Northern Pacific
Northern Pacific Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
The players seek to reap the most profit over three rounds of play. In each round, the Northern Pacific will wend its way from Minneapolis to Seattle. Its route will be determined by the players. The players will be investing in the cities that lay between and also trying to direct the route of the railroad through their investments while avoiding those of their rivals. When the railroad enters a town, the investments there pay off, while investments in cities that are bypassed in the railroad's western development will prove to be poor ones. The player who makes the most profit while avoiding poor investments over the three rounds is the winner.
Setup
Put the gameboard in the center of the table. Each player chooses a different color and takes one enhanced (large) cube and three regular cubes of their color. This becomes their personal supply. Put the rest of the cubes and the locomotives near the board as the general supply. Place one large and one small cube near the score track for each player. The players choose a starting player using any method they prefer.
The total number of cubes that may be placed in a city is based on the number of players:
| Players | Cubes per City |
|---|---|
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 4 |
Sequence of Play
Each turn, players must either place an investment cube in a city that the railroad has not yet reached or place a locomotive to indicate laying track and determining the route of the railroad. Play proceeds clockwise until the Northern Pacific reaches Seattle.
Place an Investment Cube
To invest in a city, a player places a cube from their personal supply in a city that has not yet been connected to Minneapolis. Investing in Seattle is not allowed.
The cubes in a city may be of any color and may include any combinations of regular and enhanced cubes.
Examples:
- Illegal as the track has reached the city.
- Legal, but ill-advised because the city can no longer be reached by the track.
- Legal.
- Legal only in games with six players.
Place a Locomotive / Laying Track
To lay track, a player places a locomotive. The first locomotive must be placed on a track coming from Minneapolis. Each locomotive after the first must be placed on one of the paths coming from the most recently connected city. Trains must be played in the direction of the arrows on the paths. Where there are two paths between cities (one each way), only one of the tracks may be used. This means that there will be one chain of locomotives with no branching from Minneapolis to Seattle.
When a locomotive is placed pointing directly to a city, each player with a cube in that city retrieves the placed cube and another one of their color from the general supply. If an enhanced cube is in the city, the owning player retrieves it and two more cubes of their color from the general supply.
Example of locomotive placement: the blue player has an enhanced (large) cube. She will take that cube from the board and two small cubes from the supply. The red player has two small cubes. He will take those cubes from the board and two from the supply. The yellow player has one cube. She will take that cube and one from the supply.
Example of laying track: locomotives have previously been placed from Billings to Butte and Butte to Great Falls. Options for legal future placements: the two paths that continue from Minneapolis / St. Paul to Seattle are legal — once one path is chosen the other path can not be used in future placements. The placement onto the four bi-directional tracks on the board is illegal, as those tracks can only be used one way. All other paths from Great Falls are also illegal because they would be opposite the route arrows.
End of Round
When a track is placed connecting Seattle, the round is ended and players count their cubes in hand (good investments) and their cubes left on the map (bad investments). Scores are tallied on the score track using the large cube for good investments and the small cube for bad investments (and added to existing scores in rounds two and three). When tallying scores, both large and small cubes count as one point each. If it is not the third round, after tallying scores, clear all of the track and investment cubes from the map and start the next round. Players again start with one enhanced and three normal cubes, and all of the locomotives and remaining cubes are moved from the map to the general supply. Play for the next round starts to the left of the player that laid track to Seattle.
End of Game
If it is the end of the third round, the player with the highest number of good investments tallied wins. If there is a tie, then the players involved in the tie with the fewest bad investments wins. If there is still a tie, then the tied players rejoice in their shared victory.
Single Round Variant
Play only a single round and whoever has the most cubes (Good Investments) is declared the savviest investor. Ties are broken by the fewest cubes left on the board (Bad Investments). If no player has more than four cubes at the end, then the game wins and all players are advised to avoid investing.
Scoreless Variant
Play until one player has won two single round games.
Credits
Designer: Tom Russell Developers: Kevin Wemyss & Scott Russell Artwork & Graphic Design: James M. Davis
The license for Northern Pacific has been kindly granted to Rio Grande Games by Winsome Games. The publisher, developer, and author thank the many playtesters, rule readers, and all others who helped in the publication of this game.