Traintopia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • A Round of Play
• Placing Tiles
  • Tracks
• Wooden Elements
  • Drafting Wooden Elements
  • Commuters
  • Tourists
  • Mailbags and Trains
  • Drafting for 1 Victory Point
• Money Tokens
• Victory Point Tokens
• Merging Tracks
• Ending the Game
  • Bonus Card Resolution
• Final Scoring
  • Finished Tracks
  • Mailbags
  • Trains
  • The Longest Track
• Credits

Game Components

Welcome to the game of Traintopia! Before we begin, here is what your copy of the game should contain:

Wooden components:

• 15 Commuters (5 green, 5 grey, 5 yellow) — take all the green, grey and yellow Commuters and drop them inside the Cotton Bag. In fact, you can store them in it between games as well!
• 1 Bag
• 10 Tourists — set the white Tourists and the purple Railway Inspector to the side.
• 1 Railway Inspector
• 5 Bullet Trains — which we will simply call... Trains!
• 6 Mailbags — probably full of good news!

Cardboard components (carefully punch them out and sort them into the following groups):

• 50 Map Tiles
• 10 Bonus Tiles
• 4 Starting Tiles
• 1 Railhead Tile
• 90 Victory Point Tokens
• 24 Money Tokens

Cards:

• 8 Objective Cards
• 9 Round Cards
• 1 End Game Bonus Card
• 4 Player Aid Cards

We take great care to make sure all you need to play is neatly packed into every copy of Traintopia. However, mistakes can still happen. If any game components are missing or you find that anything is damaged, make sure to contact us via our Customer Support form found on www.boardanddice.com.

Game Setup

Time to play Traintopia? Great! Let us get you set up for a new game!

Traintopia can sometimes get a bit... big! When you are laying out the components, make sure that you have plenty of space for each player to place their Tiles without being afraid of invading someone else's space – or having a tile drop to its doom from the table!

1. Make some room on a nice flat surface – like a table – and start laying out the game components.
2. Shuffle the Map Tiles face down and place them in a stack nearby.
3. Place all Bonus Tiles in a face-up line to the side of your playing area.
4. Shuffle the Round Cards and create a face down deck consisting of:
   • 9 cards when playing with 3 players
   • 8 cards when playing with 2 or 4 players (placing the remaining card back into the game box).
5. Place the End Game Bonus Card face up near the Round Cards deck. Put the Railway Inspector, the Railhead Tile, a single Train and one Mailbag on the End Game Bonus Card. Each of those elements even has a dedicated space there!
6. Shuffle all Objective Cards and place them in a face-down deck. Deal one to each player. You can look at your own Objective Card, but keep it secret from others!
7. Take a number of Player Aid Cards equal to the number of players, making sure that the card with the Conductor Symbol is among them. Shuffle them and deal one to each player.
8. The player who has the card with the Conductor Symbol is going to be the first Starting Player! Give the Cotton Bag with Commuters to that player.
9. Place the Tourists, Trains and Mailbags in a pile to the side of your playing area.
10. Place the Money Tokens and the Victory Point Tokens in piles to the side of your playing area.
11. Give each player a random Starting Tile. Everyone should flip them face up and start their own little piece of Traintopia. Put any unused Starting Tiles back in the box.
12. Reveal a number of Map Tiles equal to the number of players times two (4 Map Tiles with 2 players, 6 Map Tiles with 3 players and 8 Map Tiles with 4 players) and place them in the middle of the table.
13. Beginning with the last player (that is whoever is sitting to the right of the Starting Player), and going counter-clockwise around the table, everyone should select one of the face-up Map Tiles.
14. Once everyone has taken a single Map Tile, go around once again, this time clockwise and beginning with the Starting Player, with everyone taking another single face-up Map Tile.
15. Everyone should now – at the same time – add their new Map Tiles to their Starting Tile.

