Across the United States Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents of the Game
• Game Setup
• General Game Rules
• Flow of the Game
• Flow of a Turn
  • 1. Route Laying Phase
  • 2. Purchase Phase
  • 3. Public Offering Phase
  • 4. Replenishment Phase
• Game End and Scoring
  • 1. Final Public Offering
  • 2. Score Calculation
  • 3. Winning the Game

Contents of the Game

• 1 game board
• 90 Railway company cards: 15 cards in 6 different kinds: UP (red), B & O (blue), NP (yellow), PRR (green), NYC (black), SP (purple)
• Route cubes (red, blue, yellow, green, black, purple wooden cubes): 20 pieces in 6 colours for a total of 120 pieces
  • The colours of the route cubes correspond to the colours of the Railway company cards.
• Ticket cards:
  • 24 Passenger ticket cards
  • 24 Freight ticket cards
• 20 City tokens (wooden houses)
• 45 Station tokens
• 54 Money tokens
• Commodity tokens:
  • 15 Grain tokens
  • 15 Iron tokens
  • 15 Cow tokens
  • 15 Fruit tokens
• 30 Transfer tokens
• 30 Gold tokens: 15 1VP tokens, 10 2VP tokens, 5 3VP tokens
• 5 Point track discs in 5 colours (red, blue, yellow, green, black)
• 5 Summary sheets
• 1 Rulebook

Game Setup

1. Place the game board in the centre of the playing area.

2. Shuffle the Station tokens face-down and place one each on each station space on the game board. Then, flip all of them over.

3. Return the following Railway company cards to the box according to the number of players:

   • 2 players: 7 cards from each company.
   • 3 players: 4 cards from each company.
   • 4 players: B & O (blue) x 2, PRR (green) x 2, NP (yellow) x 2, NYC (black) x 2, UP (red) x 1, SP (purple) x 1.
   • 5 players: use all Railway company cards. (The rulebook prints "5 people" here; it is read as "5 players".)

   Shuffle all the Railway company cards into a deck and place it next to the game board, and make room for 6 discard piles (one for each railway company).

4. Shuffle all the Passenger ticket cards face down to form a deck. Similarly, shuffle all the Freight ticket cards face down to form a deck. Place both decks next to the game board.

5. Shuffle all the Gold tokens face-down and pile them near the game board.

6. Put the following items in piles near the game board:

   • Route cubes (separated by colour)
   • Money tokens
   • Grain tokens
   • Iron tokens
   • Cow tokens
   • Fruit tokens
   • Transfer tokens

The setup for the game is now complete.

General Game Rules

The following rules apply throughout the game:

• Although the colours of the railway companies and the colour of the player are the same, there is no relationship between the two.
• Commodity tokens (Grain, Iron, Cow, Fruit), Money tokens, Transfer tokens and Route cubes are considered to be infinite. If you run out, use something else as a substitute.
• All things in possession of the players are public information except for the contents of the Railway company card in their hand, Passenger ticket cards, Freight ticket cards, and face-down Gold tokens. Please display this information in view of all players.
• Each player can check the contents of their own Passenger ticket cards, Freight ticket cards, and Gold tokens at any time.

Flow of the Game

This game will be played in a number of rounds, the length determined by the number of players:

• 2 players: 11 rounds
• 3 players: 10 rounds
• 4 players: 9 rounds
• 5 players: 8 rounds

The last round is signalled when there are no cards left in the deck of Railway company cards.

After the final round of play, proceed to Game End and Scoring.

Starting from the starting player, each player completes one round clockwise. Repeat this for the number of rounds determined by the number of players.

For what you do on a turn, please refer to Flow of a Turn below.

Flow of a Turn

The player on turn will perform the following four phases in order:

1. Route laying phase
2. Purchase phase
3. Public offering phase
4. Replenishment phase

After these 4 phases, the player's turn ends and it is now the turn of the player to the left.

1. Route Laying Phase

Play 1 card from your hand's Railway company card, take a correspondingly coloured route cube, and place it on the route on the game board. Follow the placement rules for the placement of route cubes. After placement, discard the played card into the discard pile of the corresponding railway company.

Placement rule

The following three rules have to be met:

1. One of the following of A or B have to be satisfied:
   • A) The route cube is placed next to the Home Station of that railway company.
   • B) The route cube is placed next to any adjacent route cubes of that colour that link back to the Home Station of that company.
2. There is no route cube of the same company on the space (it is possible to have cubes from other companies on the same space).
3. If another company's route cube is on the target space, pay 1 Money for each other company's route cube on that space.

(Cost diagram: different company, 1 Money required per other company's cube; same company, no Money required.)

After placing the route cube, you can perform station actions as stated on the station tiles at both ends of the route where the route cube is placed. If you do not want to perform a station action at a station, you can get 1 Money from the bank instead.

You may decide which station action to take first.

Type of station and corresponding action

• Home Station (stock purchase station): You can buy one stock card of that corresponding railway company from the discard (you may buy a card that you just played this turn). The purchase price of the card is equal to the number of railway company cards of that company as shares that you currently own. Thus, it is free if you do not own any of the company's railway company shares.

  Example: Mr. T performs a station action at the Home Station of UP. The Railway company card played during this turn was UP. Mr. T has 2 UP cards as shares. Mr. T paid $2 and added the UP card he just played to his hand. The number of UP shares owned by Mr. T is now 3.

