The Rail on the Hill Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• General Game Setup
• Setup for each player
• Things to Know Before Starting
  • About the main board
  • About Town cards
  • About Railroad lines
  • About Plan cards
  • About Development tokens
  • About resource tokens
• Flow of the Game
  • I. Preparation Phase
  • II. Main Phase
    • A. Acquiring a Town card
    • B. Placing a Town card
    • C. Laying Tracks
    • D. Location action
  • Free Actions
• Final Scoring
• Winning the Game
• Variant Rules
  • Residents' Request Variant
  • No Rotation rule
• Solo rules
• List of Plan cards
• List of Residents' Request cards
• List of Development tokens

Game Components

• 4 Railroad line tiles in 4 colours (Red Line, Yellow Line, Blue Line, Black Line)
• Track tokens: 24 regular Track tokens in 4 colours and 8 bonus Track tokens in 4 colours
• 32 Resource tokens
• 36 Development tokens
• 68 Town cards
• 60 Plan cards
• 12 Residents' Request cards
• 4 Summary cards
• 1 Starting player card
• 1 Score pad
• 2 Main boards
• 1 Rulebook

General Game Setup

1. Place the two main boards next to each other so that they are connected.
2. If playing with standard rules, the Residents' Request cards will not be used. Return them to the box.
3. Shuffle all the Town cards face-down to form a deck. Place this Town card deck next to the main board. If playing with 1 to 3 players, leave space for a Town card discard area.
4. Shuffle all the Plan cards face-down to form a deck. Place this Plan card deck next to the main board. Leave space for a Plan card discard area.
5. Shuffle all the Development tokens face down, and place them together to the side of the main board. This is called the Development token pile. Leave space for a Development token discard area.
6. Place the resource tokens next to the main board to form a stock.
7. For each player in the game, create one set each of the following items:
   • 3 Town cards: Draw 3 cards from the Town card deck and place them face-up.
   • 1 Development token: Draw 1 token from the Development token pile and place it face-up.
8. Take a score sheet, place it to the side of the table and prepare a writing implement.
9. The player who boarded a train most recently will be the starting player and receives the starting player card.

Setup for each player

1. Each player receives the following:

   • Railroad line tiles: Receive one red, yellow, blue, and black Railroad line tile each and arrange them vertically in front of you. Leave space for up to four Plan cards to the right side of each Railroad line tile.

   • Track tokens: Receive four sets of Track tokens, 1 set each in red, yellow, blue, and black. Each set of a colour consists of 6 regular Track tokens and 2 bonus Track tokens of that colour. Place them on the table in the following order to the left of the Railroad line tile of the same colour: 2 regular Track tokens ⇒ 1 bonus Track token ⇒ 2 regular Track tokens ⇒ 1 bonus Track token ⇒ 2 regular Track tokens.

   • Plan cards: Draw 6 Plan cards from the deck as your hand.

   • Resource tokens: Receive resource tokens from the stock according to the number of players:

     1-2 players	3 players	4 players
     1	2	4

   • Leave space to place Town cards: At the end of the game, you will have 16 Town cards in a 4 x 4 grid, so leave room for this. This area is called the Town.

   • Summary card: Receive 1 Summary card and place it in front of you.

2. Starting with the player to the right of the starting player (the player whose turn is the last in turn order), and going counterclockwise, players will receive one set from the sets of 3 Town cards and 1 Development token prepared in 7. of the General Game Setup. After all players receive one set each, they place their Town cards and Development tokens as follows.

Please note that if at least one Plan card per Railroad line is not achieved during the final scoring, there will be a penalty of -10 points.

Place Plan cards you can aim to achieve. If you are having trouble choosing a Plan card, it is a good idea to choose cards that allow multiple railroad lines to pass through common landmarks.

Things to Know Before Starting

About the main board

There are four Town card locations on the main board. Under each Town card location, there is a different action icon. These are known as location actions.

About Town cards

Town cards have a landmark in the centre (some cards do not). There are three categories of landmarks and three types of buildings in each category for a total of nine types of buildings.

Leisure: Amusement Park, Zoo, Aquarium

Welfare: Bank, Hospital, School

Public: City Hall, Police Station, Fire Station

There are point values for the four lines on each Town card. The top left is the red line, the bottom left is the yellow line, the top right is the blue line, and the bottom right is the black line.

The points range from 1 to 6 points.

