Southern Pacific Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parts
• Setting Up The Game
• Initial Auctions
  • Example
• Ending/Winning the Game
• Sequence of Play
  • Offer Stock
    • Example
  • Build/Buy Track
    • Example
  • Pay Dividends
    • Example
• Bull Market Auction
  • Example

Game Parts

• 1 Game Board
• 6 Railroad Treasury boards
• 96 Railroad cubes, 16 for each railroad
• 30 Railroad Stocks, 5 of each railroad
• 1 Bull Market card
• Money: 44 $1, 24 $5, 24 $25, 6 $100
• These Rules

Setting Up The Game

Lay out the game board. Give each player starting capital. $20 with 5 players, $25 with 4 players, $33 with 3 players.

Put each railroad's five shares of Stock and 16 track cubes on the Railroad Treasury board. This board holds the Railroad's Treasury. Any money paid for stock is placed in this Treasury.

Take one cube from each railroad and place it in the $3 box of the Income display.

Randomly determine a player to start the Initial Auctions.

Initial Auctions

In general, one share of each of the railroads will be auctioned off at the start of the game, and each railroad will be required to build one initial Track Link at no cost as soon as it is auctioned off. The railroads are auctioned off in a specific order, hereinafter called the Railroad Order:

1. Southern Pacific Railroad
2. Texas & Pacific Railroad
3. Missouri Pacific Railroad
4. Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad
5. Saint Louis & San Francisco Railroad
6. Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad

The player determined to start the Initial Auctions is the first to bid for the SP.

Auction rules: A bid of $0 is allowed. Bidding proceeds clockwise around the table. If a player drops out of the bidding, they may not reenter the bidding.

The winner of the SP auction takes the President's share of the railroad and places the amount bid onto the SP Railroad Treasury. Money in the Railroad Treasury is used to pay the cost of building track later in the game. If the SP sells track, the money received is placed in this Treasury. If the SP buys existing track from another railroad, the money paid must come from this Treasury. Note that in the case of the Initial Auctions, one Track Link is built for free, no charge. In the case of the SP, the SP's starting city is Beaumont. The SP must build one of the links out of Beaumont, perhaps the link to Nacogdoches or the link to Cleveland or the link to Houston.

Whichever link is chosen, the President must place a track cube in the white box denoting ownership of that Track Link. Once that is done, the railroad's income as shown on the Income display must be incremented. The amount that a city pays depends on the number of different railroads that connect to that city:

• $3 if only one railroad connects to that city.
• $2 if two railroads connect to that city.
• $1 if three or more railroads connect to that city.

Always be careful to adjust the income of any railroad(s) affected by building (or buying) a Track Link.

Once the SP's President's share is auctioned off, the Track Link is built and its income is adjusted, it is time to auction off the President's share of the TP. The opening bid is made by the President of the SP. After the TP is done, the MP is started, with the President of the TP making the first bid and so on. When the GH&H is done, it is time to start the game. The President of the Southern Pacific operates the SP, then the President of the TP operates the TP, etc. After all railroads have operated in Railroad Order, as delineated in the Sequence of Play, the Bull Market happens.

Example

Ed is the first to bid. He bids $0 for the SP share. Dave passes. Pete bids $10. Ed bids $15. Pete bids $16. Ed passes. Pete takes the SP President share for himself. He takes the SP Treasury and places it somewhere convenient. He puts $16 into the SP Treasury. He now gets to build one track link for free. He selects the track link between Beaumont (the SP start city) and Houston. He takes a yellow track cube from the SP Treasury and places it on the white box between these two cities. Now the income for the SP has changed. Beaumont provides $3 income and Houston provides $3 income, so Pete moves the yellow cube on the income track from $3 to $6.

Ending/Winning the Game

The game ENDS at the end of a Round if one or more railroads have no remaining unused railroad cubes OR if all railroad stock shares have been acquired by players. The player with the most cash money WINS the game. Stock has no value. Ties are broken with the existing Bull Market card, the player closest clockwise to the Bull Market card wins.

Sequence of Play

A Round consists of each railroad operating in Railroad Order. The President may select any or all of these actions in the order specified:

• Offer Stock. Note that the Presidency may change.
• Build/Buy Track. Built Track Links cost $5 each. Bought Track Links may be any agreed price.
• Pay Dividends. President decides the Dividend amount.

Play continues with the next railroad until all have operated. After that, we have a Bull Market Auction. After that, we check for end of game. If the game is not over, then we start a new Round.

Offer Stock

The President selecting this action offers a share of the railroad's stock for sale on the open market. The President is the first to bid. There is no minimum bid. Bidding 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 wins the Auction. The purchaser pays the bid money to the railroad's Treasury and takes the stock. This may cause the President's share to move to another player, if that player holds more shares than the current President.

