On the Underground
On the Underground Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- Passenger pawn
- 4 destination pawns
- Board depicting the Underground map (The Underground map is copyright Transport for London, and adapted with their kind permission.)
- Start player marker
- 21 branch tokens
- 33 normal destination cards
- 22 express destination cards
- 10 score markers
- 8 connection tokens
- Track lengths - 20 in red, yellow, blue, purple and black; 15 in pink, orange, green, brown, white and grey.
- Rules
First time you play: Please attach the stickers for the start player marker and the score markers to the thick wooden disks, and attach the stickers for the connection tokens and branch tokens to the thin wooden disks.
Aim of Game
The aim of the game is to build the most successful Underground lines and in doing so gain the most points. You can gain points by connecting your lines to various destinations on the board, and by having the passenger use your lines to travel from station to station.
The player who has best balanced the demands by the time that the deck of destinations is exhausted will be declared the winner.
Setup
Place the board in the middle of the table. Place the Passenger pawn on the Passenger start station (Euston), and randomly place the eight connection tokens on the connection stations (Aldgate, Baker Street, Charing Cross, Elephant & Castle, Hammersmith, King's Cross St. Pancras, Notting Hill Gate and Victoria).
Shuffle the destination cards and deal four of them face up next to the board where everyone can see them. Place the four destination pawns on the corresponding stations - these are the destination stations. Place the remaining cards next to the four destination cards as a draw pile and leave space next to it for a discard pile.
Each player should take a score marker. In a two player game the score markers should show colours corresponding to four lines, in a three player game the score markers should show colours corresponding to three lines, and in a four or five player game the score markers should show colours corresponding to two lines. Each player should take the lengths of track for the coloured lines shown on their score marker and place these in front of them.
The players choose a start player using any method they prefer and give him the start player marker. (This is used to record who started so that all players get the same number of turns). The start player places his score marker on position zero of the score track going round the board. Going clockwise, the other players place their markers onto positions one, two, three and four respectively.
Game Play
Play starts with the start player, and then proceeds clockwise. During each player's turn, he must first build track, and then move the passenger.
Building Track
In his turn, a player may build up to four lengths of his track. These lengths of track may be from the same, or from different coloured lines. Track is placed in the track spaces between stations. The number of track spaces in a block shows how many tracks can connect the two stations. There may not be multiple tracks of the same colour in a block of track spaces. Building track must follow the rules below:
- A line may be started by building a length of track on any empty track space on the board.
- Once a line has been started, all further pieces of that line's track must be used to extend the line at its ends. Loops do not have any ends, and therefore cannot be extended in this way.
Diagram: The blue track may only be extended on one of the track spaces highlighted green.
A player may extend a line from somewhere other than one of its ends by paying two branch tokens (that is, by returning them to the supply). The piece of track laid must still connect to the line, and counts as one of his four builds.
Diagram: By paying two branch tokens, the blue line may be extended on one of the track spaces highlighted in green.
Branch tokens can be obtained by extending a line into a terminus station, or by skipping a single track build. In this way a player can collect up to four branch tokens per turn. Branch tokens may be used on the same turn that they are obtained. The supply of branch tokens is unlimited: if you run out of branch tokens, use other items to represent them (e.g. coins).
When building track, points are awarded as follows:
- One point when a line connects to a national rail station.
- Two points and a branch token when a line connects to a terminus station.
- Three points when two connection stations showing the same symbol are joined using one line.
- One point for each station within a loop created by one line. (Stations of any type may be scored, however those forming part of the loop under consideration are excluded).
The player records the points that he has gained by moving his score marker up the score track.
Note: Players always receive points when they connect to these stations even if theirs is not the first line to do so. In particular, connection tokens are not removed from the board when scored.
A player can get multiple points from stations by using different lines to connect to them. However, connecting to them multiple times using the same line does not score extra points. Similarly, stations within loops only score one time, even if the loop is subsequently extended or cut.
Warning: It is possible to be blocked off in such a way that a player cannot add track, even if using branch tokens. The designer recommends that players take care if they start lines outside the centre of the board.
Building Track Examples
Red extends his line to Ealing Broadway. This connects him to a terminus, giving him two points and a branch token. He then skips a track build to give himself a second branch token. Then he gives up his two branch tokens to branch up to Paddington and extends the line further to Marylebone, giving him two more points for connecting to National Rail stations.
Green extends his line down to Victoria, scoring three points for joining the connection stations with the suitcase symbol. He then extends his line across to Charing Cross. He scores four points for surrounding the stations highlighted green with his track. Holborn has already been surrounded and is not scored again.
Moving the Passenger
Once a player has completed his builds and taken any branch tokens, he moves the passenger.
There are four destination stations indicated by the destination cards and pawns. The Passenger will travel to one of the express destination stations, if there are any. He will then travel to one of the normal destination stations, if there are any. This means that two stations will usually be visited (though sometimes only one).
Note: Express stations are the gold stations and normal stations are the white stations. The Passenger will only travel to these two types of stations: other stations are used for different purposes.
When travelling, the Passenger will travel along lines which the players have built, and walk along track spaces indicating where track can be built. The Passenger will choose his route as follows:
- He will choose the route that involves least walking.
- If two or more routes involve the least amount of walking, he will choose the route that involves fewest (or no) lines. When choosing the route, the Passenger is not concerned about the number of track lengths he travels over.
- If there is still a choice, the player moving the Passenger decides what route is taken.
Once the route has been chosen, the Passenger travels on it to the destination station. For each coloured line that the Passenger uses to travel, the player owning that line gets one point.
Only the route that the Passenger actually takes is considered when awarding points, and only one point is given per line used, no matter how many track lengths of that line the Passenger uses.
When the Passenger arrives at a station, the destination pawn is removed from the board and replaced by the Passenger pawn. The corresponding destination card is placed on the discard pile. Now the Passenger moves to the next destination, if applicable.
When the moves have taken place, destination cards are turned up from the draw pile until there are four of them again. The destination pawns are placed onto the corresponding stations.
Moving the Passenger Example
The Passenger is at Goldhawk Road, and the four destinations are Great Portland Street, Leicester Square, Oxford Circus and Turnham Green. The Passenger will travel to an express station first. The best routes to the express stations from Goldhawk road are:
- Leicester Square - One walk (to Shepherd's Bush) and two lines used (red and green)
- Oxford Circus - One walk (to Shepherd's Bush) and one line used (red)
- Turnham Green - Two walks (to Hammersmith and then to Turnham Green)
The best route is to Oxford Circus, so he will travel there.
He then wishes to travel to a normal station. The best routes to normal stations from Oxford Circus are:
- Great Portland Street - two lines used (red and green) or (red and yellow)
If the Passenger travels to Oxford Circus by taking one walk to Shepherd's Bush and then using the red line, then the player owning the red line gets one point.
End Game
If replacing the destination cards leaves the draw pile with no cards, then the active player immediately removes the Passenger from the board. Play continues with players only building track. When the next to play is the start player, the game ends (the start player does not get a turn). The player who has scored the most points is the winner.
Note: If the start player would have been next to play, then the game ends immediately.
Credits and Acknowledgements
Designer: Sebastian Bleasdale
Graphics & Layout: Matthias Catrein
The Underground map is copyright Transport for London and adapted with their kind permission
Produced: JKLM games in conjunction with Rio Grande Games
The author would like to thank all his test players for their encouragement, comments and numerous suggestions. Particular thanks are given to Jim Bleasdale, Ian Jackson, Matthew Reid, Colin and Jennie Towers, Markus Welbourne and Matthew Woodcraft.