There are white lines branching out in some of the eight directions on the Town cards. These are "roads". When there are no roads, this is considered as "open land".

About Railroad lines

Each player has four railroad lines. Each railroad line has eight Track tokens in that colour. Placing a Track token on a Town card extends the railroad line.

There are two types of Track tokens: regular Track tokens and bonus Track tokens. When a bonus Track token is laid, the 3rd/6th Track bonus is applied. After activating the bonus, there is no difference between a regular Track token and a bonus Track token.

About Plan cards

The condition is stated in the centre of the Plan card and the points are stated in the lower right. In addition, some Plan cards have a No Duplicates icon on the upper left.

When each player acquires a Plan card, they must assign it to one of the four railroad lines. They do this by placing the card face-up to the right of the Railroad line tile in front of them. Only four Plan cards can be assigned to each railroad line. If you want to assign a fifth card to the line, you will need to discard one Plan card before doing so.

There are Plan cards marked with a No Duplicates icon. This means that Plan cards with the exact same effect cannot be assigned to the same railroad line.

For details on Plan card effects, please refer to the List of Plan cards.

When the Plan card deck is empty, all Plan cards in the Plan card discard area are shuffled face-down to form a new deck.

About Development tokens

There are two types of Development tokens: ones that must be placed on top of Town cards immediately, and ones that can be kept in front of you until they are used.

For details on Development token effects, please refer to the List of Development tokens.

When the Development token pile has run out, all Development tokens in the Development token discard area are shuffled face-down to form a new pile.

About resource tokens

Resource tokens are meant to be infinite. If you run out of resource tokens, please use a suitable substitute.

Flow of the Game

The game is played over a total of 14 rounds. After that, the final score is calculated and the winner of the game is determined.

Each round consists of the following phases, which are played in the following sequence:

• I. Preparation Phase
• II. Main Phase

I. Preparation Phase

1. (Not performed in the first round) The player who has the Starting Player Card passes it to the player on their left.

2. Discard unused items from the previous round. Place all Town cards, Plan cards, and Development tokens on the main board face-up in their respective discard areas.

3. Display the items you will need for this round on the main board.

   • Town cards: Draw 4 cards from the Town card deck and place them face up in the Town card area on the main board.
   • Plan cards: Draw 2 cards from the Plan card deck and place them face up in the Plan card area on the main board. If there are insufficient cards in the Plan card deck, shuffle the cards in the Plan card discard area face-down to form a new deck.
   • Development tokens: Draw 2 cards from the Development token pile and place them face-up in the Development token area on the main board. If there are no tokens in the Development token pile, shuffle the tokens in the Development token discard area face-down and stack them to create a new pile.

II. Main Phase

Starting with the starting player, players take turns clockwise. In round 14, after all players have taken their turn, proceed to Final Scoring. In rounds 1-13, proceed to the I. Preparation Phase of the next round.

At the end of the 14th round, there should be 16 Town cards lined up in front of each player in a 4x4 grid.

During your turn, carry out the following four actions. You can also perform as many free actions as you like.

• A. Acquire a Town card
• B. Place a Town card
• C. Lay tracks
• D. Location action

The order of the four actions is as follows: First, carry out [A. Acquire a Town card]. After this, you may carry out [B. Place a Town card], [C. Lay tracks], and [D. Location action] in any order.

A. Acquiring a Town card

Acquire one of the Town cards on the main board.

Take a Town card into your hand. The action that can be performed with [D. Location action] depends on the location of where you acquired the Town card.

• You cannot choose a location where there is no Town card.

Once you get used to the game, players can perform [A. Acquire a Town card] in sequence, then simultaneously carry out the rest of their turn together.

B. Placing a Town card

Choose one Town card from your hand and place it in your town.

Town Card Placement Rules

• Place the first card anywhere in your town.
• From the second card onwards, the card must be adjacent to an already placed Town card, either up, down, left, right, or diagonally.
• Town cards may be rotated 90 degrees. They can also be rotated in a direction where the numbers are upside down.
• Town cards must touch each other at the corners or edges, and be arranged in a grid not exceeding 4 cards.
• At the end of the game, the Town must have a total of 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.
• Although the Town cards have roads printed in 8 directions, it is okay to have roads that are unconnected.

As long as a 4x4 town is formed at the end of the game, it is okay if the very first card you placed at the beginning that you were planning to be an edge ends up in the middle.

C. Laying Tracks

Choose a line colour from your hand and place a Track token of that colour in your town.

