zone while hexes without water droplets indicate the Dry Zone.
When placing city track tiles, only those that match the appropriate zone can be used. This can have the effect that all the city tiles for one zone have been placed while in the other zone tiles are still available.
Each Railway Company can usually place only two yellow tiles or one yellow tile and an upgrade tile (para 6.4.3) during its Operating Round turn.
Important: You cannot upgrade the tile you have just placed.
Yellow tiles can only be laid in the hexes on the map without track already on them. The second yellow tile can be laid adjacent to the first yellow tile.
Track tiles laid must respect some important rules:
- tiles must be laid and aligned so as to extend the existing track already available to the Company laying them;
- the new track must be connected ultimately to a city containing one of the Company's Stations. If a tile has two separate pieces of track, it is only necessary for one of them to form a legal extension as described above;
NOTE: the mix of available tiles is intended to limit play. If a vital tile is in play, then it needs to first be upgraded in order to free it.
6.4.1 Placement Restrictions
A track tile cannot be laid such that:
- a track terminates against the blank side of a gray hex;
- a track terminates against an impassable hex;
- a track runs off the edge of the hex grid, unless there is a siding, a Trading Post, or an Expatriation Site (red line) to connect to.
Tiles depicting Cities or Towns can only be laid on map hexes containing Cities or Towns (respectively).
6.4.2 Cost for Placement
To lay a tile on a hill, mountain, river, swamp, or desert hex, the Company must pay the Bank the cost marked on the map. This cost is only paid for the first tile laid on these hexes. The terrain costs are written inside differing shapes, as a third key to reading the hexes alongside the hex colour and graphics.
[Image: Example of terrain hexes on the map near Kotah, showing 20 and 30 terrain cost markers.]
Exception: the map shows some yellow mountain or river hexes with a cost on the lower right side on a green background. This is the cost of upgrading the hex from yellow to green as shown in the image below:
[Image: Yellow hex at Jubbulpore with a 20 upgrade-cost marker on the lower right.]
EXAMPLE: Laying track tiles
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company (GIPR, green) wishes to lay some track.
Starting situation
[Image: Map excerpt near Meerut and Agra with a GIPR station tile in a yellow hex.]
The #6M tile contains a GIPR station.
[Images: "CORRECT placement" – the #9 tile is an extension of the existing track, shown with a green check mark; "INCORRECT placement" – the #9 tile is NOT an extension of the existing track, shown with a red cross.]
The #9 Tile is an extension of the existing track. The #9 tile is NOT an extension of the existing track when placed as shown in the incorrect placement.
6.4.3 Tile Upgrades
All non-City and non-Town track tiles laid can be upgraded from Phase 2 in the order of colour (yellow - green - brown - gray).
City and Town track tile upgrades only become available in particular Game Phases depending on the most recent train bought.
When laying city track tiles Players must be sure to use the correct tile (Dry or Monsoon) according to the Zone the city is in.
A Company may only upgrade a tile if it can trace a legal train route of any length from one of its stations to and along one of the NEW track segments on the upgrade tile.
This does not require that the route is actually in use, or even could be used with a train able to travel the distance, but it cannot be closed to the Company. Where a tile has two separate pieces of track, it is only necessary for one of them to form a legal extension. There is a Tile Manifest & Upgrade Chart in Appendix 4.
Exception: a city tile may be upgraded even if the Company cannot run on any of the new track (for example, if the new track is blocked by a station of another Company).
Track segments on the old tile must be represented in the same orientations on the new tile and all track segments and connections on the old tile must be preserved. If the tile has one or more stations on it, they are placed back on the new tile.
Tiles which have been replaced can be re-used.
[Image: Tile upgrade chart for the 2T, 3T, 5T, 8T and 10T trains, showing for each train the upgrade path of each tile type (yellow to green to brown, and for the 10T train the grey city tile). Full detail is in the Tile Manifest & Upgrade Chart in Appendix 4.]
6.4.4 Laying Tiles, Climate Zone and Season
Placing tiles may lead to a reduction in Company revenue depending on the climate zone and the season (para 6.13).
6.4.5 Specific Tiles
Certain marked tiles are for specific cities: Bombay (D21), Calcutta (P17), Surat (D19) and Rajkot (B17). These tiles cannot be laid on any other locations, nor can ordinary tiles be laid on these cities. The orientation of these tiles is restricted by the rules requiring the maintenance of existing track.
6.4.6 Towns
Towns are represented on the map and on the track tiles by a solid black dot. At the start of the game, players only have the yellow Town track tiles. Yellow Town tiles have the same exits as their matching green city upgrade tiles: they can be "K", "X" and "Delta".
"K" track tiles are reserved for the Towns on the edge of the map as "X" or "Delta" tiles cannot be placed on them. Unlike the cities, town revenues are not affected by the seasons.
Once the first 5T has been sold, a Railway Company can choose whether to place a yellow Town track tile or an ordinary non-town tile on a town hex (removing that town from the map).
[Image: Town hex upgrade diagram showing a town hex with a black dot, with arrows to yellow town tiles (labelled "or" before the first 5T purchase) and, after the first 5T is purchased, to ordinary non-town yellow tiles.]
EXAMPLE: Upgrading track tiles
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company (GIPR) wishes to upgrade track.
Starting situation
[Image: Map excerpt near Meerut and Agra showing the GIPR starting situation with the #6M and #9 tiles.]
The Company's legal route consists of the #6M tile and the #9 tile. The #6M tile contains a GIPR station.
[Images: CORRECT upgrade (green check mark) and INCORRECT upgrade (red cross) examples at Meerut and Agra.]
CORRECT upgrade: The President decides to upgrade the #9 tile with a #24 tile. A legal route can be traced from the station to the new track on the green tile.
INCORRECT upgrade: In this example we see the same #24 tile laid, but with a different orientation. As a legal route cannot be traced from the station to the new track, this upgrade is incorrect.
After the sale of the first 5T, all town tiles can be upgraded with green city tiles that match the same yellow tracks. Accordingly, any "Delta" or "X" town tiles placed in the center of the map or toward Expatriation Sites, can also be upgraded up to their matching gray tiles, following the normal tile upgrade rules (para 6.4.3.). "K" town tiles placed on the edge of the hexgrid may not be upgraded beyond green because it is not possible to lay track that runs into the black border of the map.
EXAMPLE: Towns
The South Indian Railway (SIR) Company wishes to lay track.
Starting situation
[Image: Map excerpt of southern India (Bangalore, Coimbatore, Pondicherry, Madras, Cochin, Tinnevelly) showing the SIR starting situation.]
Before the sale of the first 5T.
[Image: Same southern India excerpt with the SIR tile upgraded at Pondicherry.]
The Company upgrades the #57 tile on the city of Pondicherry to a green #15 city tile and places a yellow #4715 ("K") tile on the Town of Madras.
After the sale of the first 5T.
[Image: Same southern India excerpt, after the 5T is sold, showing a non-town yellow #9 tile placed on Madras instead.]
Rather than place a "K" yellow #4715 town tile on the town of Madras, the Company decides to place an ordinary non-town yellow #9 tile instead.
The Company still can do an upgrade or lay a second yellow tile.
EXAMPLE: Town Upgrades
The SIR wishes to upgrade a town tile.
Starting situation
[Image: Southern India map excerpt (Hubli, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Cochin, Tinnevelly) showing the SIR starting situation.]
CORRECT upgrade
[Image: Same excerpt with the town at Madras upgraded to a green city tile, marked with a green check mark.]
The Company decides to upgrade the town of Madras (yellow #4715 tile) with a green #1 city tile. (Printed as "#1"; the following text refers to the green city tile #15.)
INCORRECT upgrade
[Image: Same excerpt with the upgrade placed incorrectly, marked with a red cross.]
Here, the green city tile #15 is correctly upgraded from tile #4715, but in laying it on the map 2 errors have been made:
- the placement doesn't maintain the existing tracks;
- two tracks run off the map edge.
All towns that are upgraded into cities are affected by season zone rules just as other cities are. This too will be seen in the section "Seasons and Climatic Zones" (para 6.13).
6.5 Particular Cities
6.5.1 Existing yellow tiles
The map has five city hexes, Goa (D27), Nagpur (H19), Jubbulpore (I16), Calcutta (P17) and Lucknow (J11), with preprinted yellow track. From Phase 3 these Cities can be upgraded with green tiles, (but still respecting the rule that existing track must be maintained).
6.5.2 Cities with limited upgrades
The cities of Rajkot (B17) and Surat (D19), are on the map edge so cannot be upgraded to brown and gray; they therefore have specific named track tiles.
6.5.3 Cities with named track tiles
The cities of Rajkot (B17) and Surat (D19) have named green track tiles. The cities of Bombay (D21) and Calcutta (P17) have named green, brown, and gray track tiles.
6.5.4 Cities with particular values
Bombay (D21) and Calcutta (P17) have green, brown, and gray named tiles. The yellow Calcutta tile (P17) is preprinted on the map; Bombay has a common yellow Monsoon city tile. All the tiles reserved for these two cities (green, brown, gray) are worth Rs.10 more than the ordinary city tiles of each color and have six exits.
6.6 Gray Hexes on Map
The map shows four special gray hexes: N13, O12, P11 and Q12. O12 and Q12 are normal tracks without cities, while the other two are special hexes. No tiles of any kind can be laid on these gray hexes.
6.6.1 The City of Cooch Behar (P11)
The map shows a gray hex with preprinted track and the city of Cooch Behar (P11).
[Image: Gray hex P11 with preprinted track and the city of Cooch Behar, with the values 20, 30 and 40 shown above the track.]
The revenue value of Cooch Behar is already printed on the hex and automatically increases with the purchase of the first 5T and 8T. No Railway Company may place a station on the city - this is represented by the "X" in the white circle where a station would normally be placed. Train routes may always pass through the city, which counts a normal city Stop.
6.6.2 The Railway Exchange (N13)
The N13 hex is a special exchange that has these features:
- it's not a City or town
- it's not a Stop
- it can be used by two trains at the same time if those 2 trains don't use the same track when tracing their routes (i.e. if one train enters from O12 and exits to M14 the other train cannot use the tracks O12-exchange and exchange-M14)
[Image: The N13 railway exchange hex with five track connections meeting at a central red-marked hex, a river running across the lower left, and the N marker at the top.]
Note: since the exchange hex has five tracks and 1 train uses two tracks, only 2 trains can use the exchange.
6.7 Placing Stations
A station placed on a city tile by a Railway Company has two effects:
- The city may be used as a base to trace a train route of the owning Company;
- It blocks rival Companies from tracing and running train routes through the city.
When a Railway Company begins operating, its first action on its first OR turn is to place a station on its home city (as noted on the Company charter and on the Map).
In an OR, a Company may place a single additional station on any valid location by paying the cost (Rs.40 or Rs.100) shown on its Company charter. Stations are taken from the charter from left to right. A Company receives a stockbroker when it places its fourth station.
6.7.1 Valid Placement
A valid location is any city which is connected by a legal route (however long) to the Company's home city station or other station. There must be a spare space on the city for the station to be placed (exception: Private Company P6, para 3.1). Cities that have space for more than one station remain open to all companies until all spaces are occupied.
6.7.2 Placement Restrictions
The following restrictions are always in effect:
- a Railway Company can only place a single station in an Operating Round (the placement of the home city station does not count);
- Stations cannot be placed on the space reserved for a home city station of a Railway Company that has not yet Operated;
- a Railway Company can never place two Stations in the same city;
- a Railway Company can place track up to a city that is completely occupied by stations of other companies, but the city can only serve as a terminus: routes cannot extend beyond the city;
- a Railway Company cannot place a station on a city that can only be reached by passing through a city entirely occupied by Stations of other Companies.
