Circus Train (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Object
• Component Images
• Basic Game Set Up
• Round Summary
• Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)
• Moving Your Circus Train
• Perform/Hire
• Special Hire
• Paying Wages
• Roustabout Phase
• Replenishing Counters
• Counter and Card Limits
• Month/Seasonal Events
• End of Month Scoring
• Final Scoring
• How to Win
• Advanced Game
• Solitaire Game
• Optional Rules
• Event Cards
• Easier Game Variant
• Credits
• Designer's Notes
• Quick Reference Summary

Components

• 1 22" x 17" Game Board depicting the northeastern portion of the United States and parts of Canada, connected by railroads
• 45 Action cards in 5 different player colors (9 cards per player)
• 24 Destination cards
• 26 Event cards (for optional rules)
• 5 Player Reference cards
• 87 Local News counters in 3 different colored circus shaped tents
• 66 Talent counters depicting the 7 types of talent in the show
• 60 Treasury counters for tracking the players' wealth
• 5 Victory Point markers in 5 different player colors
• 5 Best Performance Rating markers in 5 different player colors
• 5 Two Week Performance markers in 5 different player colors
• 5 Reputation Value markers (for the advanced rules)
• 5 Circus Train standees to denote the current location of each player's circus
• 1 First Player marker
• 1 Calendar marker
• 11 Event Card Support markers (for optional rules)
• 1 Die for hiring (boxed version only)

If any pieces are missing or damaged, please email us at [email protected]

Game Object

The object of Circus Train is to score the most Victory Points before the circus season ends. These are largely awarded for putting on performances in cities that demand to see certain types of shows, but also for past performances, dominating a particular talent type or visiting cities at key times.

The game covers a six month circus season, with each month having four or five weeks (Rounds), followed by a scoring round at the end of each month and special scoring at the game's end.

Circus Train includes a Basic Game and an Advanced Game. We recommend playing at least one or two Basic Games before trying the Advanced Game. Additionally, at the end of this booklet are some Optional Rules, which combine with either version of the game to create a more random, but immersive, game experience.

Component Images

The rulebook illustrates each physical component so players can identify it at the table: the Game Board; Local News counters (shown in the bottom row, from left to right: Bankrupt Circus, Performance, and Points); Talent counters; the First Player marker; Circus Train standees; Treasury counters; Event Cards; Event Card Support Markers; Reputation Value Markers; Destination Cards; Two Week Performance Markers; the Calendar Marker; Best Performance Rating Markers; Player Reference Cards; Action Cards; and Victory Point Markers.

Basic Game Set Up

1. Place the Game Board in the center of the gaming table.
2. Each player chooses a color and takes the appropriate Circus Train standee, placing it in front of them.
3. Each player begins the game with one Clown Talent counter. A player's Talent counters are placed in front of them ("in their Circus Train") for all to see.
4. Each player then takes their color's set of 9 Action cards, removing the "REST" card (as it is not used in the Basic Game) for a starting Action deck of 8 cards. In a one or two player game, remove the "OVERNIGHT HIRE" card as well.
5. Each player's Victory Point marker is set to 0 on the main scoring track around the Game Board; the Best Performance Rating markers are set to 10 on the scoring track.
6. The Two Week Performance markers remain in the players' areas in front of them. The Reputation Value markers are not used in the Basic Game.
7. Each player takes a Player Reference card, with the Basic Game side showing.
8. Place the Calendar marker on the space for the first week of April at the bottom of the Game Board.
9. Separate the Local News counters (shaped like circus tents) by color. Remove the 6 Special Character counters, used only with the Optional Rules, from the other counters. Place the April/May counters (white and green striped tents) into an opaque container (hereafter referred to as the "draw bag"). Set the others aside for now.
10. Separate the Talent counters into a "Talent Bank."
11. Shuffle the Destination cards and place them, facedown, in the appropriate space on the Game Board.
12. The player who last saw an elephant goes first, taking the First Player marker.
13. Starting with the First Player and going in order clockwise, players take two Talent counters from the Horse, Freak Show, or Acrobat piles of the Talent Bank. A player may take two of the same or two different types. These are added to that player's Circus Train.

