New England Railways Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parts
• Setting Up the Game
• Ending/Winning the Game
• Sequence of Play
  • Acquire Bank Loans
  • Service existing Bank Loan debt
  • Retire Bank Loan debt
  • Discover Commodity Growth
  • Complete unfinished Railway Links
  • Publicise Future Railway Links
  • Auction & Build Railway Links
  • Ship Commodities & Record Income
  • Determine & Record Market Changes
  • Receive Income
  • Move the Locomotive
• The Final Turn

Game Parts

• 1 Game Board
• 31 Railway Link cards
• 24 Bank Loans - 6 $10, 6 $20, 6 $40, 6 $80
• 32 Commodity Growth cards
• Money - 24 $25, 24 $5, 24 $1
• Rail Counters - 2 each in six colors
• Commodity Counters - 14 of 2 types, 9 of 2 types
• The First Player Locomotive
• 6 Crayons
• 2 Dice
• These Rules

Setting Up the Game

Lay out the game board. Put the 46 Commodity counters into a cup. Randomly draw one Commodity counter and put it in the box on the gameboard next to the city of Rutland. Continue by drawing another one for Hartford, then Worcester, then Manchester, then Portland, then Lowell and finally Kingston. Draw two Commodity counters for Boston and draw two for Providence. Give each player $10. Each player chooses a color and puts one of their Rail counters on the 0 space of the Railroad Income Track.

In a 3 player game only two Rail Links will be offered for auction each turn. Put the Boston-Providence Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "FIRST Rail Link". Put the Boston-Worcester Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "LAST Rail Link".

In a 4 player game only Three Rail Links will be offered for auction each turn. Put the Boston-Providence Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "FIRST Rail Link". Put the Boston-Worcester Railway Link card to the right. Put the Providence-Worcester Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "LAST Rail Link".

In a 5 player game only Four Rail Links will be offered for auction each turn. Put the Boston-Providence Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "FIRST Rail Link". Put the Boston-Worcester Railway Link card to the right. Put the Providence-Worcester Railway Link card to its right. Put the Boston-Lowell Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "LAST Rail Link".

In a 6 player game only Five Rail Links will be offered for auction each turn. Put the Boston-Providence Railway Link card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "FIRST Rail Link". Put the Boston-Worcester Railway Link card to the right. Put the Providence-Worcester Railway Link card to its right. Put the Boston-Lowell Railway Link card to its right. Put the Providence-Kingston card at the bottom of the gameboard where it says "LAST Rail Link".

Shuffle the remaining Railway Link cards and put the resulting deck face down. Shuffle the 32 Commodity Growth cards and put them face down next to the gameboard. Each player may cut this deck to determine who is the First Player. The player drawing the lowest number card is the First Player for the first turn.

Ending/Winning the Game

The game ENDS when the last purchased Railway Link is built. At the end of that turn, any remaining Bank Loans and debt service are paid off, each player adds the intrinsic value of their Railway Links (the number printed on each Railway Link card) to their remaining cash and the player with the most money WINS the game.

Sequence of Play

• Acquire Bank Loans - Each player may borrow money
• Service existing Bank Loan debt - Each player must service Bank Loan debt
• Retire Bank Loan debt - Each player may retire Bank Loan debt
• Discover Commodity Growth - Put commodity counters on the town's box
• Complete unfinished Railway Links - Automatically complete unbuilt Railway Links
• Publicise Future Railway Links - Expose the next turn's links
• Auction & Build Railway Links - Each player may buy only one
• Ship Commodities & Record Income - Carry Cotton, Coal, Foodstuffs & Manufactures
• Determine & Record Market Changes - Some of the Railway's customers shut down
• Receive Income - Cash greases the wheels of progress
• Move the Locomotive - Greatest income becomes the First Player

Acquire Bank Loans

(Illustration: "$20 Loan - $4 debt service")

Each player, starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, may borrow money from the Bank. The player immediately receives the cash value of the loan. Note that the player MUST borrow money if their Railway Company does not have enough cash to service their Bank Loan debt, due the very next step. The Bank Loan cards may be changed like money, i.e. 2 $10 Bank Loans may be exchanged for one $20 Bank Loan, or vice versa.