EXAMPLE: Placing a Station
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company (GIPR, green) wishes to place a station.
In the 1st example below the GIPR cannot place a station in Proddatur because the space is occupied by an East Indian Railway Company (EIR, orange) station, and it cannot place a station in Hyderabad because a legal route is blocked by the same EIR station.
[Image: Map excerpt (Hyderabad, Nambur, Proddatur, Bijapur area) with a red cross over the placement, showing blocked placement.]
In the 2nd example, however, the GIPR could place a station in Proddatur (because there is a free space) or in Hyderabad (because the free space in Proddatur allows a legal route to Hyderabad).
[Image: Same map excerpt with green check marks over Hyderabad and Proddatur.]
6.8 Temples
Each Railway Company has the goal of connecting its home city to the Company's associated temple. These are depicted on the map by a temple image surrounded by a thick border in the Railway Company colour. At the beginning of the game, each temple marker is placed on the matching Temple hex on the "Temple not reached" side. If tiles are laid in temple hexes, the markers also allow players to still see where the temples are.
[Image: Map excerpt of the Srinagar, Amritsar and Ludhiana area with the Bengal Nagpur Railway's temple marker on the Amritsar hex.]
This image shows the Bengal Nagpur Railway's associated temple.
A temple is considered connected to its Railway Company home city once there is a legal route, not blocked by other Companies' Stations, between the two locations. A route is valid regardless of which trains the Company owns or not. A route is verified in the Company's Operating Round turn (this implies that during the turns of other companies the connection to the temple could be created and subsequently blocked by the placement of a station). Once the connection route has been verified it remains valid for the rest of the game.
6.8.1 Changes to Company Revenues
Before a Company is connected to its associated temple, its revenue is reduced by 20%.
This reduction is rounded to the nearest ten (eg: a Rs.90 is reduced by 20% to Rs.72 which is rounded to Rs.70). In the case of an equidistant value such as Rs.75, it is rounded up. There is a Revenue Reduction Table in Appendix 3 and on the Player Aid Sheets.
6.8.2 Temple Connection Bonus
When a Company is connected to its temple take the temple marker from the map and place it on the "Temple Reached" side on the space on the Railway Company charter. The Company Treasury immediately receives a Rs.100 bonus.
The Company President also chooses an Expatriation Site the Company has not yet reached, places this ES Marker on their Expatriation Track, and gains the applicable Expatriation Bonus (see 6.10). This ES does not need to be connected by track or reachable with the train available.
This free Expatriation Site reached does not allow the Company to pay to move its stock market token (para 6.10). The higher income from Private Company P5 "Economic Incentives" (para 3.1) cannot be used either.
NOTE: If the chosen ES has not been reached by any other railway company, and therefore the worker/s are still on the ES, they are not collected. Since it is not possible to reach an ES twice this means the Player permanently foregoes the possibility of gaining those workers.
If the President of the Company so wishes, they can refuse the Expatriation Bonus.
6.8.3 Temple Connection Deadline
If a Railway Company becomes operational after the first 8T has been bought (Phase 8), its temple no longer exists (take the relevant temple marker from the map and place it on the Company charter). The Company has no revenue reduction, but it can never receive the associated temple's Rs.100 and the Expatriation Bonus. For all Railway Companies that began operating before the 8T and which have not yet reached their temple, the 20% revenue reduction remains in effect until connected as per 6.8.2.
6.9 Trading Posts
[Icon: Trading Post symbol – a white circle with a building inside.]
Trading Posts are indicated by white circles with a building inside and are connected to the map with a stretch of track. They represent trading with off-map locations.
The Trading Posts and sidings on some hexes allows players to place tiles so as to use one or all of the tracks and/or still respect the legal upgrade rules.
Only the Railway Company that owns the P7 Private Company earns revenue from Trading Posts (for an additional Rs.10 with the 2T, 3T, and 4T, and Rs.20 after (para 3.1)).
EXAMPLE: [Image: Map excerpt of Bombay, Goa and Hubli showing the Trading Posts and sidings, with a red-line 2T route and a blue-line 2T route.]
This image shows the Trading Posts and sidings of Bombay, Goa and Hubli and their use. Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway Company owns the P7 Private Company "Trading Posts". The Company runs its two 2Ts:
- 2T (red line): Bombay Trading Post (10), Bombay (40), Goa (30). Goa Trading Post (10). Total 10+40+30+10 = 90;
- 2T (blue line): Goa (30), Hubli (20), Hubli Trading Post (10). Total 30+20+10 = 60.
NOTE: The Company was able to use more Trading Posts with more trains. A train can run to a maximum of two Trading Posts; one at the beginning and one at the end of its route and in the same OR no other train of that Railway Company can run to those Trading Posts.
When calculating the number of Stops on a route, Trading Posts do not count.
Trading Posts count as revenue, so the final total will still be affected by the (seasonal) laying of tracks (para 6.13.3) and whether the temple is reached or not (para 6.8.1).
6.10 Expatriation Sites (ESs)
Expatriation Sites are the red lines along the outer edge of the map (in contrast to the normal black border). Each ES box shows the country of expatriation, the identification marker and one or more worker symbols. The workers shown are employed by the President of the first Company to reach the ES and receive an Expatriation Bonus.
[Image: Expatriation Site box for Europe with one worker symbol.]
[Image: Map excerpt showing the Expatriation Sites of Persia (two worker symbols) and Arab States (two worker symbols).]
There are eleven Expatriation Sites in all representing India's economic and migratory links with other nations.
An ES is "reached" (and the Expatriation Bonus earned) when a Company runs a train to the ES in its OR turn: that is, to the red border itself, not simply to the hex with the border. Basically the red "border" is a separate space.
To be connected to an ES, a railway company must have both a legal route and a train able to connect its home city with the ES. An ES is always a terminus and always counts as 1 Stop when determining a train route, even though it does not provide any revenue.
For example, if there are 3 stops between the Home City and the ES, the company must have a 5T (or higher) to run the route and earn the bonus. The route has to include both the home City and the ES.
Each Expatriation box shows either 1 or 2 workers. They are a bonus for the president of the Company that reaches the ES first.
Whenever a Company reaches an ES it receives the relevant ES marker to note this.
What are Expatriation Site markers for? Firstly, to note that a certain railway company has reached a certain ES, since it is not possible to benefit from one twice. Secondly, they are placed on the Expatriation Track on the Company charter to indicate other bonuses for the Company.
Each Railway Company charter has an Expatriation Track to record the ESs the Company has reached. When a Railway Company gains the relevant ES marker, place it in the left most available Expatriation Track space and receive the listed bonus.
The Track has the following symbols and values:
Expatriation Track symbols and values (as printed in the legend beside the Expatriation Sites Track):
- 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 – Number of Rupees collected by the Company Treasury as a bonus.
- Worker symbol (blue) – Worker(s) (para 6.11) the player now has to employ. One symbol equals one worker.
- Stockbroker symbol (red) – The number of stockbrokers (para 6.12.1) the company has to employ.
- 150 Opportunity burst – A stock market Opportunity (para 6.12.2): a bonus that is immediately spent on advancing a Company's stock market token. If not immediately spent, it is lost.
- Red up arrow and red right arrow – These represent either a free advance up one row on the stock market Table or a move to the right if a payment of 50% of the value of the arrival space is made.
- Slash – The player has a choice of bonuses; they cannot both be chosen.
[Image: The Expatriation Sites Track on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway charter, showing the EXPATRIATION REACHED track with the bonus values and symbols.]
Important:
- An ES is reached when running a train for revenue. This means that any cash Expatriation Bonus can be spent in that OR turn, for example to pay for advancement on the stock market or to buy a train;
- Stockbrokers can be immediately spent on advancing the stock market token;
- Workers cannot be employed in the OR turn they are gained. The owning player can however employ them later in that OR to assist another company they are President of.
NOTE: Workers always belong to the players who obtain them, are part of a player's assets, and are not lost if a player loses Presidency of a company.
NOTE: Stockbrokers always belong to the Railway Company and if not employed immediately are placed on the Company charter.
Reaching a new ES always allows a Company President to advance the Company's stock market token (if they wish) after the Company has finished running its trains and paid out or withheld its dividend. To move its stock market token up, the Company pays Rupees equal to the value marked in the space moved to; to move to the right the Company pays Rupees equal to the value of the space moved to +50%. If the token is in the top row moving it to the right is the only option available. If the token is in a corner space with an upward arrow on the right, moving it up is the only available option (Note that this must be paid for as described above). Advancing the stock market token may be facilitated by stockbrokers and by stock market opportunities. Stockbrokers offer a discount of Rs.50 each.
Advancing the stock market token can only be done upon reaching an ES:
- Prior to a Company's 7th expatriation it can only be done by spending Railway Company Treasury money;
- From the 7th expatriation, stockbrokers may be used to reduce the Company money spent;
- From the 9th expatriation Company money, stockbrokers and stock market opportunities can all be used.
If more than one ES is reached during the same OR, the Company can advance its stock market token by one space for each ES reached. A train route can start from an ES, go through the Company home city and end at another ES. NOTE: The connection with an ES is in effect a connection to a city and obliges the Company to own a train.
6.11 Workers
Workers represent an extraordinary ability to build or use railway track. Workers are employed by the players and are owned by the players (Railway Companies don't own workers). If the player is president of a Railway Company, then in an OR turn they may use their worker(s) to help their company. Each worker may be used once to take one of the following actions:
a) When running a train, it can pass through a city blocked by stations of other companies; or
b) Place a second Station in the same Operating Round; or
c) Lay tiles twice in an Operating Round; or
d) Convert workers into Stockbrokers.
NOTE: It is possible for a player to use workers they gained from an Expatriation Bonus earned by one Company they're President of, for the benefit of another Company they're also President of, as it is players who employ workers, not companies.
6.11.1 Running a Train Through a Blocked City
The Company President spends one worker for each train of their Company they want to run through a city completely occupied by Stations of other Companies, as long as there is a station of their own Company at some point in the route they run. The city that is passed through is included when calculating the number of stops and revenue of a route. The workers are removed from the game after use.
It is possible to use multiple workers to pass through multiple "blocked" cities in the same route, or to pass through the same "blocked" city with several trains. In summary: 1 worker allows 1 train to pass through 1 "blocked" city.
EXAMPLE: The South Indian Railway Company (SIRC, red) is running a 4T and its President Emily chooses to use one of her workers in Pondicherry to make a route with a revenue of Rs.110 (40 for Madurai + 30 for Pondicherry + 10 for Madras + 30 for Proddatur).
[Image: Map excerpt (Proddatur, Madras, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Cochin, Madurai) with green check marks showing the valid route through the blocked city.]
[Image: Same map excerpt with a red cross showing that a worker cannot be used to "pass through" a blocked city to place a station.]
It is not possible to use a worker to "pass through" a blocked city to place a station.
6.11.2 Place a Second Station in an OR
A Railway Company President can use a worker to place two Stations on the map in its OR instead of the usual one, paying the respective cost for each station placed. The normal station placement rules (para 6.7) must still be followed. The Railway Company may use the P6 Private Company to pay for one of the station placements. Upon completion of this action, the player removes their worker from the game.
NOTE: When placing a second station in its OR turn a Company may use a worker or the P6 Private Company power, not both.
6.11.3 Performing a Second Tile Laying Action in an OR
The Company President may use one of their workers to immediately carry out a second tile action, this may include upgrading a tile just laid in the first tile laying action. This opportunity has a limitation: if this second tile laying allows the reaching of an ES and this ES has not yet been reached by any other Company, then in this OR the ES cannot be included in the train route, but in any case the laying of the tracks is valid. The President will have to wait for a subsequent OR to be able to reach the ES with a route. If, on the other hand, the ES has already been reached by another Company, and there are therefore no workers there, the full Expatriation Bonus is still earned. Upon completion of this action, the player removes the worker from the game.