To set up the starting Game Board:

14. Draw a card from the Destination card draw pile. Select a random white and green striped Local News counter from the draw bag. If the Local News counter is a Performance, place it on the City specified by the Destination card; otherwise return it to the draw bag and draw again. Repeat this until you have placed a Performance counter on a number of Cities equal to the number of players in the game (e.g. in a four player game there should be four Performance counters placed, each in a different City). Once the starting Performance counters are placed, continue to draw Destination cards and Local News counters until there are a total of 8 Cities with Local News counters (these additional Local News counters can be of any type).
15. If the Local News counter on a City is a Bankrupt Circus counter, place the Talent counters pictured on it directly into the City box. The Bankrupt Circus counter is then removed from play.
16. After all counters have been placed, put the drawn Destination cards in the Discard space on the Game Board, forming a discard pile.
17. Place the Treasury counters into a "bank" by the side of the Game Board.
18. Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order, each player takes their Circus Train standee and places it in one of the three Canadian cities (Winnipeg, Toronto, or Montreal).

Players may start in the same city and occupy the same cities throughout the game. Historically, many Prohibition-era circus trains began their seasons in Canada where they could stock up on alcohol before beginning their runs through cities in the United States.

Some cards require a minimum number of players to be used in the game; these cards are marked in the lower right-hand corner with a "Train" symbol as follows:

• 3 or more Players
• 2 or more Players

Round Summary

Each round is as follows:

1. Ringmaster Phase:
   • Each Player Plays an Action Card
2. Roustabout Phase:
   • a. Replenish Counters on Game Board
   • b. Advance the Calendar Marker
   • c. Check New Month/Season Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)

Starting with the First Player and going clockwise, each player takes a turn.

Each turn, you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and execute the action on the card. Play then passes to the left. After playing your last Action card from your hand, take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand).

The actions available on the cards are as follows:

Fast Transit – You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections. You may play this card but choose not to move at all.

Rapid Transit – You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections. You may play this card but choose not to move at all.

Overnight Transit – You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and then may Perform/Hire. You may choose whether or not to move first, and then Perform/Hire after the optional move. You cannot move after Performing/Hiring.

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) – You must move your Circus Train standee one city connection or Perform/Hire. You cannot do both on the same turn.

Hold – You may make a Perform/Hire action or do nothing.

Overnight Hire (3 – 5 players only): You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and then may make a "Special Hire" action (see below). You may choose whether or not to move first, and then "Special Hire" after the optional move. You cannot move after Hiring.

Wages & Transit – You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shown on the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train.

Moving Your Circus Train

For most Action cards, movement is optional. The only required move comes with the Basic Transit Action card, and then only if the player elects to "move" rather than "Perform/Hire." In that case, that player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space.

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracks. Movement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move. Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connected city as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so.

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement. More than one Circus Train standee can occupy the same city.

Perform/Hire

You use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent.

Performing: To put on a performance, you must currently be located in a city where there is a Performance Demand counter and use the Perform/Hire action from an Action card. To determine your Performance Rating, begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demand counter (the number with the "+" after it) and add that value to any listed points for which you have the matching Talent counter. These points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match the shapes of the actual Talent counters (people symbols for Acrobats, Human Cannonballs, Big Cats, Clowns, Freaks, Horses, and Elephants). If a shape has an "x" in it and is slightly faded, the people are not demanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points.

Famous Talent: If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter, you are considered to be famous for that type of Talent. If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent, the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent.

After determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus), add the Base Points from all of your past performances, if any, representing your circus' overall fame. For this reason, it is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you after you score them; these counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you.

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker and, if the new performance rates higher, move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result.

Example: Richmond has a Performance Demand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus 5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human Cannonballs. Dana has one Acrobats counter but no Human Cannonballs, so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus, bringing her current total to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats). Had she both types of Talent counters, then she would have received a total of 10 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for Human Cannonballs). Dana has one previous Performance that was worth 2 Base Points, so her final Performance Rating is 9 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previous Performances).