• Free stock purchase station: You can buy one stock card of ANY railway company from the discard (you may buy a card that you just played this turn). The purchase price of the card is equal to the number of Railway company cards of that company as shares that you currently own. Thus, it is free if you do not own any of the company's railway company shares.

  Example: Mr. T performs a free stock purchase station action. The Railway company card played this turn was SP. Since Mr. T wants to buy PRR stock, he checks whether there are any PRR cards in the discard. Mr. T has 1 PRR share in front of him. Mr. T pays $1 and adds one PRR train company card to his hand. Mr. T now owns two PRR shares. The SP card that was played is now discarded.

• Money station: Gain 2 dollars from the bank.

• Ticket station: You may do either of the following:

  • a) Draw 1 Passenger ticket card from the deck.
  • b) Draw 1 Freight ticket card from the deck.

  Draw this card face-down into your hand.

• Commodity station: You may do either of the following:

2. Purchase Phase

You may carry out one of the following five actions:

• a) Pay $2 for 1 Transfer token.
• b) Pay $2 for 1 Commodity token of any type.
• c) Pay $3 to place a Route cube of any railway company, following the Route cube placement rules. You cannot take station actions or money from this placement.
• d) Pay $1 to exchange one Commodity for another Commodity. You may perform this exchange once or twice.
• e) Do nothing.

3. Public Offering Phase

Reveal a Railway company card from your hand and place it in front of you. This is held as a "share" until the end of the game.

4. Replenishment Phase

Draw two cards from the deck of Railway company cards and add them to your hand.

* This phase does not occur in the final round of the game as there are no cards remaining, so you should end the game with 2 cards in hand.

Game End and Scoring

The end process of the game is performed in the following order:

1. Final Public Offering
2. Score calculation
3. Winning the Game

1. Final Public Offering

All players simultaneously choose one of the two Railway company cards in their hand and place them face down.

When all players have decided, turn all of them face-up and add them to your share holdings. The unchosen cards will be returned to the box since they will not be used.

2. Score Calculation

Follow i to v in sequence to complete the scoring. Use the victory point disc on the victory point track on the game board to tally the scores.

i. Passenger ticket cards

Flip over all Passenger ticket cards, and check them in sequence to see if they have been achieved.

If the two stations stated on the Passenger ticket card are connected by one railway company's route, you gain the bottom right victory points stated on the card.

If two Passenger ticket cards are connected by two railway company lines, pay one Transfer token and gain the bottom right victory points stated on the card. Thereafter, for each additional railway company that connects the two stations, one additional Transfer token will need to be paid to obtain the stated points.

If the two stations are not connected, you will not gain any victory points, but there will be no penalty.

Example: The Passenger ticket states 13. Cincinnati to 14. Atlanta. The route from 13-7 (Charlotte) and 7-14 are from the same company, so points can be gained without paying Transfer tokens. If two different companies connect 13-7 and 7-14, you will need to pay one Transfer token to gain the points stated. (The printed example says "Transit token"; this is read as the Transfer token defined in the rules above.) The player cannot gain any points as the two cities are not connected.

ii. Freight ticket cards

Flip over all Freight ticket cards, and check them in sequence to see if they have been achieved.

If you have the Commodity tokens stated on a Freight ticket card, pay them and earn the bottom right victory points stated on the card. If you are not able to pay, you will not gain any victory points, but there will be no penalty.

Example: The current Freight ticket states Iron-Grain-Fruit. The points can be gained by paying one Iron, one Grain, and one Fruit token. If you are missing any of the above, you will not be able to gain the points.

iii. Stock calculation

For each railway company, do the following:

Count the number of route cubes on the game board. This is the stock price of that company.

Each player counts the number of stocks they have of that company. Then, arrange the players in order starting from the player with the highest number of stocks.

• The first place gains points equal to the share price.
• The second place gains points equal to the share price divided by 2 (rounded down).
• The third place gains points equal to the share price divided by 4 (rounded down).

If the number of stocks is tied, gain points equal to the highest tied rank. However, you may not gain points if the number of shares you have is zero.

In a 3-player game, only 1st and 2nd place is counted.

In a 2-player game, only the 1st place is counted.

Example 1: A, B, C and D were in a 4 player game. There are 13 PRR cubes on the board. The number of PRR stocks, their ranking, and the points they received are as follows:

Player	Number of shares	Rank	Victory points
A	3	1st	13 points
B	3	1st	13 points
C	2	3rd	3 points
D	1	4th	0 points

Example 2: A, B, C and D were in a 4 player game. The number of B & O route pieces placed on the board is seven. (The printed example names PRR in its table; the stated route count and table are reproduced as printed.) The number of PRR stocks, their ranking, and the points they received are as follows:

Player	Number of shares	Rank	Victory points
A	2	1st	7 points
B	2	1st	7 points
C	2	1st	7 points
D	1	4th	0 points

iv. Gold tokens

Flip all Gold tokens face-up and gain the number of victory points stated.

v. Money and remaining Commodities

Sell all remaining Commodities for $1. Then, gain 1 victory point for every two dollars.

3. Winning the Game

The player who has the most victory points wins the game.

In the case of a tie, the player with the highest total number of completed Passenger and Freight tickets wins. If this is still a tie, all tied players win the game.