NOTE: Remember that yellow city and town tiles placed increase the revenue of a train run during the same OR by Rs.10 (para 6.14.2).
6.11.4 Converting Workers into Stock Brokers
At anytime during a Company's OR turn its President may convert a group of 3 of their workers into 1 stockbroker and assign it to the Railway Company they're operating.
This conversion may be done for several groups of workers at the same time and is irreversible (it is never possible to convert 1 stockbroker into 3 workers).
EXAMPLE (second tile laying action with a worker)
Starting situation for the SIR (red). [Image: Southern India map excerpt with Europe ES box and the SIR starting situation.]
The SIR's normal tile laying action of the OR. [Image: SIR tiles laid on the map.]
The SIR President employs a worker to take a 2nd tile laying action. [Image: SIR tiles laid on the map with an additional worker symbol, showing the second tile action.]
In this example Europe ES has not yet been reached by any other Company. The SIR is allowed to connect to the ES by using a worker to take a 2nd tile-laying action, but the SIR cannot include this ES in its route this OR. The SIR must run to the ES in its next OR to take the ES marker and Bonus.
If another Company reaches the ES before the SIR's next OR turn, then if the SIR runs to the ES it only receives the Expatriation Marker, and no Bonus.
If another Company blocks the route with a station placement before the SIR's next OR turn, then obviously the SIR needs to get around the block (or use a worker) to reach the ES.
6.12 Stockbrokers and Stock Market Opportunities
Upon reaching an Expatriation Site, these can be used together with Company Treasury money to pay the cost to advance the Company's stock market token. They can be spent in any combination the player prefers but any excess value is always lost.
6.12.1 Stockbrokers
Stockbrokers help a Company President to advance that Company's stock market token when the Company reaches an ES (para 6.10). Stockbrokers have a value of Rs. 50. Railway companies earn a stockbroker:
- by reaching their 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th ES;
- by placing their 4th station on the map.
The Stockbrokers are railway company assets and can be employed immediately or set aside on the Company charter. There is no limit to the number of stockbrokers that can be employed to advance the stock market token.
6.12.2 Stock Market Opportunities
Upon reaching their 9th and 10th ES, the Railway Companies can choose, as an alternative to the stockbrokers, a "Stock Market Opportunity" with different values. As with the stockbrokers, Stock Market Opportunities are discounts on the price a Company can pay to advance its stock market token. This advancement can only be made in conjunction with reaching an ES (para 6.10). A Stock Market Opportunity must be spent immediately. If a player does not consider it convenient or does not have the financial availability to take advantage of the Stock Market Opportunity, they can alternatively take two stockbrokers (as indicated on the Company charter) as they can be kept for employment when reaching an ES later.
EXAMPLES
[Image: Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway charter excerpt with 10th ES, a 150 Stock Market Opportunity, a stockbroker and a Rs.10 note, beside the stock market column with 210, 190, 146, 130 values.]
- The Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway Company reaches its 10th ES in its OR turn and the President decides to pay to advance the Company's stock market token up one row after the dividend has been paid out. The Company must spend the Rs.210 value shown in the intended stock market space. The President immediately spends the "Stock Market Opportunity" worth Rs.150 that the BBCIR received for reaching the ES and then employs a Stockbroker previously set aside (for a value of Rs.50) and finally adds Rs.10 from the BBCIR Treasury.
[Image: Stock market column excerpt (130, 120, 110, with 150 Stock Market Opportunity and a stockbroker symbol) showing the BBCIR advancement.]
- The Company reaches its 10th ES. The Company President decides to advance the stock market token to the right, to the Rs.120 space. To do this, the Company must pay Rs.120 + 50%, for a total of Rs.180. The President uses the Stock Market Opportunity of Rs.150 and 1 Stockbroker (150 + 50 = Rs.200). The Rs.20 excess is lost.
[Image: Stock market column excerpt (280, 230, 210, 230) with a 150 Stock Market Opportunity, Rs.100, Rs.20 and Rs.10 notes, showing an upward advancement.]
- The Company reaches its 10th ES in its OR and the President decides to advance the stock market token up one row to the Rs.280 space after paying out the dividend. The Company has no stockbrokers and Rs.200 in its treasury. The President has two options: spend Rs.130 from the Company Treasury along with the Stock Market Opportunity of Rs.150 to make the advancement; or not spend the Company money and thereby forego the advancement. In this case the President decides to not to take advantage of the Rs.150 Stock Market Opportunity to make an advancement. As an alternative the President takes the two stockbrokers due to the Company for its 10th ES.
6.12.3 The 11th Expatriation Site
When a Company reaches this ES it earns a discount on the normal cost of a token movement: free if moving up one row, or 50% off the final box if moving right.
6.13 Seasons and Climate Zones
6.13.1 Seasons
On the gameboard are 4 colored arrows that represent the succession of the seasons. At the start of the game, the Seasons Marker is placed on the DRY SEASON arrow. This is followed by the MONSOON SEASON, then the INTERMEDIATE SEASON and finally the FERTILE SEASON.
[Image: Seasons diagram – Dry (Start game), Monsoon (−10 Rs for each city in the Monsoon Zone), Intermediate, Fertile (+10 Rs for each city in the Monsoon Zone).]
At the beginning of each OR (except the first) , the Seasons Marker is moved to the next arrow, in the direction indicated.
6.13.2 Climate Zones
The map is divided into two climate zones. Map hexes with the waterdrop symbol at the top right represent the Monsoon Zone; those without, the Dry Zone. Blue water drops are provided with the game to mark the Monsoon Zone hexes before and after tile lays. The Monsoon Zone is where the monsoon rains hit India the hardest.
[Image: Map excerpt of Delhi, Meerut, Agra and Jaipur showing the Monsoon Zone at the top right (water drop symbols) and the Dry Zone at the bottom left.]
This picture shows the Monsoon Zone at the top right with the cities of Delhi and Agra, with the Dry Zone and the city of Jaipur at the bottom left. Note the tile symbol matching the Monsoon Zone.
6.13.3 Laying Track Tiles and Reduced Revenue
During the DRY SEASON, if a Company lays or upgrades track tiles in the Dry Zone, the Company's revenue for that OR is reduced by 20% and if it has not yet reached its temple its revenue is reduced by a further 20% (for a total reduction of 40% of the possible revenue); there is no effect in the Monsoon Zone.
During the MONSOON SEASON, if a Company lays or upgrades track tiles in the Monsoon Zone, the Company's revenue for that OR is reduced by 20% and if it has not yet reached its temple its revenue is reduced by a further 20% (for a total reduction of 40% of the possible revenue); there is no effect in the Dry Zone.
Laying even one of the two yellow track tiles or upgrading a tile in one of the two zones in their season triggers the revenue reduction.
There are two different types of city track tiles, for the Dry Zone and the Monsoon Zone respectively.
[Image: Two city tiles, numbered 63 (Dry Zone) and 63M (Monsoon Zone), each showing a city with a value of 40; the Monsoon tile carries a water drop symbol.]
EXAMPLE
BEFORE [Image: Stock market grid excerpt with the Bengal Nagpur Railway (yellow) token on 160, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (green) token on 130 and the East Indian Railway Company (orange) token on 190; red line between 210 and 190 columns.]
The Bengal Nagpur Railway (yellow) withholds its revenue of Rs.120, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (green) pays out its revenue of Rs.100, while the East Indian Railway Company (orange) pays out its revenue of Rs.140.
AFTER [Image: Same stock market grid excerpt after the dividend decisions.]
The Bengal Nagpur Railway Token moves left one space from 160 to 146. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway token moves right one space from 130 to 146 because even though its revenue of Rs.100 does not exceed the stock market value (146) it is left of the red line. The East Indian Railway Company stays at 190 because it is to the right of the red line and its revenue of Rs.140 is below the 210 stock market value it needs to reach.
When a Company has no trains, both at the beginning and during the game, the Company that owns the Private Company No. 8 "R&D Locomotive" can use it to purchase a train before the running trains action of the OR (para 3.1).
6.13.4 Climate Zones and City Revenues
During the Monsoon Season, Cities in the Monsoon Zone have their revenue reduced by Rs.10. Conversely, during the Fertile Season Cities in the Monsoon Zone each have an additional Rs.10 revenue.
During the Dry and Intermediate Seasons there are no changes to the cities' printed revenues. In the Dry Zone there are never variations in city revenues due to the season.
The revenue of Towns, Expatriation Sites and Trading Posts is never affected by their climate zone.
6.14 Running Trains for Revenue
During this step of its OR turn, a Railway Company can run its trains for revenue. The President then decides whether the revenue is withheld (kept in the Company Treasury) or paid out as a dividend to shareholders.
If the revenue is withheld, the Company's stock market token is moved one column to the left.
If the Company is unable to run trains for any reason (eg: not owning a train) its revenue is therefore equal to Rs.0, so the token is moved one column to the left.
If the revenue is paid out as a dividend to the shareholders the Company's stock market token is moved one column to the right; in order to cross the red line or if the token is already to the right of the red line, then the token is only moved one column to the right if the revenue is GREATER THAN or EQUAL TO the stock market value of the space it should move to.
6.14.1 Route Selection
The President selects the route of each of the Company's trains. A route is a length of track joining two or more Cities, Towns, Expatriation Sites, Trading Posts or the Exchange. It must be continuous, and it must not involve reversing across junctions, changing track at crossovers, or travelling the same track section twice. A route that enters a city or town down one section of track may, however, leave along any other. A route may begin or end at any city, town, Trading Post or Expatriation Site.
A Company can trace routes to or from a city that is completely occupied by other Companies' stations, but the routes cannot run through the city.
EXAMPLES
Let's look at 3 examples of determining routes and running trains:
1st example
[Image: Southern India map excerpt (Hubli, Mangalore, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Cochin, Tinnevelly) with the South Indian Railway Company tiles and stops A, B, C, D, E, showing two 3T routes – the red route A-B-C-E and the blue route A-D-C.]
The South Indian Railway Company has 2 3Ts: if the first travels the A-B-C-E section, the second can only run on the A-D-C section, it cannot continue on E because it would run on the same track as the first train.
2nd example
[Image: Same map excerpt showing the South Indian Railway Company's 3T route options A-B-C and A-D-C.]
The South Indian Railway Company has a 3T. The route must be either A-B-C or A-D-C. (20 + 40). It cannot be A-B-C-D-A (20 + 40 + 20) because a train may not run to the same city twice.
3rd example
[Image: Map excerpt (Bejawada, Coimbatore, Cochin, Madras area) with the Puducherry Railway Company's 5T route A-B-C-D-E-F, marked in red, with the PRC station in city C.]
The Puducherry Railway Company (PRC, blue) runs a 5T route of A (40) + B + C (30) + D (10) + E + F (30) for a total revenue of Rs.110. Note that the route only uses 4 of the train's 5 possible stops and that the PRC station is within the route and not a terminus.
If the route includes Expatriation Sites, these must be at the beginning and/or the end of the route, never an intermediate stop.
Every route used by a train must include at least one city occupied by a station belonging to that Company. At no time may the same station or stop or trading post be used twice by the same train.
The route must include at least two stops, but no more stops than the number of the train, so a "2T" can connect two stops, a "3T" three stops, etc. "Stops" are Towns, Cities, and Expatriation Sites.
Each train runs on a separate route. If a Company owns more than one train, the routes of all of its trains must be entirely separate; they can however meet and cross in cities/town hexes (coming from different tracks) or use two independent tracks on the same tile.
A train may be used on a shorter route than the maximum allowed if desired or when a maximum route does not exist.