From the example above: If Dana is Famous for Human Cannonballs (3 Human Cannonball counters) and has one Acrobats counter, her final Performance Rating would be 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6 for Famous Human Cannonballs + 2 for previous Performances).

Earning Money: Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white striped Performance Demand counters, $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters, and $20 for red and white striped ones, regardless of the actual month in which they are performed. If your Best Performance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance, take an additional $10 in earnings. Take the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned.

Two Week Shows: In August/September, some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top as "2 weeks." To earn performance points for these counters, you must use a Perform/Hire action as normal. However, instead of scoring the points immediately, attach your Two Week Performance marker to the top of your Train standee and end your turn. On your next turn, you must play another Perform/Hire action to complete the performance. You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if, for example, you do not have another Perform/Hire action).

Hiring: Hiring requires the play of a Perform/Hire action from an Action card at a location where Talent counters have been placed.

When a player uses a Perform/Hire action on a city location where there are Talent counters, the player chooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results:

• 1 through 4: The player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train.
• 5 or 6: The attempt has failed; that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains in the city. Immediately after a failure, the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counter outright. This purchase may only be done after a failed dice roll. If not purchased in this way, the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn. After a failed Hiring attempt the player may continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city.

Special Hire

A player may choose to perform a Special Hire after (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hire card. Depending on where the player's train ends its turn, up to three choices are available for a Special Hire. Only one of the following choices can be selected:

1. If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn, the Special Hire may be used as a normal Hire as above.
2. If there is an opponent's train (one or more), the player may choose to Steal one or two Talent counters from one opponent's Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below).
3. A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank. The amount paid depends on the month: $5 in April & May, $10 in June & July, $20 in August & September.

Special character counters from the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way, but only in the months of August and September, and only if they are not in another player's Circus Train.

Stealing Talent: If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee after playing the Overnight Hire Action card, they may choose up to two Talent counters (and/or Special Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponent's train in that same city. The player selects the counters and then rolls for each of them individually. A roll of 1 through 4 is successful, while a roll of 5 or 6 is not. If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner, and the player who lost the Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand, they must immediately put it into their discard pile.

Paying Wages

Anyone playing a Wages & Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or "release" the Talent counters that they cannot afford. If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages, you must eliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs. You may not voluntarily eliminate Talent counters to save money. You must pay for them if you can. Each released Talent counter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map. If there is more than one city with a set of Talent counters on the map, the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go. They must all be placed together as a group on the same city. If there are no Talent counters on the Game Board, then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank.

Wage Costs (Double for Solitaire Play): Acrobats $3(6), Human Cannonballs $6(12), Big Cats $12(24), Clowns $1(2), Freaks $6(12), Horses $6(12), Elephants $12(24).

Roustabout Phase

After each player has had a turn, the Round/Week ends. Upon completion of a Round/Week, check the Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands, Points or Talent counters; if the total is less than the requirement (8 in April & May, 10 in June & July, 12 in August & September), a new City card and Local News counters are drawn on the Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below, until the required number of cities with Local News, Points, or Talent counters is met.

After this is done, the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week.

After moving the Calendar marker check for New Month/Season Events. If this ends the Month, then follow the End of Month sequence (see below). If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July into August), follow the End of Season sequence (see below) after completing the End of Month sequence. If this ends September (the final month), then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well.

Replenishing Counters

When replenishing the Game Board, draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a City card from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter. If the City card is for a city that already has an existing Performance Demand, Points or Talent counter(s), then the new Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s), which are discarded (or in the case of Talent counter(s), returned to the Talent Bank); the required number of cities with Local News counters must always be met when replenishing, so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result in drawing another Local News counter and City card, potentially multiple times in a row. If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase, that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed.

There are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game. The first is the Performance Demand, the second is the Bankrupt Circus, and the third is simply an attached Points value.