If this is your first time reading these rules, do not worry about adding the Map Tiles just yet. You will find rules on how to do that a few paragraphs down!

YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY TRAINTOPIA!

How to Play

A game of Traintopia is played in rounds. During a single round, you will draft different game elements – Map Tiles, Tourists, Commuters, Trains and Mailbags – and add them to your own Network, until just one element remains in the middle of the table. Once this happens, the current round will end, and you will prepare for the next round.

A Round of Play

Each round consists of 3 Parts: Preparation, Draft and Clean-Up.

Part 1: Preparation

The Starting Player – the player holding the Commuter Bag – should draw the top Round Card, and place it face up where everyone can see it.

Then, check the box at the bottom of the card and find the correct number of players to find out how many Map Tiles you need to draw and place face up in the middle of the general playing area (the card shows the number of Map Tiles revealed this round for a 2-player, 3-player and 4-player game).

First, place all wooden elements depicted on the card:

• Place a single Tourist on this space
• Reach into the bag and draw a random Commuter to place on this space
• Place a single Train on this space
• Place a single Mailbag on this space
• Place all wooden elements on the Round Card

Part 2: Draft

Starting with the player holding the Commuter Bag and proceeding clockwise around the table, you will be drafting Map Tiles and the wooden elements on the Round Card. The players will take turns, drafting one tile or element at a time, immediately adding it to their Network, until there is only one left.

Example: In a 3-player game the depicted card would make these elements available for drafting. At the end of this draft, the first player has 3 Map Tiles, the second player has 2 Map Tiles and 1 Mailbag, and the third player has 1 Yellow Commuter, 1 Map Tile and a Train. The only element left is a Tourist.

Part 3: Clean-Up

Once everything but one last element is gone, remove it and the Round Card back to the game box.

If there are any cards left in the Round Card deck, pass the Commuter Bag to the player on your left. They become the new Starting Player for the next round!

If there are no more cards in the Round Card deck, the game is almost over. You will need to resolve the End Game Bonus Card and proceed to scoring points.

Tiles have different icons, indicating Stations, Districts, Landmarks and more. Each of these have their own little rule (or two), which we will explain in detail whenever it makes sense. For now, just sit back, relax and marvel at their futuristic beauty.

Placing Tiles

Now it is time to talk about the most fun part of Traintopia – adding new tiles and making your Network grow! So, how do you add a Tile to your Network?

It is really simple! Whenever you get a Tile, you can rotate it however you want to make it fit your Network. Then, place it in such a way that at least half of one of its sides touches the side of another Tile in your Network without overlapping another of your Tiles.

You are also allowed to add new Tiles to your Network without extending an existing Track, and the different Districts or Landmarks on your Tiles do not have to match!

Once you find a suitable spot, just place the tile there. It is really easy as long as you remember two important rules:

No Dead Ends

No rail can simply end on another Tile edge. It either has to connect to another piece of rail, or simply end in an empty space.

No Loops

You cannot loop a track – it has to finish at Stations or empty spaces.

These are all the tile placement rules!

Tracks

A Track is exactly what it sounds like: a single line of rails that you will be extending by adding new tiles. A Track can be of any length.

This is a single tile Track. This is a Track that is three Tiles long, and ends on both sides with two different Stations.

Wooden Elements

Apart from taking Tiles, you will also be drafting Commuters, Tourists, Trains and Mailbags. Each of them allow you to score some precious Victory Points either the moment you place them on a Track, or later – when the game ends.

Drafting Wooden Elements

When you draft a wooden piece – a Commuter, a Tourist, a Train or a Mailbag – you must immediately place it on one of your Tracks.

Commuters

The moment you place a Commuter on a Track you will immediately score Victory Points! Trace the Track you placed the Commuter on, from start to finish. You score 1 Victory Point for each District matching the colour of the Commuter. However, each Track can only ever have a single Commuter of each colour: 1 Gray, 1 Yellow and 1 Green.