6.14.2 Revenue Calculation
All cities and towns on the map (and their upgrade tiles), are marked with revenue values. The revenue values for Monsoon Zone cities will vary depending on the season (see 6.13.4). The revenue earned each time a train runs is the total of all the revenue values of the stops on its route.
The Company President decides the train route: they are not obliged to run for the highest possible revenue.
EXAMPLE: Let's analyze the following game situation:
[Image: Southern India map excerpt (Hubli, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Cochin, Tinnevelly) with stops A (20), B, C, D and E (30, 40) showing two South Indian Railway Company 3T routes, red A-B-C-E and blue A-D-C.]
The South Indian Railway Company has two 3Ts. The first train runs A-B-C-E (red) for a revenue of Rs.90 (20 + 40 + 30); the second train runs A-D-C (blue) for a revenue of Rs.60 (20 + 40); the Company's total revenue is Rs.150.
Connecting cities and towns: A Company that owns a train earns an automatic one-off Rs.10 revenue bonus for each yellow tile it lays on a city or town hex in its OR turn. The newly laid tile does not have be included in the train run. The bonus is added to the total revenue before any deductions.
This value can be reduced by laying tracks in the Dry or Monsoon Seasons (para 6.13) and/or by not reaching the associated temple (para 6.8).
After calculating the revenue a reduction might need to be applied before dividends are paid or withheld, based on para 6.13.3. Then the President decides whether to pay out a dividend to shareholders or to withhold the entire sum in the Company's Treasury. If a dividend is paid each shareholder receives 10% for every 10% Ordinary Share owned; the President's Certificate is worth 20%*, for Savings Shares the owner receives 5% (ie: half of an 10% Ordinary Share, round up).
*The Bengal Nagpur Railway President's Certificate is worth 30%.
Shares in the Bank Pool pay the dividend into the Company's Treasury and are considered as 10% ordinary shares; shares still in the Initial Offer pay no dividend (even for the BNR).
Savings Shareholders always receive a dividend, so if the President decides to withhold the revenue the Company Treasury receives the sum left after Savings Shareholders have received their dividend. The dividend from a Savings Share is always half that of an Ordinary Share.
EXAMPLE ONE: Let's analyze the following game situation:
[Image: Dividend example – Dividend paid out Rs.130. The President (labelled "Steve" in the picture, "Emily" in the text below – both as printed) holds 40% Ordinary Shares of the Bengal & North-Western Railway; Paul holds 20% Savings Shares; Lucas holds 10% Ordinary Shares; Bank Pool holds 20%; Initial Offer holds 10%.]
The Company's certificates are distributed as follows:
- 40% of Ordinary Shares to Emily (President)
- 20% of Savings Shares to Paul
- 10% of Ordinary Shares to Lucas
- 20% of Shares in the Bank Pool (these are considered Ordinary Shares for the purpose of calculating dividend payments to the Company Treasury)
- 10% in the Initial Offer
The Company revenue is Rs.130 and the President decides to pay out the dividend: the shareholders receive Rs.13 for each Ordinary Share, and Rs.6.5 for each Savings Share.
Steve receives Rs.52 (13 x4), Paul receives Rs.13 (6.5x2), Lucas receives Rs.13 (13x1); the Company Treasury receives Rs.26 (13x2). The Rs.13 for the Share still in the Initial Offer stays in the bank.
EXAMPLE TWO: If the President, on the other hand, decides to withhold the revenue, Steve and Lucas receive nothing, Paul receives Rs.13 and the Company Treasury receives Rs.117. Note that Paul receives an Rs.13 dividend for the two Savings Shares; which are equal to one Ordinary Share.
[Image: Dividend withheld – Rs.130 revenue. The President and Lucas receive nothing; Paul receives Rs.13; the Bank Pool's share goes to the Company Treasury (Rs.117); the Initial Offer share stays in the bank.]
After dividend payment, or withholding, the Company's stock market token is moved on the Stock Market Table accordingly (para 5.10).
6.14.3 Simplified Revenue Calculation
With the sale of the first 8T train, a simplified revenue calculation is used; this rule serves to simplify calculating many long routes on a very large map.
When a Company has two trains, only the route and revenue of its largest train is calculated as per the usual rules, then a percentage is added to this base revenue depending on the size of the 2nd train the Company can run.
On the train cards 5T and up there is a table showing all the possible combinations of trains and the percentage added to the base revenue calculation.
[Image: 6T train card – Permanent, Rs 630; with train 5 the increase is +70%, with train 6 the increase is +90%.]
This revenue calculation rule is not an optional rule, it must always be applied.
This rule also means that once this rule is in effect the maximum number of Expatriation Sites included when running all trains may only be two.
EXAMPLE: The Company owns a 8T train and a 5T train. With the 8T train it reaches Cities, Towns, and Expatriation Sites with a revenue of Rs.270. Rs.10 is also added as a bonus for laying a new yellow city tile, for a total of Rs.280.
[Image: 8T train card – Permanent, Rs 800; with train 5 the increase is +50%, with train 6 +65%, with train 8 +80%.]
The table on the 8T train card shows that with the Company's other train being a 5T train the base revenue is increased by 50%, for a total revenue of 280 + 140 = Rs.420.
6.15 Purchasing Trains
Once floated, unless it has no legal route, a Railway Company must own a train. If, in the train buying step, a Railway Company with a legal route has no train, it must buy one (or more).
6.15.1 Buying Trains from the Bank
A Company can buy trains (one at a time) from the Bank, by paying the cost shown on the train card on the top of the "Available Trains" stack. Trains are bought from the Bank in order of increasing size. The smallest, the "2Ts", are bought first. When all these have been sold the "3Ts" become available, then the "4Ts" etc.
If the train bought from the Bank is the first of a new type of train, then a new Game Phase begins immediately (para 7.0).
6.15.2 Buying Trains from Another Company
Trains may be bought from another Company at any price agreed (with a minimum Rs.1 for each train) between the two Companies' Presidents (those Presidents may be the same player).
6.15.3 Buying Trains from the Bank Pool
A Company may buy a train(s) from the Bank Pool for face value, if there are any available.
EXAMPLE: The last available 2T is purchased. 3Ts are immediately moved from the "Next available trains" box to the "Available trains" box. At this point, all 4Ts are taken from the "Unavailable trains" box and moved to the "Next available trains" box. The player who purchased the last 2T, if they wish, can also purchase 1 or more 3Ts, but only in compliance with the Train Limit (6.15.4).
6.15.4 The Train Limit
During the game the maximum number of trains a Company can own changes depending on the Game Phase. A Company that is at the Train Limit may not buy a train, (even if buying a train would subsequently cause rusting and then put the Company below the Train Limit) (para 7.0).
Train Limit & Rusting
| Most recently purchased train | Rusts | Train limit |
|---|---|---|
| 2T | 4 | |
| 3T | 4 | |
| 4T | 2T | 3 |
| 5T | 3 | |
| 6T | 3T | 2 |
| 8T | 4T | 2 |
| 10T | 2 | |
| 12T | 5T | 2 |
6.15.5 Train Rusting
When the first train of some classes (4T, 6T, 8T and 12T) is purchased, the trains of some previous classes (2T, 3T, 4T & 5T respectively) are immediately removed from the game without compensation to the companies that owned them, as indicated on the train cards. This process is commonly called "rusting".
6.15.6 Excess Trains
A Company with excess trains must immediately put the excess in the Bank Pool (with no compensation).
EXAMPLE: A Company with a 4T and a 5T purchases its 3rd legal train, the first 6T: immediately the train limit drops to two, so the Company has to return a train to the Bank Pool (the President decides to return the 4T). Any Company will later be able to buy this 4T instead of buying the 'available' train. With the sale of the first 8T, all 4Ts are rusted, including any in the Bank Pool.
EXAMPLE: Company A owns a 4T and a 5T. During the Operating Round, Company B buys the first T6 and reduces the train limit to 2. Company A therefore cannot buy a 6T (and consequently discard the 4T) because it is already at the train limit of 2.
6.15.7 Forced Purchase and Bankruptcy
If a Railway Company is obliged to own a train and does not have enough money in its Treasury to buy one at face value from the Bank or the Bank Pool, or at an agreed price from another Company, the President has to make a forced purchase.
In the case of a forced purchase, the President must purchase the cheapest train available, whether that is from the Bank or Bank Pool.
The President first pays all the money in the Company Treasury and then makes up the difference, following this order:
- by using their personal money. If that is insufficient, then
- by selling their own Shares and Bonds, noting the restrictions below:
- the Bank Pool cannot contain more than 50% of a Company;
- the President may sell stocks in the affected Company, but in doing so, cannot sell shares that would cause the presidency to change to another player;
- it is forbidden to sell more Shares than the needed cash;
- a President's Certificate in another Company can only be "sold" if another player owns two 10% Ordinary Shares in that Company and the President's Certificate can be exchanged for them;
- the ownership ratio of Savings to Ordinary Shares must still maintained.
Stock market tokens are moved accordingly.
NOTE: after a Forced Purchase the active Company will have no cash left in its Treasury.
If the President fails to raise enough money to pay for the cheapest train possible, the player is declared bankrupt and the game ends immediately.
Game tip to avoid bankruptcy: In the event that the player is President of 2 or more Companies, it is possible for them to avoid bankruptcy by buying the train of the other Company with the aim of either waiting for future dividend payments from their Shares to obtain the money necessary to purchase the train or to simply wait for end of the game. The player may also refuse to do all of this and declare themself bankrupt.
7.0 Game Phases Summary
Below is an overview of the Game Phases.
Phase 1
This is the initial game set-up, assignment of player order, and the Private Companies Auction.
Phase 2
Phase 2 goes until the purchase of the first T3. During this phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a single Operating Round;
- the Railway Companies must float with a PAR value of 66, 72, 80, 90 or 100 (indicated by the yellow area on the PAR table on the gameboard);
- only yellow tiles can be used;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- the Train Limit is 4;
- the revenue of a railway company is reduced by 20% if has not yet reached its associated temple;
- Private Companies can be purchased by Railway Companies at the Hammer Price;
- Trading Posts earn +10 revenue for the Railway Company which owns the P7.
Phase 3
Phase 3 goes from the purchase of the first 3T to the purchase of the first 4T. Changes from the previous Phases are in bold. During this Phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of two Operating Rounds;
- the Railway Companies must be floated at a PAR of 80, 90, 100 or 110 (indicated by the green area on the PAR table);
- yellow city can be upgraded to green cities;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- the Train Limit is 4;
- the revenue of a railway company is reduced by 20% if it has not yet reached its associated temple;
- Private Companies can be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 150% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +10 revenue for the railway company which owns the P7.
Phase 4
Phase 4 goes from the purchase of the first 4T to the purchase of the first 5T. During this Phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of two Operating Rounds;
- Railway Companies must be floated at a PAR of 80, 90, 100, or 110 (indicated by the green area on the PAR table);
- yellow city can be upgraded to green cities;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- 2Ts rust;
- the Train Limit is 3;
- the revenue of a railway company is reduced by 20% if it has not yet reached its associated temple;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 200% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +10 revenue for the railway company which owns the P7.
Phase 5
Phase 5 goes from the purchase of the first 5T to the purchase of the first 6T. During this phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of three Operating Rounds;
- Railway Companies can only be floated at a PAR of 100, 110, or 120 (indicated by the brown area on the PAR table);
- yellow city and yellow town tiles can be upgraded to green cities, green cities to brown;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- when laying a yellow track tile on a Town hex, the player can decide whether to place the Town track tile or ignore it and place a track tile without a Town;
- the Train Limit is 3;
- the revenue of a railway company is reduced by 20% if it has not yet reached its associated temple;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 250% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +20 revenue for the Railway Company which owns the P7.