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performance through play of a Perform/Hire action. When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn.

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business. When a Bankrupt Circus counter is drawn, place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Board shown on the City card; players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a Perform/Hire action. After placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game.

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefit a circus. Like Performance Demand counters, these are placed directly onto the Game Board at the corresponding city. Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediately score that many Victory Points, moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board up accordingly. The Points counter is then removed from the game.

Counter and Card Limits

Talent counter limits: Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game. If a player eliminates a Talent counter, it is put back into the Talent Bank. If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has no available counters, only the available counters are placed. If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter is unavailable, the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city.

Local News counter and City card limits: Local News counters are limited. If the Local News counter bag becomes empty, then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of the game. If the City card draw pile becomes empty, the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile. Note that if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters, then all of the old counters are removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above.

Month/Seasonal Events

End of Months:

At the end of each month, two things happen:

1. Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below).
2. The First Player marker moves clockwise, resulting in the player who previously went second now going first in each round.

Additional End of Long Month Action:

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May, July, and August), the player with the fewest Victory Points after End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it to their own circus. If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points, this step is skipped entirely for the month.

End of Seasons:

Each Season is two months in length. The First Season (April-May) is green, the Second Season (June-July) is yellow, and the Third Season (August-September) is red.

At the end of May, the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) are removed from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow and brown striped circus tents). Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed in the corresponding cities, increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total. Likewise, at the end of July, the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the Third Season Local News counters (red and white striped circus tents). As above, two more are immediately drawn and placed, increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total.

Note that, as described above, this means that during April/May there should always be 8 cities with counters on them, 10 during June/July and 12 during August/September. Per the "Roustabout Phase" rules above, the number of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remain constant for each Season; if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning of the Round, immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld.

End of September:

At the end of September, the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below.

End of Month Scoring

Players earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows:

Most Talent: These points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month. If there is a tie for most counters of a Talent type, then no points are awarded for it. Players must have a minimum of two Talent counters of that type to qualify.

Victory Points = # of counters of that Talent type in the player's Circus Train.

Best Performance: Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to the following chart:

• Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs
• Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs
• Third Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties, points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly among the tied players, rounding fractional points down. Example, if two players tie for Highest, they would add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (5.5 VPs) and round down, so each player receives 5 VP's. The next highest player would receive the Third Highest VP (2). All tied players for Third Highest receive 1 VP each.

Note: In a 2-player game, the highest Performance Rating scores 4 VP's, and the other player receives no VP's.

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only): When playing with 3 or more players, instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance, all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters) receive 5 Victory Points. Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above.

Most Talent Scoring Example: Barbara, Frank, and John reach the end of a month and start scoring for most Talent. Barbara has the most Elephants and scores 4 points. She gets no points for her Acrobats because she ties with John in numbers and ties don't score any points. She also doesn't score for Clowns because she doesn't have the most. Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns and scores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats and 3 for his Clowns). His Elephants score no points because Barbara has more than he does. John unfortunately scores no points at all. He has the most Freaks but in order to score points he has to have a minimum of 2 counters of a Talent type to earn points and he only has 1 Freaks counter.

Final Scoring

Perform the following score checks in order:

1. Taxes (2-player game only): Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses 3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent. (This is paid BEFORE scoring for Most Money, see below.) Players using their last Action card(s) during the final week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes.
2. Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two or more players).
3. No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs.
4. No Animals (Horses, Big Cats, or Elephants) loses 5 VPs.
5. Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most).
6. Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a player's play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most).

How to Win

The player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner. If there is a tie, then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner. The next tiebreaker is most money, followed by overall number of performances.

Victory Points will often total less than 50, while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points on the scoring chart.

Advanced Game

Players in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circus' reputation and will have more opportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards.

Reputation: In the Advanced Game, players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of their Player Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 space. A player's Reputation Value impacts Hiring, Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of the game. Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track.