• The Grey Commuter scores 1 Victory Point for each Grey District and Mixed District along the Track. (Example: the Grey Commuter scores 4 Victory Points.)
• The Green Commuter scores 1 Victory Point for each Green District and Mixed District along the Track. (Example: the Green Commuter scores 3 Victory Points.)
• The Yellow Commuter scores 1 Victory Point for each Yellow District and Mixed District along the Track. (Example: the Yellow Commuter scores 7 Victory Points.)

Tourists

Each Track can only ever have a single Tourist.

However, the moment you place a Tourist – much like when you place a Commuter – you score Victory Points immediately! Trace the Track you place the Tourist on and look for any Landmarks that are adjacent to the line – these are the ones next to the rail horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Adjacent Landmarks can be printed on the same Tile but also on neighbouring Tiles.

Example: the Tourist scores 1, 2 or 3 Victory Points for each Landmark adjacent to the Track. In the pictured example the Tourist scores 6 Victory Points!

Mailbags and Trains

Each Track can only ever have 1 Mailbag and 1 Train (having two Trains on the exact same line would be a disaster!). These elements do not score any Victory Points at the moment you place them but can give you a great point boost at the end of the game.

Drafting for 1 Victory Point

Instead of adding a drafted element to your Network, you may instead discard it (returning it to the game box) and simply score 1 Victory Point. It may not be a glorious option, but it can still come in handy!

Money Tokens

Whenever you add a Tile with the Money symbol to your Network, you must cover it with a Money Token. If there is more than 1 such symbol, cover each of them with a Money Token.

At any time during your turn (before or after drafting), you may spend up to 3 Money Tokens, each to perform one of the Special Actions once:

Purchase a Bonus Tile

You may choose any face-up Bonus Tile from the general playing area and add it to your Network. The rules for placing Bonus Tiles are identical to the rules of placing Map Tiles.

Change a Commuter Colour

When you place a new Commuter on one of your Tracks, you can decide that it will score a different colour of District on their way. Spend 1 Money Token, choose any colour of District and score 1 Victory Point for each District of the selected colour on the Track. Mixed Districts will also score you points – but the Districts sharing the colour with your new Commuter's original colour will not.

You are not allowed to change a Commuter into a Tourist, or a Tourist into a Commuter.

Are you still a bit confused about changing the Commuter color? When drafting a Commuter of any colour, you can spend 1 Money Token to treat the Commuter as if it were of a different colour. Maybe you really want to score Green Districts, but have already placed a Green Commuter on the Track, or maybe no Green Commuter is available to draft. By drafting a Yellow or Grey Commuter, and spending a Money Token to temporarily treat the Commuter as if it were of a different colour, you would be able to score Green while placing a different coloured Commuter.

Example: there is a Yellow Commuter on this Track already, so no more Yellow Commuters may be placed here. There is only a single Grey District on this Track – and a single Wild District – so the Grey Commuter would only score 2 Victory Points. However, when placing the Grey Commuter, you can spend 1 Money Token to score the Yellow Districts instead. This way, you would make 5 Victory Points instead of just 2.

Draw an Objective Card

Objectives can sometimes be difficult to fulfil. That is why you can simply spend 1 Money Token to draw a new Objective Card from the top of the Objective Deck. Compare it to your current Objective, and then select one of the 2 Objective cards in your hand to be placed back at the bottom of the Objective Deck.

Victory Point Tokens

Whenever you score any Victory Points in the game, take an appropriate amount of Victory Point Tokens to track your triumph! You may exchange Victory Point Tokens of different denominations between your personal pool and the stock freely – as long as your total remains: Victory Points do not change.

Whenever asked by another player, you must reveal your current Victory Point total. The good news is that any other player has to tell you how many Victory Points they have the moment you ask.