Phase 6
Phase 6 goes from the purchase of the first 6T to the purchase of the first 8T. During this Phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of three Operating Rounds;
- Railway Companies must float at a PAR of 100, 110, or 120 (indicated by the brown area on the PAR table);
- yellow city and yellow town tiles can be upgraded to green cities, green cities to brown;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- when laying a yellow track tile on a Town hex, the player can decide whether to place the Town track tile or ignore it and place a track tile without a Town;
- 3Ts rust;
- the Train Limit is 2;
- the revenue of a railway company is reduced by 20% if it has not yet reached its associated temple;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 250% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +20 revenue only for the railway company which owns the P7.
Phase 8
Phase 8 goes from the purchase of the first 8T to the purchase of the first 10T. During this phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of three Operating Rounds;
- Railway Companies must float at a PAR of 120 or 130 (indicated by the blue area on the PAR table);
- yellow city and yellow town tiles can be upgraded to green cities, green cities to brown;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- when laying a yellow track tile on a Town hex, the player can decide whether to place the Town track tile or ignore it and place a track tile without a Town;
- 4Ts rust;
- the Train Limit is 2;
- Railway Companies floated in this phase have no associated temple so their revenue is therefore not reduced by 20%. Railway Companies that have previously floated and that do not yet reached their associated temple DO still have their revenue reduced by 20%;
- Temple tokens of unfloated Companies are removed from the game;
- the total revenue of a railway company is calculated by multiplying the revenue of its highest value train by the percentage on the Train Card according to the 2nd train the Company owns;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 250% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +20 revenue only for the railway company which owns the P7.
Phase 10
Phase 10 goes from the purchase of the first 10T to the purchase of the first 12T. During this phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of three Operating Rounds;
- Railway Companies must floated at a PAR of 120 or 130 (indicated by the blue area on the PAR table);
- yellow city and yellow town tiles can be upgraded to green cities, green cities to brown, and brown cities to gray;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- when laying a yellow track tile on a Town hex, the player can decide whether to place the Town track tile or ignore it and place a track tile without a Town;
- the Train Limit is 2;
- Railway Companies floated in this phase have no associated temple and so their revenue is therefore not reduced by 20%. Railway Companies that have previously floated and that do not yet reached their associated temple DO still have their revenue reduced by 20%;
- the total revenue of a railway company is calculated by multiplying the revenue of its highest value train by the percentage on the Train Card according to the 2nd train the Company owns;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 250% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +20 revenue only for the Railway Company which owns the P7.
Phase 12
Phase 12 goes from the purchase of the first 12T to the end of the game. During this phase:
- a Stock Round is followed by a set of three Operating Rounds;
- the Railway Companies must float at a PAR of 120 or130 (indicated by the blue area on the PAR table);
- yellow city and town tiles can be upgraded to green, green cities to brown and brown cities to gray;
- yellow and green tiles without cities or towns can be upgraded to green and brown tiles respectively;
- when laying a yellow track tile on a Town hex, the player can decide whether to place the Town track tile or ignore it and place a track tile without a Town;
- 5Ts rust;
- the Train Limit is 2;
- Railway Companies floated in this phase have no associated temple and so their revenue is therefore not reduced by 20%. Railway Companies that have previously floated and that have not yet reached their associated temple DO still have their revenue reduced by 20%;
- the total revenue of a railway company is calculated by multiplying the revenue of its highest value train by the percentage on the Train Card according to the 2nd train the Company owns;
- Private Companies may be purchased by Railway Companies for up to 250% of the hammer price;
- Trading Posts earn +20 revenue only for the railway company which owns the P7.
8.0 End of the Game
The game ends when:
- Any Company reaches the maximum value on the Stock Market Table. In this case the game ends at the end of that Operating Round, thus allowing all the remaining Companies that did not operate in that turn to do so; should this occur at the end of a Stock Round due to rule 5.10, there is no subsequent Operating Round;
or
- A player goes bankrupt.
At the end of the game, players add up their personal money and the total stock market value of the Shares and Convertible Bonds they own. The richest player wins the game.
Important: Company assets and Treasury money, and Private Companies, are not counted in the players' final totals.
9.0 Detailed Example of Game
Printed section heading in the source is "9.0 DETAILED EXAMPLE OF GAME"; the text at para 1.1 refers to it as section 8.0. Both numbers are transcribed as printed.
Private Company Auction (Game Phase 1)
There are 4 players: Paul, Robert, Emily and Anna. Each player receives Rs.600.
One 10% share of the Assam Bengal Railway and one of the Puducherry Railway Company were randomly drawn and placed in the Bank Pool.
The randomly drawn starting order (using the Player Order Cards) was: Emily, Paul, Anna and Robert.
The auction starts with the P1 Private Company.
P1 "Construction Breakthrough for Dry Season": Emily bids 10, Paul 20, Anna 30, Robert 40, Emily 50, Paul passes, Anna passes, Robert bids 60, Emily raises to 70 and Robert passes. Emily buys the P1 for Rs.70.
Next is the auction of the P2 and Paul begins as the 2nd in Player Order.
P2 "Construction Breakthrough for Monsoon Season": Paul bids 10, Anna bids 20, Robert 30, Emily passes, Paul bids 40, Robert passes, Paul bids 50, Anna 60, Paul 70, Anna passes. Paul wins the P2 for Rs.70.
Now, Anna as the 3rd in Player Order, begins the bidding on the P3.
P3 "Topographical studies in the Thar desert": Anna bids 10, Robert 20, Emily passes, Paul passes, Anna 30, Robert passes. Anna wins the P3 for Rs.30.
The auctions continue in increasing numerical order.
P4 "Insider Trading": Anna buys for Rs.60
P5 "Economic Incentives": Anna buys for Rs.80.
P6 "Company Reorganization": Robert buys for Rs.70.
P7 "Trading Posts": Emily buys for Rs.120.
P8 "R&D Locomotive": Robert buys for Rs100.
P9 "Bengal Nagpur Railway": Paul buys for Rs.210.
Paul sets the PAR of the Bengal Nagpur Railway only at Rs.100. The BNR now floats, with Rs.300 in the Company Treasury.
Priority assignment after the purchase of the Private Companies. This is the only time when the Player Order Cards are distributed in order from most invested to least invested player – for the rest the game the normal order is from poorest to wealthiest. The image below shows the Hammer Price table for this example game.
[Table – Hammer Price table for this example game, as printed: P1 Construction Breakthrough for Dry Season (keyword DRY) 70; P2 Construction Breakthrough for Monsoon Season (MONSOON) 70; P3 Topographical studies in the Thar desert (DESERT) 30; P4 Insider Trading (INSIDER TRADING) 60; P5 Economic Incentives (INCENTIVES) 80; P6 Company Reorganization (REORGANIZATION) 70; P7 Trading Posts (TRADING POSTS) 120; P8 R&D Locomotive (R&D) 210.]
Note: the printed Hammer Price table lists R&D at 210, while the auction text above records Robert buying P8 for Rs.100. Both are transcribed as printed; the Hammer Price table is the printed reference for this example.
[Table – Player standing before Stock Round 1, as printed:]
| Player | No. of Certificates | Cash | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emily | 2 | 410 | 4 |
| Paul | 4 | 320 | 1 |
| Anna | 3 | 430 | 2 |
| Robert | 2 | 430 | 3 |
Stock Round 1 (Game Phase 2)
1st SR turn
Paul buys a 10% Share of the Bengal Nagpur for Rs.100 from the Initial Offer, he pays Rs.100 into the Company Treasury. (Note that the BNR is the only Company that receives Treasury funds in this way).
Anna buys the President's Certificate of the Puducherry Railway Company and sets the PAR at Rs.66 (since there is a share already in the Bank Pool, she has calculated that she only has to buy 5 Ordinary Shares to float the Company). Anna pays Rs.132 since the President's Certificate is worth 20% or 2 times the Par price.
Robert buys the President's Certificate of the Assam Bengal Railway and sets the PAR at Rs.80 (since there is a Ordinary Share in the Bank Pool, he has calculated that he only has to buy 5 Ordinary Shares to float the Company). Robert pays Rs.160 since the President's Certificate is worth 20% or 2 times the Par price.
Emily buys the President's Certificate of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway and sets the PAR at Rs.66. Emily pays Rs.132 since the President's Certificate is worth 20% or 2 times the Par price.
2nd SR turn
Paul buys a Bengal Nagpur Ordinary Share for Rs.100 from the Initial Offer, and pays the Rs.100 into the Company Treasury.
Anna buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Puducherry Railway Company from the Initial Offer.
Robert buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Assam Bengal Railway from the Initial Offer.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway from the Initial Offer.
3rd SR turn
Paul buys a Bengal Nagpur Ordinary Share for Rs.100 from the Initial Offer and pays Rs.100 into the Company Treasury.
Anna buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Puducherry Railway Company from the Initial Offer.
Robert buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Assam Bengal Railway from the Initial Offer.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway from the Initial Offer.
4th SR turn
Paul is left with Rs.20 and passes.
Anna buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Puducherry Railway Company from the Initial Offer. The Company opens and receives Rs.660.
Robert buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Assam Bengal Railway from the Initial Offer. The Company opens and receives Rs.800.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway from the Initial Offer.
5th SR turn
Paul passes again. Paul passed in the 4th SR turn, but because not all players passed consecutively, Paul gets another action. In this case, he passes again, since he still only has Rs.20 left.
Anna passes.
Robert is left with Rs.30 and passes.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway from the Initial Offer. The Company opens and receives Rs.660.
6th SR turn
Paul passes again.
Anna buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway from the Initial Offer.
Robert passes again.
Emily is left with Rs.14 and passes.
7th SR turn
Paul passes again.
Anna is left with Rs.34 and passes.
Robert passes again.
Emily passes again.
All 4 players have now passed consecutively, so the stock round ends.
Player Order at the End of SR 1
Priority is given from the least invested to the most invested (first look at the number of certificates then the cash).
| Player | No. of Certificates | Cash | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emily | 8 | 14 | 3 |
| Paul | 7 | 20 | 1 |
| Anna | 9 | 34 | 4 |
| Robert | 7 | 30 | 2 |
Operating Round (1.1)
As the first action in an Operating Round, the season marker should be moved one arrow clockwise. Because this is the first OR however, this is skipped. The Season Marker will be adjusted at the start of subsequent ORs.
Private Company Revenue Payment
- Emily receives Rs.20 (2 Privates)
- Anna receives Rs.30 (3 Privates)
- Paul receives Rs.10 (1 Private)
- Robert receives Rs.20 (2 Privates)
The Company with the highest stock market value operates first: this is the **Bengal Nagpur Railway at Rs.100. Paul is the Company President and so makes all the Company's decisions in the OR. The first BNR station is placed on its home city of Nagpur (cost 0).
- Track Placement: the BNR lays a Tile 57 (dry) in Bhopal paying Rs.20 and a Tile 6 (dry) in Indore.
- The Company has no trains and therefore does not earn any revenue, so the BNR stock market token moves left one space to 90.
- Buys two 2Ts for Rs.160.
- The BNR ends its turn with Rs.420 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Map excerpt around Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore and Jubbulpore showing the BNR tile placements.]
Next is the Assam Bengal Railway valued at Rs.80. Robert is the President. The first ABR station is placed in its home city of Aizawl (cost 0).
- Track Placement: lays a Tile 6M (monsoon) and a Tile 9 paying Rs.20.
- The Company has no trains and therefore does not earn any revenue, so its stock market token moves left one space to 72.
- Buys two 2Ts for Rs.160.
- ABR ends its turn with Rs.620 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Map excerpt around Aizawl, Gauhati, Imphal, Calcutta and Burma showing the ABR tile placements.]