Sequence of Play: There are more options available to players; each turn, a player takes exactly ONE of three types of action:

• Action Cards: Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game).
• Replay Discarded Action Cards: During the first two seasons (April through July), to play a discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on their Reputation Track. A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fall below the bottom space on the Reputation Track. During the months of August/September, players must lose four Victory Points, instead of Reputation Value, to play discarded cards. The played card remains in the discard pile after it is used.
• Pocketing Wages (April through July only; not allowed in Solitaire Game): When collecting money, the player does not play a card, but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 increments. For each $5 taken, players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on the Reputation Track. If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track, this option may not be chosen. Players may not choose this option in August or September. The Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the Talent. Instead, the ringmaster keeps their money (hence the "collection" of money). Naturally, this upsets the Talent and harms the reputation of that circus.

The Rest Card: The Rest card is added to each player's deck of Action cards. When playing the Rest card, the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal. Note that there is a benefit to resting in Canada. A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation Track. Note that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game.

The era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States. Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol, making a visit to Canada very popular.

Wages: In the Advanced Game, when "releasing" Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wages the Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank. Players may also voluntarily eliminate (called "red-lighting") Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into the Talent Bank. In April through July, each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wages action moves a player's Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track. A player at the lowest level remains at the lowest level, even if further counters must be removed. In August and September, each Talent counter removed during a Wages action reduces the player's Victory Point total by three (3) points instead. Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and will remain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further.

Circus Parade: Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their current location to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points. To perform the parade, the player must pay $10 along with the Action card.

Hiring: When Hiring, players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on their Player Reference cards. Roll one die for each unit, as in the Basic Game. However, the target range to claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track. As in the Basic Game, a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails.

Special Hire (Stealing Talent): You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent. If your opponent's reputation is higher than yours, add one to each die roll.

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months: At the end of 5-week months, the player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal to or lower than their own.

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules:

• Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player).
• Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher to be eligible.

The Reputation Track shows what you have to roll in order to Hire or Steal Talent. The space with the dark colored dice is the Reputation start space.

Solitaire Game

When playing solitaire, use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes:

1. Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers. You will be playing for Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success. If playing the Advanced Game, you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker.
2. Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned.
3. Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart).
4. For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points, take $5 per point. For game options that require spending Victory Points, spend $5 per point.
5. You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game.
6. When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game, reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months. You may not choose this option if your Reputation Value would fall below the bottom space.

End of Game Wages: At the end of the game, you must first pay your complete Wages costs one last time. You are not allowed to voluntarily "red-light" any Talent counters at this time. In other words, if you can pay for them, you must.

Solitaire Success Chart: Calculate your success using this chart:

• Less than $100: Defeat: Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for parts from other more successful circus trains. You beg to be hired as a laborer.
• $100 - $140: Minor Defeat: You have failed to create a successful circus and, within the year, you are forced into bankruptcy. Your circus train venture is over, but perhaps you will have success in another field of business.
• $141 - $180: Draw: It's been a struggle, but you've managed to survive the circus season where many others have failed. What does the future hold for you? Nobody can be certain.
• $181 - $220: Victory: You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train. With continued hard work, your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout the towns of America, and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town.
• More than $220: Major Victory: You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go down in history as one of America's great entrepreneurs! Congratulations!

Example: Landing on a space with a 3-point counter would earn $15.

Optional Rules

Players must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules:

The Special Characters

Brakeman Bill, Ringmaster Ronald, Smuggler Sam, and Engineer Eddie are added to the April/May Local News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April and May (only). Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the June/July Local News counters.

When drawn, a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card and another counter is immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are "stacked" together there). Exception: If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character, it is placed back into the draw bag instead and no further draw is made. If a Special Character is alone in a city after a player's turn, it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board. Special Characters appear in the game through Local News draws, but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train, they behave like Talent counters for all considerations, including Event cards.

Obtaining the Special Characters: To claim a Special Character, you must end your Circus Train standee's movement in the City where the Special Character is located. Before doing anything else in that City, you may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special Character. If successful, you take that Special Character. Unlike Talent counters, recruiting a Special Character does not require a Hire action nor can it be "bought." Special Characters do not receive Wages, either.