Example

Ed has the President's share of the MKT, also known as the 'Katy'. He decides to Offer Stock. Dave has one MKT share. Pete has no MKT shares. Ed decides to off a share of the MKT. Ed bids $11, all his money. Dave bids $12. Pete passes. Ed passes. Dave puts $12 into the MKT treasury. Dave takes a share. Dave now has more shares than Ed, so he becomes the President of the MKT. He exchanges one of his standard shares for Ed's President's share. He moves the MKT Treasury closer to himself. Now that Dave is the President of the MKT, he will be the one to decide if the MKT will Build/Buy Track and how much the MKT will Pay Dividends.

Build/Buy Track

A Track Link is a line of track connecting two cities. Each Track Link has one white box used to denote the owning railroad. When a Track Link is built, a cube of that railroad is placed in the box. Only one railroad may build any specific Track Link. When a railroad purchases a Track Link from another railroad, it places its cube on the link and returns the existing cube to the selling railroad's Treasury.

The President may have the railroad build Track Links and/or buy existing Track Links from other railroads. Every time a Track Link is built or bought, take care to adjust the Income display for any railroads affected. Note that other railroads may lose income if you have built into their cities or purchased their Track Link.

Track Links are paid from the railroad's Treasury. Each link costs $5. When a Track Link is built, this money is paid to the Bank. When a Track Link is bought, this money is paid to the selling railroad's Treasury.

The only restrictions to building or buying a Track Link are that it must connect to an existing Track Link or Home City of that railroad, and that railroad must have available unused track cubes in its Treasury. When purchasing a Track Link from another railroad, there exists more restrictions: Any remaining Track Links of that railroad must still connect back to its Home City. Both railroads' Presidents must agree to the sale.

Purchasing track is independent of Building track and these transactions may be intermixed. A railroad may, for example, build a link, buy a link, buy another link from yet another railroad, build a link, etc. A railroad may build up to 3 Track Links and may buy up to 3 Track Links on a turn.

Example

Dave is the president of the MKT. The MKT has already built two track links, from McAlester to Oklahoma City and from Oklahoma City to Acme. The MKT has $14 in the Treasury. The current income is $8, because the MP has built track in the McAlester-Sherman link and it reduces the value of McAlester to $2. Dave decides that the MKT will build track from Acme to Plainview. He places a cube on the track link and increases the MKT income from 8 to 11. He pays $5 from the MKT Treasury to the bank. He offers to buy the McAlester-Sherman link from the MP for $7. Ed is the President of the MP, which also has a track link from Paris-Sherman. Ed suggests $9. Dave accepts. The MP cube is returned to the MP treasury and replaced with a MKT cube. The MP income is reduced from $8 to $5. The MKT income is further increased from 11 to 13. The MKT pays $9 from the MKT Treasury into the MP Treasury.

Pay Dividends

The amount shown for that railroad in the Income display is paid to the railroad's Treasury. It is added to any existing money in the railroad's Treasury. The president publicly announces how much money is in the railroad's Treasury. The President then announces how much of a dividend per share of railroad stock will be paid to the players holding shares in that railroad. This dividend is paid to the shareholders from the railroad's Treasury.

Example

Dave is the President of the MKT. The MKT currently has no money in its Treasury. The income for the MKT is $13. $13 is paid from the bank to the MKT Treasury. Dave decides to pay $4 per share. He has two shares and takes $8 from the MKT Treasury and puts it with his personal cash. Ed has one share. Dave takes $4 from the MKT Treasury and gives it to Ed for his personal cash. Now the MKT Treasury only has $1.

Bull Market Auction

An auction of railroad stocks is made. Each player may offer a share of unsold railroad stock, starting with the player holding the Bull Market card and proceeding clockwise around the table.

Each player totals their cash. The player with the lowest cash receives the Bull Market card.

In the very first Bull Market, any tie for the Bull Market card is broken by the player owning the President's share of the earliest railroad in the Railroad Order.

In future Bull Markets, ties are broken by the existing location of the Bull Market card, with the player closest to the left of the player with the Bull Market card winning the tie.

Each player may offer one unsold share of any railroad. Bull Market auctions are 'once around' auctions. The first player to make the opening bid is the player to the left of the player offering the stock. A player may bid $0. The last player to bid is the player who offered the stock for sale.

The winning bid is placed in the Railroad's Treasury. The winner takes the share of stock. This sale of stock may change the President of a Railroad, if a player holds more shares than the current President.

Example

It is the very first Bull Market and Pete & Ed have the lowest cash. Pete wins the tie because he is the President of the SP, the earliest railroad in the Railroad Order. Pete offers a share of the MKT. Ed is to his left and is the first to bid for the MKT share. Ed bids $4. Dave bids $5. Pete passes. Dave pays $5 from his personal cash to the MKT Treasury and takes a share of stock.