Next is the Puducherry Railway Company valued at Rs.66. Anna is the President. The first PR station is placed in Pondicherry (cost 0).
- Track Placement: lays a Tile 57 (dry) and a Tile 8.
- The Company has no trains and therefore does not earn any revenue, so its stock market token moves left one space to 60.
- Buys two 2Ts for Rs.160.
- The PR ends its turn with Rs.480 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Southern India map excerpt showing the PR tile placements at Pondicherry and Madurai.]
Next is the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway. Emily is the President. The first BB&CI station is placed in Bombay (cost 0).
- Track Placement: lays a Tile 57M (monsoon) paying Rs.20 in Bombay and a Tile #6 (dry) in Poona.
- The Company has no trains and therefore does not earn any revenue, so its stock market token moves left one space to 60.
- Buys one 2T and one 3T for Rs.260. In the Company Treasury there are Rs.380.
The first 3T has been bought so the Game moves to Phase 3.
- As it is now Phase 3, Companies can now buy Private Companies for 150% of their Hammer Price – so the president (Emily) decides to pay herself Rs.180 (150% of its Hammer Price) for the P7 "Trading Posts" Private Company.
- BB&CI ends its turn with Rs.200 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Map excerpt around Bombay, Surat, Nasik, Poona and Bhavnagar showing the BB&CI tile placement and Trading Post.]
The Operating Round ends.
Game Turn 2 (Game Phase 3)
Stock Round 2
Paul has the Player Order No.1 Card.
1st SR turn
Paul has only Rs.30 and passes.
Robert has only Rs.50 and passes.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Puducherry Railway Company from the Bank Pool for Rs.60.
Anna has only Rs.64 and passes.
2nd SR turn
Paul passes.
Robert passes.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Puducherry Railway Company from the Initial Offer for Rs.66.
Anna passes.
3rd SR turn
Paul passes.
Robert passes.
Emily buys a 10% Ordinary Share of the Assam Railway Company from the Initial Offer for Rs.80.
Anna passes.
4th SR turn
Paul passes.
Robert passes.
Emily converts her two Puducherry Railway Company Ordinary Shares to Savings Shares.
Anna passes.
5th SR turn
Paul passes.
Robert passes.
Emily has only Rs.8 and passes.
Anna passes.
All 4 players pass consecutively, the Stock Round ends.
Player Order at the End of SR 2
The least invested player receives the Player Order No.1 card (first look at the number of certificates then the personal cash).
| Player | No. of Certificates | Cash | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emily | 10 | 8 | 4 |
| Paul | 7 | 30 | 1 |
| Anna | 9 | 64 | 3 |
| Robert | 7 | 50 | 2 |
Operating Round (2.1)
The season marker is moved clockwise to the Monsoon Season space.
Private Company Revenue Payment
- Emily receives Rs.10 (1 Private, because she sold P7 in the previous OR).
- Anna receives Rs.30 (3 Privates).
- Paul receives Rs.10 (1 Private).
- Robert receives Rs.20 (2 Privates).
Since the first 3T has been purchased it is now Game Phase 3; yellow city tiles may now be upgraded to green. There are 2 consecutive Operating Rounds.
[Image: Map excerpt around Bhavnagar, Surat, Bombay, Nasik, Poona, Nagpur and Indore showing the Monsoon-season and Dry-season train icons (2T red and blue).]
The Company with the highest stock market value operates first: this is the Bengal Nagpur Railway at Rs.90. Paul is the President.
- Track Placement: BNR upgrades the tile in Nagpur with Tile #15 (dry) paying Rs.20 and lays a Tile #9 (dry) paying Rs.40.
- Train Route #1: a 2T runs from Nagpur (30) to Indore (20) for Rs.50.
- Train Route #2: the other 2T runs from Nagpur (30) to Bhopal (20) for Rs.50.
- The total revenue is Rs.100 but the temple is not reached so there is a reduction of 20%. No tiles were placed in monsoon zone and the routes were only on dry zone so there is no further reduction due to season effects.
- BNR pays out a dividend. The total revenue is Rs.80. Paul has 60% and earns Rs.48. The other 40% is in the Initial Offer, so Rs.32 remains in the Bank.
- The BNR stock market token is moved right one column from 90 to 100.
- The BNR ends its turn with Rs.360 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Map excerpt around Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore and Aizawl showing the BNR's two 2T routes (blue and red).]
Next is the Assam Bengal Railway valued at Rs.72. Robert is the President.
- Track Placement: lays a Tile #6M (monsoon) in Aizawl and a Tile #9 paying Rs.20.
- Train Route #1: a 2T runs from Aizawl (30-10*) to Cooch Behar (20) for Rs.40.
- Train Route #2: the other 2T runs from Aizawl (30-10*) to the Burma Expatriation Site for Rs.20. * cities in the Monsoon Zone in Monsoon season provide Rs.10 less in revenue for each train run.
- This Rs.60 revenue is reduced by 40% since Robert replaced a Tile in the Monsoon Zone during the Monsoon Season (-20%) and the ABR has not yet reached its temple (-20%). The modified revenue of Rs.40 is paid out as a dividend. Robert has 50% and receives Rs.20; Emily has 10% and receives Rs.4. The other 30% is in the Initial Offer, so Rs.12 remains in the Bank.
- The ABR stock market token moves right one space from 71 to 80. (Source note: the printed example gives the ABR token's position as 72 when it is moved left earlier in this turn and as 71 here; both are transcribed as printed.)
- Now the Burma Expatriation Site Bonus is resolved: Robert receives the worker on the Burma Expatriation Site; the Burma Expatriation Site Marker in the Company "Expatriation Site not Reached" tab is placed on the first space of the Expatriation Site Track on the ABR company charter; and the Company Treasury receives the marked bonus of Rs.60.
- ABR ends its turn with Rs.664 in the Company Treasury.
[Image: Map excerpt around Madras, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Madurai and Tinnevelly showing the PR's two 2T routes.]
Next is the Puducherry Railway Company valued at Rs.66. Anna is the President.
- Track Placement: lays a Tile #6 (dry) in Madurai and a Tile #4715 in Madras (dry).
- Train Route #1: a 2T runs from Pondicherry (20) to Madurai (20) for Rs.40.
- Train Route #2: the other 2T runs from Pondicherry (20) to Madras (10) for Rs.30.
NOTE: Note there is one-off bonus of 2x Rs.10 in revenue for laying the first (yellow) track tiles on Madurai and Madras.
- The total run is therefore Rs.70 + Rs.20 = Rs.90 which is reduced by 20% since the temple has not yet been reached (-20%). The final total revenue is Rs.70 and a dividend is paid out. Anna has 50% and receives Rs.35; Emily has 20% in Savings Shares and receives Rs.7, half the normal dividend of Rs.14. The other 30% is in the Initial Offer, so Rs.21 remains in the Bank.
NOTE: half of Emily's dividend (Rs.7) remains in the Bank because the dividend is from Savings Shares.
-
The PR stock market token moves right one space from 60 to 68.
-
PR ends its turn with Rs.480 in the Company Treasury. Next is the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway. Emily is the President.
-
Track Placement: lays a Tile #4701 (monsoon) in Bombay and a Tile #57M in Surat (monsoon).
-
Train Route #1: a 2T runs from Bombay Trading Post (10), to Bombay (40-10*), to Poona (20), for Rs.60.
-
Train Route #2: a 3T runs from Bombay (40-10*) to Surat (20-10*), for Rs.40.
*NOTE: this OR turn was Monsoon season, so the two train runs were reduced by 10 for each monsoon city they included (Bombay x2, and Surat) for a total reduction of 30.
- This initial Rs.100 revenue is increased by Rs.10 for laying a tile in Surat but then is reduced by 40% since Emily placed/replaced Tiles in the Monsoon Zone during the Monsoon Season (-20%) and the company has not yet reached its temple (-20%). The final Rs.70 revenue is paid out as a dividend. Emily has 60% and receives Rs.42. The other 40% is in the Initial Offer, so Rs.28 remains in the Bank.
- The BB&CI's stock market token is moved right one space from 60 to 66.
- The BB&CI ends its turn with Rs.200 in the Company Treasury.
At the end of OR 2.1:
- Emily has Rs.71
- Paul has Rs.88
- Anna has Rs.129
- Robert has Rs.90
And things go on into OR 2.2 etc (for the sake of brevity we leave out a description of the next OR).
Note on this example: the printed text ends at OR 2.1 with the statement quoted above; the remainder of the example is not printed in the source rulebook.
10.0 Design Notes & Historical Background
10.1 Design Notes
When it first occurred to me to make 1947, the 18xx railway games had not yet known the proliferation of 2021. Basically the titles then were little more than the 3 classics: 1830, 1856 and 1870. The latter was my favorite and so 1870 became the game that inspired 1947.
I immediately liked its balance and its simple but meaty game puzzles so, on that basis, I began to design what would be my first game.
It is rather difficult to find those 1870 origins in the final version of 1947, but I can give you a couple of indications: the first is the trains. Their power, their number and their obsolescence are almost equal to those of the game from which I took inspiration. The other clue is the number of hexes; only a dozen more than those present in 1870 even if they seem to be much more numerous. My damned mania to draw a map with the exact proportions and shapes of the territory chosen for the game did however give the publisher serious problems.
In the end, however, those guys always manage to overcome any obstacle so, despite their complaints, I stubbornly insisted that this was the map with the exact features of India and so it should stayed.
It worked out for me.
Why India and not another nation? Well, that particular geography immediately attracted me.
First of all, it's the presence of the monsoons, which characterizes that nation and which is an important and integral part of the game; along with the mixture of cultures and religions that comprises it, all of which find fulfillment in the objectives of the Companies, which are represented here by the temples of the various religions present in that vast and varied territory. When a Company reaches its associated temple it is given money by the faithful, while earning bonuses from newly reached Expatriation Sites which also gives benefits to the Company and to individual players.
For the rest, my imagination took me to vast and distant territories so the final product is certainly not a clone of 1870.
[The designer's acknowledgements paragraph ("In addition to my imagination, a special thanks also goes to my friends...") is omitted as credits.]
10.2 Historical Background
On 31st December 1600 Queen Elizabeth I of England granted the British East India Company a charter giving it a commercial monopoly on trade in the Indian Ocean for 21 years. The first step towards the transformation of the Company's holdings into a formal colony was the approval, in 1784, of the India Act, which granted the Company's governors-general the power to act on behalf of the London government. At the same time, France and Portugal had also had colonial dominions on the Indian sub-continent for some centuries.
The Portuguese came to Goa as merchants in the early 16th century and conquered it within a few years. Goa remained part of the Portuguese Empire for around 450 years, one of the oldest and most enduring colonial domains in history, until it was occupied by India in 1961.
The Portuguese landed in Pondicherry (or Puducherry, in the French style) in 1520, followed by the Dutch and the Danes. In 1674 it became a French colony. In 1750 the French colony in India consisted of about fifty villages. To put an end to the French expansion into India, the British attempted several times to conquer Pondicherry with a series of sieges. The city was captured three times and returned as many times. After 1816, following the last treaty with the British, France continued to maintain control of Pondicherry for another 138 years, until it abandoned it in 1954 and ceded the city to India. The time of the colonies eventually drew to a close.
In 1885, in British-ruled India, Allan Octavian Hume founded the Indian National Congress with the aim of encouraging active Indian participation in the government of the country. Indian nationalism drew on the examples of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to seek Dominion status within the British Empire.
In 1918 following the enactment of the Rowlatt Act, prescribing exceptional measures for anyone accused of terrorism, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as the Mahatma (the great soul) led the protest movement against these unjust laws and a year later he began his campaigns of mass civil disobedience.