Losing Special Characters: A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months, through use of a Special Hire action, or from an Event card. These are the only ways a Special Character may change hands.

When Special Characters are removed they are placed in the Special Character Bank for future Hiring in August/September.

• Brakeman Bill: A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action.
• Ringmaster Ronald: A player with Ringmaster Ronald may, when scoring a performance, declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famous, even if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame (provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type).
• Smuggler Sam: Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counter automatically during a Hire action instead of rolling. In the Advanced Game, the owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation by one (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above. After he is used for either of these purposes, he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may be Hired again in August/September with an Overnight Hire card).
• Engineer Eddie: Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from their discard pile for no cost. This applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules. After he is used in this way, he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be hired again in August/September with an Overnight Hire card).
• Big Bertha: Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points.
• Trainer Ted: Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per Elephant counter for the owning player.

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game, shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile; the others are not used during the game. At the end of each month, after transferring the First Player counter, draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions. Note that its effects may remain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect.

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play without it. Do not use Victory Points, End of Month Scoring, or Event cards; simply play for the Best Performance during the game. At the end of the last month, the player who has put on the highest scoring (i.e., Best) Performance wins!

Credits

Game Design: Tom Decker

Game Development: Josh Neiman

Additional Development/Support: Chris Taylor

Art: Vinh Ha

Graphic Design: Barry Pike III

Playtesting: Paul Aceto, Ian & Natalie Barrett, James Campanella, Douglas Catchpole, Hayden Decker, Vince DeNardo, David Ells, Mike Galandiuk, Joshua Gottesman, Nathan Hansen, Joe Heaney, Timothy Hing, Matt King, Roger Mason, Russell Martin, Joe Miranda, Neil Morgan, Stephanie Newland, Carl Paradis, Steve Pozun, Blaise & Taria Sciurba, Joe Saul-Sehy, Ken Stojevich

Proofreading: Simon King, Ian Wakeham

Designer's Notes

Origins:

Circus Train began with Sara Gruen's novel Water for Elephants. Like many of my game designs, there is an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design, and this book is what got me started on Circus Train. It wasn't just trying to re-create the story, which is fantastic, but that the story is set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massive entertainment production that travels from place to place, which I find very interesting. The book deals with the Depression, with Prohibition, with trains in the Golden Age of railroading, and with animal rights issues. Circus Train the game was never intended to be "based on" the book, but it definitely was "inspired by" it. In other words, it launched me in the direction of making the game, and then a lot of other factors and research were molded together to make the finished product.

Other games inspired me, too. Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Train, the single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum, from Wolfgang Kramer and Markus Lübke. Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events. The mechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in an entirely different setting. Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizing and putting on spectacular events.

Many people relate circuses to families and children, and so there has been a small misconception that Circus Train is a children's game. But to those familiar with Water for Elephants, it is not a children's story. Circus Train was never intended to be a children's game, either, but a strategy game focused on the hiring and firing of talent, moving around the country putting on circus shows, and managing money, resources and renown. It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to put on a show where there is demand, hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance, or even stealing talent directly from an opponent's circus.

The Mechanics:

The first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the "performance demand." In Circus Train, locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talent types. Just like with Colosseum's shows, each demand requires a certain group of entertainers, and if you can't meet all of them, you earn fewer points. Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up and deliver game; I can see where that comes from now, but that was actually not the original concept. It was more of a "traveling colosseum" that was the original goal. So the very first parts of the game that I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game, and then creating the values for each type.

The second mechanic that came into play was "how to move the train around." I know I went around and around debating several mechanics for possible use, but ultimately I settled on a hand management technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use them again. This also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals)! This is a mechanic that's been used in a lot of places, but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from Kramer/Kiesling) and Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation.

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my "traveling colosseum" that makes up the largest part of the game. I won't go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail, but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area), measure your reputation, and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below).