Example: Martin has a $10 Bank Loan and has only $1 in cash. He will have to pay $2 in debt service in the next step, so he is required to borrow more money. He decides to acquire another $10 Bank Loan. He takes $10 from the bank and trades his $10 Bank Loan note in for a $20 Bank Loan note.

Service existing Bank Loan debt

Each player, starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, must service their Bank Loan debt. They must pay 20% of their Bank Loan debt (as shown on the Bank Loan itself) to the Bank.

Example: Martin has a $20 Bank Loan. He pays $4 to service this loan.

Retire Bank Loan debt

Each player, starting with the First Player and proceeding clockwise, may pay cash to retire some or all of their Bank Loan debt. The Bank Loan cards may be changed like money, i.e. a player may pay off $10 of a $20 Bank Loan, keeping a $10 Bank Loan note.

Example: John has $22 in cash and a $20 Bank Loan. He decides to retire part of this loan. He puts $10 cash and the $20 Bank Loan note into the bank and takes a $10 Bank Loan note.

Discover Commodity Growth

(Illustration: sample Commodity Growth card "Boston & Manchester", value 8)

For each Rail Link shown, turn over one Commodity Growth card. Each card lists two cities. For each city listed, draw a Commodity Growth counter from the cup or bag of unused Commodities and put it in that city's Commodity box. If the same city is listed two or three times, draw two or three counters for it. It is possible that there may be no more commodity counters left to draw. If so, the remaining listed cities do not get a commodity!

Example: In a three player game, two Rail Links are showing at the bottom of the gameboard; this means that two commodity cards will be turned over. The first one turned over lists 'Providence & Manchester'. One of the players draws a commodity counter (a red Foodstuffs) and puts it in the Providence box, then draws another (a green Cotton) and puts it in the Manchester box. Another card is turned over and those listed cities each get a commodity counter, if commodity counters still remain.

Complete unfinished Railway Links

Any Railway Links that were not completed last turn are now automatically finished. Draw the link with your crayon. On the first turn of the game this step is always skipped simply because there can't be any unfinished Railway Links.

Publicise Future Railway Links

For each Railway Link card showing at the bottom of the game board, turn over another Railway Link card and put it below it. These links will be auctioned off next turn.

(Illustration: sample Railway Link card "Fitchburg & Manchester", value 7, with a map of the route)

Auction & Build Railway Links

The current Railway Links are now auctioned off in order, the "First Rail Link" first, the "Last Rail Link" last. Bidding commences with the First Player and proceeds clockwise around the table. If a player drops out of the bidding they may not reenter the bidding. When all but one player has dropped out of the bidding, that player pays the money to the bank and takes the Railway Link card. That player now rolls two dice to see if they have completed building the link this turn. If the die roll is greater than or equal to the number shown on the Railway Link card, they have completed the link this turn and should draw the link's track on the gameboard with their crayon. If their die roll was less than the number shown, they may build the link this turn if they pay the difference between the die roll and the number shown on the card. If this is done, they may draw the link on the gameboard. If they choose not to complete the link this turn, it is automatically completed next turn at the 'Complete unfinished Railway Links' step.

Example: The Boston & Providence Railway Link is up for auction. Bidding starts with Dave, the current First Player, but as Dave has just bought a Railway Link this turn, he can't buy another link, so he says "Pass" The player to his left, Pete, bids $1. John is next and bids $2. Martin passes. Martin may not re-enter the bidding on this Railway Link once he has passed. Pete bids $10. John shakes his head and says 'Pass'. Pete takes the card for the railway link and rolls two dice, a 1 and a 3, totalling 4. The valuation for the Boston & Providence Railway Link is 5, so the railway link is not built this turn, unless Pete pays the difference between the die roll and the valuation. Pete pays the $1 to build the Railway Link this turn, and draws the Railway Link's track with his crayon. If Pete had declined the opportunity to pay the difference, the Railway Link would have automatically been built next turn at the 'Complete unfinished Railway Links' step.