The year 1921 saw the promulgation of a new Indian Constitution which effectively left the British still in direct control over defense, foreign policy, the judiciary and financial systems and reaffirmed that the Delhi government was accountable to the British parliament, thereby making the distance between the British Government and the Indian National Movement unbridgeable. Gandhi then propagated and implemented forms of nationalist struggle based on non-violence, civil disobedience, and non-collaboration with the colonizers. He succeeded in involving large masses of the population and Indians saw in him a prophet to follow. The demonstrations of the nationalist movement forced the British to promise independence to India.
On the 14th and 15th of August 1947 the British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, announced the partition of the Indian sub-continent into the two newly independent nations of India and Pakistan.
This game aims to retrace the railway epic in India starting from the first railway lines in 1836 until the last year of the British Raj in 1947.
The first railway line, the Red Hill Rail Road (RHRR) was built in Madras in 1836. Like many early railways it was built to transport resources, in this case granite for road construction work in Madras. While we do not have precise information on the track gauge, it most likely used the standard gauge of 1435 mm. The line was always intended to be animal-powered and two locomotives were used on an experimental basis. Even more interesting is to think that the first locomotives operated were designed and built in India, which means that the Indian locomotive construction industry represents the earliest origins of the railways, not only in India but in the world.
In 1947, the year of India's independence, the railway network was run by 42 separate operators.
In 1951 the entire network was nationalized under a single government operator which was later divided into 16 local departments.
Appendix 1: Rules Summary for 18XX Experts
1. Assignment of Private Companies
-
Initial Player Order is determined by a random assignment of numbered priority cards.
-
Private Companies are auctioned one at a time in increasing numerical order, starting with the player with priority 1 and proceeding clockwise in minimum bids of Rs.10. Players who "pass" are no longer be able to bid for the particular Private Company at auction. After each auction, the Private Company's "Hammer Price" is noted on the "Private Hammer Price" sheet.
-
Once the first auction is over, the second auction proceeds and Player 2 will begin the bidding, following the previous procedure.
-
If all the players "pass" on bidding on a Private Company, then a second round of the table is made, if everyone passes again the Private Company is removed from the game.
Note: If P9 is removed, place the associated BNR President's Certificate on top of the stack of Company shares in the IO.
-
At the end of the Auction (3.5): The Player No. 1 card is assigned to the most invested player; then the second most invested player among the remaining players receives the Play Order No.2 card, and so on until each player has a Play Order card.
- Player investments are determined as follows:
- Presidency Share 30% (BNR) → 3
- Private Company → 1
- In the event of a further tie, the player with the most money
- In the case of an absolute tie, whoever owns the Private Company with the smaller number (P1, P2, etc.).
- Player investments are determined as follows:
2. Stock Round (SR)
-
The Railway Companies do not operate until 60% of their shares have been bought from the IO. A Company's starting Treasury cash is 10x the Par Price. (ie: 1947 is a "full-cap" game).
-
The Bengal Nagpur Railway Company (BNR) opens with the purchase of the 30% President's Certificate only. Its initial Treasury cash is equal to the value of the shares purchased, and the cash paid for subsequent certificate purchases from the IO is paid into the Company Treasury. (ie: the BNR is "incremental-cap").
-
Certificates can be bought/sold or sold/bought. Players cannot sell/ buy/ sell.
-
In an SR turn a player can buy only one Ordinary or Savings Share or Convertible Bond at a time, but may also sell multiple certificates at one time.
-
There can never be more than 50% of the shares of a Company in the Bank Pool, there is no limit for Convertible Bonds.
-
A player can temporarily own more than 60% of a Company during the Share Round, with the obligation to meet the 60% limit by the end of the same Share Round (the player therefore must sell-down shares to the limit or below in order to pass). Exception: If the player has Price Protected any of their Company's Share certificates by using Convertible Bonds, they can own more than 60%.
-
A player must own at least twice as many Ordinary Shares as they own Savings Shares. When purchasing a certificate a player must decide whether they want an Ordinary or a Savings Share. They cannot own Ordinary and Savings Shares of the same Company.
-
A Savings Share pays half the dividend of an Ordinary Share; its owner can never become President of a Company. They count as 1 certificate if they are single or from different Companies, while they count as 1 certificate for each pair owned of the same Company.
-
Shares can be converted from Ordinary to Savings by spending an entire SR turn to do so. NOTE: to convert shares from Savings to Ordinary needs the consent of the Company President.
3. Operating Round (OR)
Sequence
- At the beginning of the game there is one OR after each SR; later there will be two ORs after each SR and then three ORs after each SR (after the purchase of the first 3T and the first 5T respectively).
Private Companies
- Private Companies only pay revenue (of Rs.10) when owned by a player. Railway Companies do not receive any revenue from owned Private Companies. They can be purchased from the first OR, for a maximum value that depends on the game phase.
Seasons
- The game begins in the Dry Season. After each OR, the season marker advances to the next season. The seasons affect track laying and city revenues.
- In the Dry Season the revenue of a Company that lays or upgrades track tiles in the Dry Zone is reduced by 20%. In the Monsoon Season the revenue of a Company that lays or upgrades track tiles in the Monsoon Zone is reduced by 20% and the revenue of all Cities in the Monsoon Zone is reduced by Rs.10 (not the Towns). In the Fertile Season the revenue of cities in the Monsoon zone is increased by Rs.10 (not Towns).
Temples
- These are indicated on the map with a different color for each Company. A Company's revenue is always reduced by 20% until it reaches its associated temple. Companies that begin operating after the 8T is purchased don't have an associated temple or revenue reduction and do not receive any bonus for connecting to the temple hex.
- Upon reaching its temple, a Company receives Rs.100 and the choice of an Expatriation Site which confers an Expatriation Track bonus – however the president will not receive any workers if that ES has not yet been reached by any Company and does not get a stockmarket token advancement.
Expatriation Sites (ES)
- The 11 ESs represent India's links with other nations. A Company must have a legal route and run a train to reach an ES in its OR turn; an ES counts as 1 stop with a value of Rs.0. An ES can only be reached once by each Company. Once an ES is reached the Company President places the ES's marker on the Expatration Track on the Company charter and the Company earns the related bonus. Bonuses can be: money, workers, stockbrokers, stock market opportunities, and advances on the stock market.
- Each ES shows workers, they're an additional bonus for the president of the railway company that reaches the ES first.
- Upon reaching an ES, the Company President may decide to advance the Company's stock market token either one square to the right, or up one row. To go up, the Company pays 100% of the value of the space it wants to advance to; to move to the right the Company pays 150% of the value of the space it wants to advance to. The Company may spend its Treasury money, and/or use stockbrokers and Stock Market Opportunites in any combination. If their value exceeds the required amount the excess is lost. A stock market token advancement can only be done as part of a direct connection Expatriation Bonus (and not a Temple Expatriation Bonus).
Workers
- Workers are bonuses obtained by reaching an Expatriation Site first or by reaching various spaces on the Expatriation Sites Track on a Company Charter.
- Workers are owned by players and not by Companies.
- They can be used (one worker for each action) to:
- Go through a city blocked by stations of other companies (1 worker per blocked city and train);
- Place a second Station in an Operating Round;
- Lay tiles twice in an Operating Round.
- Limitation: if this second tile lay reaches an ES not yet reached by any other Company, then the ES cannot be included in a train route in this current OR, but in any case the laying of the binaries is valid. If, on the other hand, the ES has already been reached by another Company, then it can be included in a train route as per normal rules;
- Workers can be converted into Stock Brokers (3 Workers into 1 Stock Broker). The opposite cannot be done.
Stock Brokers
- A stock broker is worth Rs.50.
- They provide cash to the Company President to pay to advance the Company's stock market token up one row or along one space to the right. This advancement can only be done as part of an Expatriation Bonus of a direct connection Expatriation Bonus (and not a Temple Expatriation Bonus).
- They can be employed immediately or kept on the Company charter and employed in a subsequent Expatriation Bonus.
- A Company also receives a Stockbroker when it places its last station (or the 4th for the South Indian Railway Company).
- Stockbrokers remain with the Company, not with the President, they are placed on the Company charter.
Stock Market Opportunities
- Stock Market Opportunities are bonuses used to advance a Company's stock market token up one row or along one space to the right.
- Stock Market Opportunities must be spent immediately. The stock market opportunities have different values. Stockbrokers and Company Treasury money can be added to the stock market opportunities.
- If a President does not consider it convenient or does not have the financial availability to take advantage of a stock market opportunity, then they can alternatively take 2 stockbrokers (as indicated on the Company charter) as they can be kept for a later Expatriation Bonus.
Trading Posts
- These are used only by the P7 Private Company. They are worth +Rs.10 for each Trading Post in a train run (the Trading Post does not count as a stop) up to and including the 4T train, then +Rs.20 from the 5T. Trading Posts must be at the terminus of the run. The Company must be able to run a route through the adjacent city.
Track Tiles
- We distinguish the non-city and non-town tiles from the city and town ones. For those track tiles, the yellow track tiles are available at the beginning, and they can immediately be upgraded with green, and the green with brown. At the beginning only the yellow city and town tiles are available with green tiles available from the purchase of the first 3T, brown from the purchase of the first 5T and gray from the purchase of the first 10T.
- A Company may place two yellow track tiles in an OR turn (four if using a worker), or make an upgrade (yellow/green, green/brown, brown/gray) and lay only one yellow track tile.
- The map is also divided into two distinct areas: the Monsoon Zone and the Dry Zone. There are dedicated city track tiles for the Monsoon Zone and the Dry Zone – do not mix them up! If the city track tiles for a Zone are exhausted, the city track tiles still available for the other zone CANNOT be used.
- An upgrade must be an enhancement of an existing line and the Company that lays it must be able to trace a legal route on the new section of track.
- By using one (and only one) worker in an OR turn a Company can place two more tiles: either two yellow track tiles or a yellow tile and an upgrade.
- Towns, after the sale of the first 5T, can be upgraded with the green city track tiles. The Company has a choice of laying a town yellow tile or a plain yellow tile without the town.
Stations
- Only one station may be placed in an OR turn (in addition to a home city station).
- By employing a worker a Company can place two Stations in an OR turn or it can employ them to run a train through one or more cities blocked by other Companies' Stations, 1 worker is employed for each blocked city.
Routes
- A route may include Cities, Towns, Trading Posts, Expatriation Sites, and the Exchange hex.
- The route must pass through a station of its own Company.
- A route cannot pass beyond a city occupied by Stations of other Companies (unless a worker is used).
- A train run cannot cover the same track twice or use the same city twice.
- Trains of the same Company cannot run on the same track but can meet or cross in the same city.
- Cities, Towns, and Expatriation Sites count as one stop.
- Trading Posts, and the Exchange hex do not count as a stop.
- If a train run connects an Expatriation Site that has not yet been reached by that Company and the player decides to take the Expatriation Bonus, the Company receives the bonuses in the Expatriation Track box; if it is the first Company to arrive at the ES it also receives the worker(s) shown on the map.
Train Runs
- The total revenue from running trains is the sum of the revenue values of all the stops, (Cities, Towns, Expatriation Sites, and possibly trading posts) on the train run(s). The revenue values for Monsoon Zone cities will vary depending on the season.
- Each newly placed yellow town or city tile adds Rs.10 revenue even if a train doesn't run to it.
- If a Company lays non-city/town track in the Dry Zone in the Dry Season or in the Monsoon Zone in the Monsoon Season its revenue is reduced by 20%. If the Company has not yet reached its associated temple, its income would be reduced by further 20%. The revenue reduction is rounded off to the nearest ten. In the case of an equidistant value such as 75, it is rounded up.
- The Company President decides whether to withhold the revenue in the Company Treasury or pay it out as a dividend to shareholders.
- If the revenue is withheld, the Company's stock market token moves one space to the left.