Merging Tracks

Sometimes two separate Tracks can merge into one. If that happens, simply remove any surplus wooden elements as the new Track can still hold a maximum of 1 of each Commuter colour (Gray, Yellow and Green), 1 Tourist, 1 Mailbag and 1 Train.

Merging Tracks can be a bit tricky. While it can give you an impressively long Track to compete with other players, it may also mean that you will not score for some of the features of the merged Track. For example, if any of the joined tracks already scored for a Green Commuter before merging, you will not be able to score the Green Districts on the new track after merging.

Ending the Game

If you have just discarded the last Round Card of the deck, it means that game is close to the end. Before you score points, there is one special step you must make:

Bonus Card Resolution

Count all the Victory Points you have and compare it to the current total of all other players. Whoever has the fewest points should now select one of the elements from the End Game Bonus Card. Then proceed to the player with the next fewest points and so on, until each player has selected one end game bonus.

If two or more players are tied, the first to choose will be the player further from the last round's Starting Player. Just to clarify: if you were the last player you were furthest from the Starting Player.

Once everyone has chosen their Bonuses, add them to your Networks:

The Railhead

This Tile is a special Station you can add to any unfinished Track. As long as it does not overlap any other Tile, its placement is always considered correct.

The Railway Inspector

You may add the Railway Inspector to any Track. Immediately select one District colour on the Track (Green, Yellow or Grey) and score it the same way you would when placing a Commuter, including the scoring of Mixed Districts.

Mailbag and Train

These work exactly like their regular counterparts. See the scoring description below to find out all you need to know about Mailbags and Trains in Traintopia!

Final Scoring

Each player should now look at their Network and score points for its following features:

Finished Tracks

A Track is considered finished when it ends on both sides with a Station. Count the length of each of your finished Tracks by counting each Tile the line crosses (including its Stations). If a Track crosses a single Tile more than once, do not count the Tile again. After all, the passengers have already been here.

Score Victory Points according to the table below:

Both Stations Are	2-3 Tiles	4-5 Tiles	6-7 Tiles	8+ Tiles
Identical	2 VP	3 VP	5 VP	8 VP
Different	4 VP	5 VP	7 VP	10 VP

Mailbags

A Mailbag on a finished Track doubles the Victory Points received.

Example: a finished Track that is 4 Tiles long, and has different Stations on its ends, scores 5 Victory Points. The Mailbag will, however, double this to a total of 10 Victory Points.

Trains

Count all the Money Tokens still in your Network that are also adjacent to a Track with a Train. Then, receive points depending on the overall total of Money Tokens from your Network:

Money Tokens Adjacent to Tracks with a Train	0-1	2-3	4+
Victory Points Received	0 VP	4 VP	10 VP

Each Money Token can only be counted once. Even if it is adjacent to more Tracks with Trains, it still counts as a single Money Token.

The Longest Track

Count the length (the number of Tiles) of your longest Track (it does not have to be finished). Each player compares the length of their longest Track with the longest Tracks of their opponents.

• In a 4-player game, players receive (in order from longest to shortest Track): 6, 3, 1 and 0 Victory Point.
• In a 3-player game, players receive (in order from longest to shortest Track): 6, 3 and 0 Victory Point.
• In a 2-player game only the player with the longest Track receives 6 Victory Points.

Any ties are broken by turn order – you win the tie by being closer to the last round's Starting Player.

Credits

Game Design: Przemek Wojtkowiak Game Development: Andrei Novac, Błażej Kubacki, Rainer Åhlfors, Małgorzata Mitura Art Direction: Kuba Polkowski Illustrators: Jakub Fajtanowski, Zbigniew Umgelter Graphic Design: Zbigniew Umgelter Rulebook: Błażej Kubacki, Małgorzata Mitura

Board & Dice: Executive Manager – Andrei Novac; Head of Localization and Art Direction – Kuba Polkowski; Head of Marketing – Filip Głowacz; Head of Sales – Ireneusz Huszcza; Development Lead – Błażej Kubacki