There exists the possibility that no player wants to (or can) buy the Railway Link. Any unbought links are put aside and are never built.

Each player may buy only one link in this step. If a player already bought a link, they may not bid on another link until next turn.

Once all the existing Railway Links have been purchased (or removed), move the Future Railway Links up to the Existing Railway Links position.

Ship Commodities & Record Income

(Illustration: the four commodity symbols - circle, X, triangle, square)

Starting with the First Player, and proceeding clockwise, every player who did not buy a Railway Link in the prior Auction may move one Commodity. The Commodity can be moved along any built Railway Link. The Commodity must be moved so that it ends its movement at a town with the same symbol and may visit each city only once. As soon as it enters a town with the same symbol it must stop movement. A Commodity can not be moved more than five Railway Links. Once the Commodity has finished moving it is returned to the cup of unused Commodities.

Each different Railway Link the Commodity travels over increases the income of the Railway Link's owner by 1. This should be immediately recorded on the income track by moving that owner's Rail counter. If a player's income exceeds 9, put one of their Rail counters in the +10 box. Note that a Railway's income is recorded on a single track and past income is carried over from prior turns, due to repeat business. The only way a Railway's income decreases is by a generally bad market, see the 'Determine & Record Market Changes'.

After every player who did not buy a Railway Link has had an opportunity to move a Commodity, every player may move a Commodity, again starting with the Locomotive Player and proceeding clockwise. Note that players who did not buy a Railway Link are given two opportunities to move a Commodity and players who did buy a Railway Link only get one opportunity to move a Commodity.

Example: John's railway has bought (and built) the Boston-Providence Railway Link and the New Haven-Hartford Railway Link. Dave's Railway has bought (and built) the Hartford-Plainfield Railway Link. Pete's railway has bought (and built) the Providence-Plainfield Railway Link. It is John's turn to Ship Commodities. He sees that the Boston box has a red Manufactures commodity counter in it. He decides to ship this to New Haven, which accepts Manufactures counters. The commodity travels over his Boston-Providence Railway Link, Dave's Providence-Plainfield Railway Link, Pete's Hartford-Plainfield Railway Link and John's New Haven-Hartford Railway Link. Since the commodity used two of John's railway's links, John's railway increases its income by two on the income track. Since one of Pete's links was used, Pete increases his railway's income by one, the same with Dave.

(Illustration: Railroad Income Track, spaces 0 to 3 shown, with a +10 box)

Determine & Record Market Changes

The First Player now rolls 2 dice. The resulting total, plus one, is the Market Loss number. Each Railway's Income is divided by the Market Loss and rounded down. The resulting number is the income lost by that Railway. Move the counters to record the loss on that Railway's income track.

Example: John's railway has an income of 19, Pete's has 14 and Dave's has 18. John is the Locomotive Player and rolls two dice, a 4 and a 1. Combined, this totals 5. Add 1 to get the Market Loss number, 6. John loses three income from his income track, Pete loses two and Dave loses three.

Receive Income

Each Railway is paid the income as recorded on their income track.

Example: John's railway has an income (as listed on the income track) of 12. John receives $12 from the bank.

Move the Locomotive

The player whose Railway has the greatest income gets the First Player Locomotive and becomes the First Player. If a tie exists, award the First Player counter to the player with the greater cash (or least debt). If it is still tied, the owner of the game gets the First Player Locomotive.

The Final Turn

The last turn is realized when the last purchased Railway Link is built. This realization may occur at either the "Complete unfinished Railway Links" step or the "Auction & Build Railway Links" step. At the end of this turn, each player receives the intrinsic value of their Railway Links (the number printed on each Railway Link card) in cash. Now each player repays any remaining Bank Loans (debt service is paid in addition to the loan) and the player with the most money WINS the game.