Freight Cars
Freight Cars Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 50 Freight cards
- 21 Corporation cards
- 21 City Demand cards
- 1 End of Game card
- 1 active player standee
- 64 Freight pieces
- 4 score tokens
- 1 score board
Object of the Game
In Freight Cars your goal is to earn the most credits by efficiently shipping trainloads of goods, satisfying the demands of America's cities, and taking advantage of your Corporation's speciality.
Credits are earned by:
- Shipping trains of loaded freight cars
- Claiming City Demand bonuses
- Satisfying conditions of your Corporation card
Game Setup
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Distribute Freight pieces. Each player takes a set of 16 Freight pieces in their chosen color.
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Place player score tokens and scoreboard. Place the scoreboard with the player score tokens in the center of the play area.
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Deal Corporation cards. Shuffle the 21 Corporation cards and deal three face-down to each player. Players will choose one of the cards to keep. Return all remaining Corporation cards to the box. Each Corporation card features a different bonus to be scored at the end of the game.
NOTE: During the game, players may look at their Corporation card freely, but should keep it secret until the game's end.
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Assemble Freight card deck. Shuffle the required number of Freight cards (see the table below) and split the deck into four approximately equal stacks.
2 Players 3 Players 4 Players 30 cards 40 cards 50 cards -
Add End of Game card. Choose a stack to shuffle the "End of Game card" into, and then place the other three stacks on top to create the draw deck.
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Players pick Freight cards. Deal three Freight cards face-down to each player. Then place the draw deck near the score board. Players select two cards to keep and one to discard. Discarded Freight cards are placed face-up next to the draw deck, creating a tableau from which cards will be drawn during the game (see Example Player Tableau below).
Example Player Tableau: the printed rulebook shows a picture of one player's Corporation card, Freight card, City Demand cards, and loaded Freight cards. The picture is not transcribed.
A Player Turn
On a turn, a player may perform one of the following three actions:
- Draw a Freight card into your hand
- Play a Freight card from your hand to load freight
- Ship your train of loaded cars
At the end of your turn, pass the active player standee to the player on your left.
Draw a Freight Card
Choose either a face-up Freight card or draw from the top of the Freight card deck, and add the card to your hand. Immediately replace any face-up cards taken with one from the draw deck.
Load a Freight Car
Play a freight car from your hand face-up, adding it to your train to the right of your Corporation card. Using your supply of Freight pieces, immediately load the car by filling all of its available spaces.
Freight may be freely rotated and flipped over, but all pieces must lie flat on the card and may not overlap. If you find you cannot legally place any of your Freight pieces on any of your cards, you must forfeit your turn.
Ship a Train
You may ship any number of fully-loaded Freight cards you have. First, check the resources in your train (the icon located in the upper-right corner on each Freight card) with those available on the City Demand cards.
If the resources shipped on your train match the resources listed on a City Demand card, you may claim that card.
NOTE: You may only apply each Freight car's resource to a single City Demand card, but you can score as many City Demand cards as you have resources to fulfill.
Additionally, your shipped train is scored based on its length according to the scoring table below. Score the credit value for your train's length and any City Demand cards you claimed.
| Cars shipped | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credits | $1 | $3 | $6 | $10 | $15 |
Next, return all of your loaded Freight pieces to your available pool. Tuck the shipped Freight card(s) and City Demand card(s) in a stack under your Corporation card for end-game scoring. Finally, replace any claimed City Demand cards from the corresponding deck.
Example: Taylor ships four Freight cards on their turn. Shipping four cars gets them 10 credits, and because they shipped a resource icon and a second resource icon, they get to take the revealed New Orleans City Demand card and score an additional 3 credits.
End of Game
When End of Game Card is Drawn
Each player will take one final turn, ending with the player who revealed the End of Game card. Do not draw any new City Demand cards.
Next, there is one final round of shipping any fully-loaded Freight cars.
Scoring and Determining a Winner
Once the final round is over, players should reveal their Corporation cards and score their bonuses accordingly.
The player with the highest number of credits is the winner.
If there is a tie, the player who shipped the most Freight cars wins. If there is still a tie, then the player who scored the highest Corporation bonus wins.
FAQ
Why is there an active player standee?
- During playtesting, we found that the standee helped us to keep track of whose turn it was, as we would frequently have our heads down while working on the "Tetris™ puzzles" of our Freight cars.
Can I work on filling in a Freight car while I wait for my turn?
- Yes, but make sure to keep your loaded Freight cars separate from the ones you are currently working on. We would do this during playtesting, in fact! On our respective turns, we would push a completed car upward to indicate that we were loading it.
If I have loaded a Freight car, may I scrap it and use the pieces on a more valuable Freight car?
- No. Once you have loaded a Freight car, it can only be emptied when you ship your train. Make sure to keep an eye on your available Freight pieces when taking Freight cards, so that you are maximizing your victory points.