Tracking:

I started to blend in elements from the book here. Money was critical. You needed it to pay for your current talent and employees, and you needed it to buy food for your animals. "Perform or starve" was a concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel. So I went a little "Railroad Tycoon" here and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money, I started players out with nothing. "That'll get them performing, even in non-optimal locations," was the thought I had. "Sure you can maneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching your talent, or you can just play in Duluth, where all they really like is clowns, but heck, it's a paycheck." (That's just as an example of how things might play out I hoped.) So players would have to track (1) MONEY.

But how you perform needed to be important, too. You should get an advantage, beyond just money, for putting on a great performance. So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and put on the show of a lifetime, you'll be remembered and you'll build your renown. Tracking a combined number of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting, but it would have probably made numbers go through the roof, so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES. In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popular Wolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence. In that game it was a "Best Work" and then a total score. Here I use a "Best Performance" and then a total score. There have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as well.

And finally, I needed to track (3) SCORES. But what would scores consist of? Certainly Best Performances would play a big role. But the game needed some things beyond just that. Better Performance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent, but going with "famous" talent can help a lot, too. But this led to runaway leader problems, where a person who built up an early lead with talent could coast to victory. So the first "catch up" mechanic was to add points for having the most of a single type of talent. Now, like in Ra from Reiner Knizia, for example, you are scoring for both the length and width of your collection. This actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the game now. And finally, by putting on requirements at the end of the game, you can steal away clowns and animals from leading circuses, giving them negative scores in the end. In other words, there are several different approaches to strategy in the game now, and many ways to catch the leader. But with a lot of variable points coming at the end, it's often difficult to even know who really is in the lead.

This type of scoring also keeps the numbers down, so games are tighter, often decided within 10 points for all players. Every point is very important in the game, so even grabbing those Points counters when playing, which often seems like a waste of a move, can be the difference between first and second place.

There's some Ameritrash in my Euro:

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train, a lot of changes needed to be made to fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time. The game was cut back from four players to two and the solitaire version came into being. We then added an expansion, taking it all the way up to five players. With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting, the rules were modified, some elements became simplified, and some became more complex.

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process, there were always lots of exceptions to rules, lots of special cases, and several elements that are very random. Games with these sorts of mechanics are often labeled as Ameritrash. But the core mechanics were built from games that have an elegance of style, solid math and universal rules. These games are often labeled as Euro games. So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both, for better or worse. While I also searched for ways to simplify the rules and make the game more streamlined, with less math and fewer exceptions, at each turn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme. More often I chose theme over ease of rules, and that's the game you have today.

This Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games. But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes, each iteration bringing something new and improved to the table. I hope you enjoy it!

Quick Reference Summary

The rulebook closes with a fold-out reference card, reproduced here as a summary.

End of the Month Scoring:

1. Most Talent (Each of the 7 types; Minimum 2) — VP = # of Talent counters
2. Best Performance (3-5 Players: 5 VPs in April for all who perform) — 1st: 7 VPs, 2nd: 4 VPs, 3rd: 2 VPs (2 Players: 4 VPs for Highest only)

End of Game Scoring:

1. Most Clowns: 5 VPs (2 VPs if Tied)
2. No Clowns: -3 VPs
3. No Animals: -5 VPs
4. Taxes (2-player game only): An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 VPs and pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent.
5. Most Money: 5 VPs (2 VPs if Tied) (w/ Starting Reputation or higher)
6. Most Performances: 5 VPs (2 VPs if Tied)
7. Highest Reputation: 5 VPs (2 VPs if Tied)

Most VPs is the winner. If there is a tie, then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner. The next tiebreaker is most money, followed by overall number of performances held.

Special Talent Abilities (Advanced game only):

• Big Bertha: +10 to Performances
• Brakeman Bill: +1 Movement
• Engineer Eddie: Play 1 Discard for Free (One time use)
• Ringmaster Ronald: Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous
• Smuggler Sam: Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling, or Increase Reputation by one (+1) level. (One time use)
• Trainer Ted: Elephant's Wages reduced to $1