Rules for laying tracks

• Track tokens must be laid across two Town cards.
• Track tokens can be laid in any of the 8 directions (up, down, left, right, diagonally) relative to a Town card.
• If the location where you lay a Track token has a road on it, you can lay the token without paying any cost.
• If the location where you lay a Track token is an open land, you must pay one resource token.
  • If the track you lay crosses 2 open lands, you must pay 2 resource tokens.
• You can only lay one Track token in one location (there are exceptions). For the exception, see the Double Track tokens section of the List of Development tokens below.
• When laying a Track token diagonally, if there is already another diagonal Track token at that location, pay an additional 2 resource tokens. This is called a track intersection. Pay the usual resource cost for crossing open land.
  • You may also create intersections of the same line (colour).
• If the Track token you are laying is the first Track token for that line (colour), you can lay the Track token anywhere.
• If the Track token you are laying is the second or later Track token for that line (colour), you must lay the Track token such that it connects to existing track of that colour.
• When laying multiple Track tokens for a line (colour), the track must be laid in one continuous line and in a way that no loops are created.

You do not need to lay a Track token on a Town card you placed this turn.

The following ways of laying track are not allowed:

• There cannot be three or more Track tokens of the same line (colour) on the same Town card. In other words, lines cannot branch off.
• You cannot lay a line (colour) in a way that would create a loop. In other words, you cannot link the line to itself.

3rd/6th Track Bonus

If the Track token you just laid is the third or sixth of that line (colour), you must immediately take one of the following additional bonus actions. This action cannot be saved for later.

Select and carry out one of the following three bonus actions:

• Acquire two resource tokens.
• Lay one additional Track token. This can be a different line (colour) from the line (colour) of the Track token you just laid. For how to lay Track tokens, see Rules for laying tracks.
• Draw two Plan cards from the deck and acquire one of them. Place the acquired Plan card on one of the lines (colours).

It is possible to activate combos by using a Track token activated by the 3rd/6th track bonus to activate another 3rd/6th track bonus!

D. Location action

Perform a Location action associated with the location of the Town card selected in [A. Acquire Town Card].

The Location action will be one of the following four actions depending on the location of the selected Town card.

(The location icon on the main board indicates the Location action associated with the selected Town card.)

a. Acquire 2 resource tokens. Acquire 2 resource tokens from the stock.

b. Acquire 1 Plan card. Choose one of the two face-up Plan cards and add it to your hand. For the acquired Plan card, immediately choose one line (colour) and place it to the right of that Railroad line tile. If there are already four Plan cards to the right of the selected Railroad line tile, discard one of them and place the Plan card you just acquired.

c. Lay one additional Track token. Lay one additional Track token. It does not matter if the line (colour) is different from the line (colour) of the Track token you just laid. For how to lay Track tokens, please refer to the Rules for laying track.

d. Acquire 1 Development token. Choose 1 of the 2 face up Development tokens and acquire it. Depending on the Development token you choose, it will be either one you can use immediately or one you can keep for later use. For details, refer to the List of development tokens.

Free Actions

You can perform as many of the following free actions as you like:

• Purchase Development tokens Pay 3 resource tokens and acquire 1 Development token. Pay 3 resource tokens to your stock, draw 2 Development tokens from the Development token pile and acquire 1 of them. Place the unused one in the Development token discard area.

• Discarding Track tokens Discard 1 Track token already laid on a Town card and acquire 2 resource tokens. You may only discard Track tokens at the end of a line, that is, Track tokens that are adjacent to only one other Track token on that line (colour), or from a line (colour) with only one Track token laid on it.

  Discarded Track tokens are removed from the game.

  *Discarded Track tokens are counted towards the 3rd/6th Track bonus, but they are not counted towards fulfilling the Plan card conditions.

  After that, gain 2 resource tokens from the stock.

If you have extra resource tokens at the end of the game, it is recommended that you purchase Development tokens. At the end of the game, 2 resources will only be worth 1 point.

Unless very necessary, try to avoid discarding Track tokens.

Final Scoring

The game ends after 14 rounds.

All a player's Town cards should be arranged in a 4x4 grid. The other players can judge whether a player's Track tokens follow the Rules for laying tracks.

If the Town cards are not arranged in a 4x4 pattern, remove the Town card that exceeds the 4x4 grid and remove the Track tokens from it. If any of the Track tokens do not follow the Rules for laying tracks, remove Track tokens until they match the rules.