- If a dividend is paid, the Company's stock market token moves one space to the right. To cross over the red line (and after the Company is to the right of the red line), the revenue must be equal to or greater than the share value in the space to which the Stock Market token will move, otherwise it cannot move.
- Shares in the BP pay their dividend to the Company.
- Savings Shares pay a dividend equal to half of an Ordinary Share. If a dividend is paid out, part of the revenue equal to the total revenue of the Savings Shares will be lost, while even if the Company withholds a dividend must still be paid out to the Savings Shareholders.
- After the purchase of the first 8T train, if a Company owns 2 trains, then when calculating revenue, calculate the run and revenue of the highest value train only (including any reductions or increases). Then add to this revenue the percentage indicated on the highest value Train Card for the 2nd train.
Private Company Purchase
- A Railway Company can buy the Private Companies owned by the players at anytime in its OR turn.
- The purchase can be made immediately at its Hammer Price; after the purchase of the first 3T up to a maximum value of 150% of the Hammer Price; from the first 4T up to a maximum of 200% of the Hammer Price, from the first 5T onwards up to a maximum value of 250% of the Hammer Price.
- Some Private Companies are permanent; while others close after their special power has been used.
End of the Game
- The game ends at the end of the OR sequence in which a Company has reached its maximum value on the Stock Market, or a player goes bankrupt.
Trains
- Each floated Company with a legal route must own a train.
- The Train Limit is: 4 at the beginning, 3 after the purchase of the first 4T, 2 after the purchase of the first 6T.
- Train Rusting: the first 4T rusts all the 2Ts: the first 6T rusts all the 3Ts, the first 8T rusts all the 4Ts, the first 12T rusts all the 5Ts.
- Trains are bought from the Bank in ascending order of class, according to availability, or alternatively from the BP if there are any.
- Trains can also be bought from another Company, for an agreed price between the Companies' Presidents.
- If a Company has to buy a train and does not have enough money, its President first pays all their personal cash to the Company Treasury and then sells Shares/Convertible Bonds until they've raised enough money to buy the cheapest train. If the President fails to buy the cheapest train, the player goes bankrupt and the game is over. NOTE: Convertible Bonds purchased from the IO cannot be sold until the start of the Share Round following their purchase.
Appendix 2: Glossary
Bank Pool (BP): the space that holds Shares and Convertible Bonds sold by the players. Any excess trains are also placed there.
Bank size: the amount of money in the game before the Bank runs out. In this game it is unlimited.
Certificate: All Ordinary Shares, Savings Shares, Convertible Bonds, and Private Companies are certificates.
City: represented on the map by a white circle, or more white circles if upgraded. Each white circle can host a Railway Company station. One city, Cooch Behar, is represented by a white circle with a cross in it since a station cannot be placed there.
Company: a fully operational railway company capitalized by shares.
Convertible Bonds: these represent a loan that the Railway Company asks from the market, that is, from the players. Convertible Bonds do not pay a dividend, but their value does follow that of the Company's Shares on the stock market. Their value is 50% of a Share.
Expatriation Site (ES): the 11 ESs represent the economic links and the need for migratory flows from India. A single ES can only be reached by a Railway Company once in the game. Reaching an ES earns a Company an Expatriation Bonus, this may be: money, workers, stockbrokers or Stock Market Opportunities.
Expatriation Track: a track on each Railway Company charter, used to record the number of Expatriation Sites a company has reached and the bonuses received.
Float: starting a railway company by purchasing the President's Certificate and setting the Company's PAR value on the Stock Market Table.
Initial Offer (IO): the space that holds unsold Shares and Convertible Bonds.
Market value: is the price marked in each space of the stock market table. It represents the value of a 10% share at that time.
Operating Round (OR): the Round in which the Railway Companies operate. There may be a different number of Operating Rounds after each Stock Round depending on the Game Phase.
PAR: the initial value of each of a Company's 10% Shares. Each Company has a Par Price token on the gameboard.
Personal Cash: the money owned by a player. This can always be checked by the other players.
Play Order Card: The numbers on the cards indicate the order players take their turns in a Stock Round.
President: the player who controls the Railway Company and is the player with the highest percentage of shares; in case of a tie it is the player owning the President's Certificate.
President's Certificate: represents 20% of the shares of the Railway Company (30% in the case of Bengal Nagpur Railway). It indicates who holds the most shares in the Railway Company and is its President. The President's Certificate does not have the Savings version on the back, unlike the 10% Shares.
Private Company: while the classic 18xx term has been maintained, in 1947 they are better understood as economic and technological advantages for the railway companies or for the player. At the start of the game, a Private Company is owned by a player; during the game it can be purchased from a railway company or purchased directly from a player for a freely agreed price between Rs.1 and the limit specified by the current game phase.
Private Company Hammer Price: the price at which Private Companies have been purchased by individual players (these are noted on the "Private Companies Hammer Price" sheet).
Revenue: the total earned by all the train runs of a railway company; it can be paid as a dividend to the shareholders or withheld in the Company Treasury.
Season: In order, the seasons are: Dry Season, Monsoon Season, Intermediate Season, Fertile Season. The season in effect changes at the beginning of each OR according to sequence above.
Share Certificates: represent the shares of a Company. Each is worth 10% of the Company's Shares, with the exception of the President's Certificate which is worth 20% (or 30% for the Bengal Nagpur Railway Company). The Share Certificates of the Companies can be of two types:
- Ordinary Shares;
- Savings Shares.
Shareholder: The player or the Bank who owns one or more Company Share Certificates.
Share Value: the price of a Share Certificate corresponding to 10% of the shares of a Railway Company.
Station: a token on a city representing a railway station of a Railway Company.
Stockbrokers: assist the Company President to advance the Company's stock market token (reducing the advancement bonus) in conjunction with the achievement of an expatriation bonus.
Stock Market Opportunities: assist the Company President to advance the Company's stock market token (reducing the advancement bonus) as part of an Expatriation Bonus. Stock Market Opportunities must be spent immediately or else they are forfeited.
Stock Market Token = Share Value Token: a Railway Company token on the Stock Market Table showing the Market Value of the Company. Stops: Towns, Cities, and Expatriation Sites; they always count when determining a train's route.
Stock Round (SR): the Round in which players buy and sell Share Certificates, and issue and buy Convertible Bonds.
Temple: depicted on the map by the image of a temple with a colored border matching the color of one of the railway companies. If a Company has not reached its associated temple its revenue is reduced by 20%.
Track tile: a hexagonal tile with one or more lines of tracks on it. Tiles may also show Cities or Towns.
Treasury: money belonging to the Railway Company.
Trading Posts: shown on the map with a house symbol.
Town: represented on the map by a black dot.
Workers: give a Company bonuses when laying track or running trains in an OR.
Appendix 3: Game Tables
Player Starting Cash
| Number of players | Cash |
|---|---|
| 3 | 800 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 4 | 600 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 5 | 480 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
| 6 | 400 Indian rupees (Rs.) |
Purchase of Private Companies
| Most recent train purchased | Maximum Sale Price |
|---|---|
| 2T | Hammer Price |
| 3T | 150% of Hammer Price |
| 4T | 200% of Hammer Price |
| 5T and up | 250% of Hammer Price |
Game Phases Summary
| Phase | T# trigger | # OR | Starting PARs | City tiles available | Train rusted | Train limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2T | 1 | 66, 72, 80, 90, 100 | yellow | – | 4 |
| 3 | 3T | 2 | 80, 90, 100, 110 | yellow, green | – | 4 |
| 4 | 4T | 2 | 80, 90, 100, 110 | yellow, green | 2T | 3 |
| 5 | 5T | 3 |
(Table transcribed from the printed Game Phases Summary; the printed table shows the City tile colours as coloured bands, rendered here as colour names.)
Player Investment
- 30% President's Certificate → 3
- 20% President's Certificate → 2
- 10% Share (both Ordinary and Savings) → 1
- Private Company → 1
Certificate Limit
| Number of players | Max certificates per player |
|---|---|
| 3 | 26 |
| 4 | 20 |
| 5 | 16 |
| 6 | 13 |
- President's Certificate → 1
- Ordinary Share → 1
- A single Savings Share → 1 (eg: Savings Shares of 2 different Companies are worth 2, and so on)
- 2 Savings Shares of the same Company → 1
- Private Company → 1
- Convertible Bond → 0
Train Manifest
| Train | Rusted by | Cost | Number in game | Revenue increase for 2nd train (as printed on card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4 | Rs 80 | x7 | – |
| 3 | 6 | Rs 180 | x6 | – |
| 4 | 8 | Rs 300 | x5 | – |
| 5 | 12 | Rs 450 | x4 | With train 5: +90% |
| 6 | Permanent | Rs 630 | x4 | With train 5: +70%; with train 6: +90% |
(The "Rusted by" value for the 5 card and the "With train" rows are transcribed as printed on the train cards in the Train Manifest.)
Revenue Reduction Table
The table gives, for each Value, the amount deducted for a 20% reduction and for a 40% reduction (rounding as described in para 6.8.1).
| Value | 20% Reduction | 40% Reduction | Value | 20% Reduction | 40% Reduction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10 | 10 | 270 | 220 | 160 | |
| 20 | 20 | 10 | 280 | 220 | 170 | |
| 30 | 20 | 20 | 290 | 230 | 170 | |
| 40 | 30 | 20 |
Appendix 4: Tile Manifest & Upgrade Chart
The printed chart shows each tile, its number of copies (#) and the tiles it can be upgraded to. Tile numbers with an "M" suffix are the Monsoon Zone city variants.
Yellow tiles
| Tile | # | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 4 | 14, 15, 619 |
| 6 | 7 | 14, 15, 619 |
| 57 | 7 | 14, 15, 619 |
| 4713 | 5 | 619, 619M |
| 4715 | 6 | 15, 15M |
| 5M | 3 | 14M, 15M, 619M |
| 6M | 5 | 14M, 15M, 619M |
| 57M | 7 | 14M, 15M, 619M |
| 4714 | 5 |
Green tiles
| Tile | # | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 2 | 43, 70, 4711, 4712 |
| 19 | 2 | 45, 46, 4709, 4710, 4711, 4712 |
| 20 | 2 | 44, 47, 4709, 4710 |
| 23 | 10 | 41, 43, 45, 47, 4709, 4711 |
| 24 | 10 | 42, 43, 46, 47, 4710, 4712 |
| 25 | 5 | 40, 45, 46 |
| 26 | 4 | 42, 44, 45 |
| 27 | 4 | 41, 44, 46 |
| 28 |
Brown tiles
| Tile | # | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | 2 | None |
| 40 | 4 | None |
| 41 | 4 | None |
| 42 | 4 | None |
| 43 | 2 | None |
| 44 | 2 | None |
| 45 | 2 | None |
| 46 | 2 | None |
| 47 | 4 |
Grey tiles
| Tile | # | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|
| 4707 | 1 | None |
| 4708 | 1 | None |
| 259 | 4 | None |
| 259M | 2 | None |
Special City Upgrades
- Surat (D19): 5M, 6M or 57M → 4704.
- Rajkot (B17): 5, 6 or 57 → 4703.
- Calcutta (P17): 4702 → 4706 → 4708.
- Bombay (D21): 5M, 6M or 57M → 4701 → 4705 → 4707.
Special Town Upgrades (6.4.6)
- Town hex, yellow Town tiles (the chart's upper option): 4713, 4714 or 4715.
- Town hex, ordinary non-town tiles (the chart's lower option, "after first 5T purchased"): 7, 8 or 9.
Special Tiles Upgrades
| Tile | Is an upgrade of |
|---|---|
| 4709 | 19, 20, 23 |
| 4710 | 19, 20, 24 |
| 4711 | 16, 19, 23 |
| 4712 | 16, 19, 24 |