Slow Freight
Slow Freight Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 50 Freight Car Cards
- 17 Auto Carrier (blue)
- 15 Tank (red)
- 13 Coal (yellow)
- 5 Extra Locomotives (green)
- 23 Locomotive Cards (gray)
- 23 Movement Cards (8 Clocks and 15 Trains)
- 16 Bonus Point Chips
- 4 each in blue for Auto Carrier, red for Tank, yellow for Coal, purple for Mixed Freight
- 32 Generic Point Chips (in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10)
- 48 Track Pieces
- These Rules
Preparations
Shuffle the Freight Car Cards and place the deck face down in the middle of the table. Turn the top three cards from the deck face up. If 2 or 3 of the face up cards are Extra Locomotives, reshuffle and turn up three cards again.
Each player should take one Locomotive and place it face up on the table in front of him. Place the rest of the Locomotives in a stack face up next to the Freight Car deck.
Separate the 8 Clock Cards from the rest of the Movement Cards. Add one Clock to the Movement Cards, shuffle this deck thoroughly, and place it face down next to the Freight Car deck. Place the remaining Clock Cards face up in a pile next to the Movement Card deck.
Sort the Bonus Point Chips by type and lay them all out face up on the table. The other Point Chips should be placed next to the Bonus Point Chips. Place the Track Pieces in a pile on the table.
Play
The youngest player starts. Play then proceeds clockwise around the table, each player taking one turn at a time until game end. Each turn, a player MUST perform one of the four following actions:
- Bring 1 Locomotive into play. The player simply takes a Locomotive from the deck and places it face up on the table in front of him. Each Locomotive starts a Train for the player.
- Add 1, 2, or all 3 of the face up Freight Car Cards to his Trains. [The printed text reads "Trams"; corrected to "Trains".] After the player has chosen all his Freight Car Cards, he draws new cards from the deck as replacements so there are again 3 face up cards. If 2 or 3 of the face up Freight Car Cards are Extra Locomotives, one of these Extra Locomotives is permanently removed from the game. The other one or two Extra Locomotives, as well as any other face up cards, are put back in the deck and the deck is reshuffled, and three new cards are turned face up.
- Move a Train. The player states which Train he is moving. He turns the top card on the Movement Card deck face up to see how far his Train moves. He then takes that number of Track pieces. The Movement Card is placed face up in the discard pile.
- Pass His Turn. The player must still draw a Movement Card, but it will simply be discarded unless it is a Clock.
Forming Trains
Each Train must contain a Locomotive and at least one Freight Car. A player may not have a Train with just Freight Cars.
Each Train may contain 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 Freight Cars. There are four types of Trains: 1) a Train that contains only Auto Carrier Cars, 2) a Train that contains only Tank Cars, 3) a Train that contains only Coal Cars, and 4) a Mixed Freight Train. A Mixed Freight Train with 2 Freight Cars must contain two different Freight Cars. A Mixed Freight Train with 3-5 Freight Cars must contain at least one of each of the three different Freight Cars. A Mixed Freight Train may not have just one Freight Car.
If a player draws an Extra Locomotive, he can add it to any Train. However, he may not add any more Freight Cars to this Train. In addition, beginning with his next turn, he must move this Train each turn until it reaches its destination. A player may not draw more than one Extra Locomotive in a turn.
A player may have any number of Trains.
Freight Cars or Extra Locomotives may not be added to a Train after it has started moving towards its destination.
Movement Cards
Most Movement Cards show five Trains, one with 1 Freight Car, one with 2 Freight Cars, one with 3 Freight Cars, one with 4 Freight Cars, and one with 5 Freight Cars. Next to each Train is a number. When a player draws one of these cards, he draws a number of Track pieces equal to the number next to the size of the Train he is moving.
Example: A player states that he is moving his Train with 2 Coal Cars. He turns up a Movement Card. The card shows that a Train with 2 Freight Cars has a movement of 3. The player draws 3 Track pieces.
If a player is moving a Train with an Extra Locomotive, after drawing his first Movement Card, he draws a second Movement Card, but he always uses the number next to the 5 Freight Car Train for this second movement regardless of how many Freight Cars the Train actually has.
There are eight Movement Cards with a Clock, but only one will be in the Movement deck at any one time. When a player draws the Clock, his Train will move 4 spaces no matter how many Freight Cars it has in it. The player takes 4 Track pieces. He then places the Clock card face up in the middle of the table. If other Clocks were drawn previously, the new Clock should be placed with them to show how many total Clocks have been drawn. After a Clock is drawn, the player takes another Clock from the Clock pile, and then reshuffles all the Movement Cards (including all the discards) and the new Clock to reform the Movement deck.
Delivering Freight
A player may have any number of Trains on their way to their destinations at once. A player does not have to deliver one Train before starting another. (Exception: Trains with Extra Locomotives.)
When a player collects Track pieces for a Train, he places these Track pieces next to the Train. Players should be careful not to get the Track pieces of several Trains mixed up.
When a Train has 9 or more Track pieces, it reaches its destination. The Train is moved to the right of the player on the table to show it has reached its destination. All the Track pieces are then returned to the pile; they can be used again for another Train.
Players receive bonuses for each of the first three Trains of each type that reach their destination: Auto Carrier, Tank, Coal, Mixed. The first Train of each type is worth 5 Points, the second 3 Points, and the third 1 Point. The player should take the corresponding Bonus Point Chip.
The player also takes 2 Points for each Freight Car in the Train.
Players may keep all their Point Chips face down in a stack.
End of the Game
The game ends when the eighth (and last) Clock is drawn. The player who draws the Clock still moves his Train and collects 4 Track pieces, then the game immediately ends.
Each Locomotive and Freight Car in Trains a player has that has not made it to its destination is worth negative points as follows:
- Each Locomotive and Extra Locomotive costs -3 points.
- Each Freight Car costs -2 points.
Players should give back Point Chips to pay these penalties, making change as necessary.
The player who has delivered the biggest Train of each type gains 8 Points and takes the 8 Point Bonus Chip. If two players have both delivered the biggest Train of a type, they each receive 4 points (they both take generic Point Chips). If three or more players have all delivered the biggest Train of a type, they each receive 2 points. This bonus is awarded for each type of Train: Auto Carrier, Tank, Coal, and Mixed. The biggest possible Train of a type would be 5 Freight Cars.
The player with the most points is the winner.
Special Rule for 2 and 3 Players
When playing with 3 players, use only 7 Clocks instead of 8. When playing with 2 players, use only 6 Clocks.