Tallying the final score:

One of the players uses a score sheet and a pen to calculate their score from the top down.

1. Calculate points for Railroad lines.

First, calculate the points for the red line. Each player will score the points for the red line from Town cards on which their red Track tokens are laid. If the Town card has the Development token "Town upgrade" placed on it, this doubles the points on that Town card.

Then, calculate the yellow line points, blue line points, and black line points in the same way.

2. Plan card Scoring

Each player checks whether the requirements on the Plan cards to the right of their four railroad lines have been met. If they have been met, players will receive the number of points written on the Plan card. If they have not been met, the Plan card will receive 0 points. Score each Plan card separately. The requirements on one card can be used for another card.

For example, the following two Plan cards are on the red line:

To score both cards, the red line only needs to pass through one of each of the four landmarks: Amusement Park, Aquarium, Police Station, and School. It does not need to pass through 2 Amusement parks and 2 Aquariums.

For details on each Plan card, please refer to the List of Plan cards.

3. Plan card Penalty

Each player checks whether they have scored at least one Plan card for each of their four railroad lines. For each railroad line that does not score at least one Plan card, deduct 10 points from the player's score.

4. Residents' Request Cards

Residents' Request cards are not used in the standard game. Skip this if not playing with this variant.

5. Resources

Gain 1 point for every 2 remaining resources.

Add the points up and write the total points in the Total box.

Winning the Game

The player with the most total points wins. In the event of a tie, the player with the most fulfilled Plan cards wins. If there is still a tie, all of those players win.

Thank you for playing! Please use the score pad as a way to remember your past games.

Strategy Tips

• When choosing Plan cards, try to collect similar Plan cards on the same railroad line to make them easier to achieve.
• It is important to fulfil Plan cards. In particular, try to make sure that you fulfil at least one card for each railroad line.
• It is better to avoid low-scoring town cards just to achieve Plan cards. You may draw a desired Town card or a Wild landmark Development token.
• The 3rd/6th Track bonus is very useful. Aim to get this bonus at least six times during the game if possible, if not more.

Variant Rules

Residents' Request Variant

In this rule, Residents' Request cards are used. Reveal the Residents' Request cards to everyone, and if you meet the score conditions, you can get additional points.

Change step 2. in the General Game Setup as follows:

Shuffle all Residents' Request cards face-down, and draw two and flip them face up to the side of the main board. The other Resident's Request cards will not be used, so return them to the box.

Change step 4. in the Final Scoring as follows:

Each player checks whether they have met the conditions of the Residents' Request cards, starting with the Residents' Request card on the left and then the Residents' Request card on the right. If they have met the conditions, they are successful and gain the number of points stated on the Residents' Request card. For details on each Residents' Request card, please refer to the List of Residents' Request cards.

No Rotation rule

This rule disallows the rotation of Town cards. When using this rule, Town cards can only be placed in a position where the numbers can be read upright.

Solo rules

These rules are for playing the game solo. Aim to get as high a score as possible.

When using solo rules, make the following changes:

• Only carry out I. Preparation phase in odd-numbered rounds.
• During the II. main phase, you cannot choose the same Location action in both the odd-numbered round and the subsequent even-numbered round.

Earn the following titles depending on your score in Final Scoring:

Normal Rules	Residents' Request Variant	Title
261+ points	281+ points	God-level mayor
241-260 points	261-280 points	Inhumanly excellent mayor
221-240 points	241-260 points	Legendary mayor
201-220 points	221-240 points	Top mayor
181-200 points	201-220 points	Highly skilled mayor
161-180 points	181-200 points	Skilled mayor
141-160 points	161-180 points	Above average mayor
121-140 points	141-160 points	Average mayor

Work hard to earn a better title each time!

List of Plan cards

3 landmarks

This type of Plan card specifies 3 types of landmarks. If the railroad line passes through all 3 types of landmarks, the condition is met and you will receive 8 points. The landmarks can be passed in any order, and there can be other landmarks in between.

4 landmarks of the same category

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line passes through four or more landmarks of the same category, the condition is met and you will receive 8 points.

5 types of landmarks

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line passes through five or more different types of landmarks, the condition is met and you will receive 6 points.

2 of the same landmarks twice

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line passes through two or more landmarks of the same type and two or more landmarks of the same type, the condition is met and you will receive 6 points.

*The condition is met even if the railroad line passes through four or more landmarks of the same type.

Lay 7 Track tokens

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line has seven or more Track tokens laid in your Town, the condition is met and you will receive 6 points.

Please note that if 7 railroad tokens were laid but a Track token was discarded as a free action leaving you with 6 or less, the condition will not be met.

Pass through the top left Town card and the bottom right Town card

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line passes through both the top left Town card and the bottom right Town card, the condition will be met and you will receive 8 points.

Pass through the top right Town card and the bottom left Town card

*No duplicates.

If the railroad line passes through both the top right Town card and the bottom left Town card, the condition will be met and you will receive 8 points.

List of Residents' Request cards

A. 4 points for each line that connects from the top to the bottom row

For each line that passes through any one of the four Town cards on the top row and any one of the four Town cards on the bottom row, you will receive 4 points.

B. 4 points for each line that connects from the leftmost row to the rightmost row

For each line that passes through any one of the four Town cards in the leftmost column and any one of the four Town cards in the rightmost column, you will receive 4 points.

C. 4 points for each Town card with 4 Track colours

For each Town card that has 4 colours of Track tokens laid on it, you will receive 4 points.

D. 4 points for each outer Town card with 3 Track colours

You will receive 4 points for each Town card that meets both of the following conditions:

• The Town card is one of the 12 outer Town cards.
• The Town card has 3 or more colours of Track tokens laid on it.

E. 4 points for each corner Town card with 2 Track colours

You will receive 4 points for each Town card that meets both of the following conditions:

• The Town card is one of the 4 corners of the 4x4 grid.
• The Town card has 2 or more colours of Track tokens laid on it.

F. 4 points for each intersection

Gain 4 points for each diagonal intersection of 2 or more Track tokens.

G. 4 points for each line that passes through 3 or more of the 4 central Town cards

For each line that passes through 3 or more of the 4 central Town cards of the 4x4 Town grid, gain 4 points.

H. 4 points for each line that passes through 2 or more of the 4 corner Town cards

For each line that passes through 2 or more of the 4 corner Town cards of the 4x4 Town grid, gain 4 points.

I. 4 points for each line that passes through 2 or more Town cards in all 3 landmark categories Leisure, Welfare, and Public

For each railroad line that passes through 2 or more landmarks in the Leisure category, 2 or more landmarks in the Welfare category, and 2 or more landmarks in the Public category, earn 4 points. Landmarks in the same category can be the same or different types.

Example: In the Leisure category, pass through Aquarium and Aquarium, or pass through Aquarium and Zoo.

J. If all Town cards have Track tokens, gain 8 points

If all 16 Town cards have at least one Track token laid on them, gain 8 points.

K. Gain 3 points per Track for the line with the fewest Track tokens

Count the number of Track tokens for each railroad line. Gain 3 points x the number of Track tokens on the railroad line with the fewest tokens. If there are multiple railroad lines with the fewest, choose any one.

L. Gain 4 points per fulfilled Plan card for the line with the fewest fulfilled Plan cards

Count the number of fulfilled Plan cards for each railroad line. Gain 4 points x the number of fulfilled Plan cards in the line with the fewest fulfilled Plan cards.

List of Development tokens

Town upgrade

When you acquire a "Town upgrade", immediately place it on top of an existing Town card in your Town. However, you can only place one Development token on each Town card.

• A "×2" Town upgrade doubles the points of the corresponding colour on that Town card.
• A "3|3" Town upgrade adds the corresponding point values to the corresponding colours of that Town card.

Double Track

When you acquire a Double Track token, keep it in your hand.

Double Track is used when you perform [C. Laying tracks] during your turn. Spend the token to lay a Track token on a spot where a Track token of another colour has already been laid. If the spot you are laying Track is an open land, you will need to pay resource tokens as usual.

Even if you have already laid two Track tokens on a spot, you can spend a Double Track token to lay a third or fourth track token.

• This only changes the placement rules for laying Track tokens, and does not give you an additional track laying action.

Wild landmark

Keep this token for Final Scoring at the end of the game. When scoring 2. Plan card Scoring, it can be used for a single Plan card. This token can be used to fulfil any single landmark condition on a Plan card. This can be used for any of the following Plan cards:

• 3 landmarks
• 4 landmarks of the same category
• 5 types of landmarks
• 2 of the same landmarks twice

You can also use more than one Wild landmark on the same Plan card.