American Rails

Hey there! Welcome to American Rails, an exciting game where you get to step into the shoes of wealthy capitalists. In this game, your goal is to manage a portfolio of stocks and bonds from six different railroad companies. Are you ready to become the ultimate railroad baron and amass a fortune? Let’s get started!

SETUP

Okay, first things first. Let’s set up the game. Place the game board in the center of the playing area. Next, you’ll need to create the treasury and supply for each of the six railroad companies. Beside each company’s assigned space, put the white cubes and shares. Make sure to do this for all the companies.

Now, let’s move on to the income track. Take a cube from each supply and put them on the zero space of the income track. And voila, we’re all set up and ready to go!

In the construction supply area, we set up twelve black construction markers. Each player gets a summary card and an action marker of the same color. We choose one player to be the banker, in charge of collecting all the money. It’s important to keep the bank’s money separate from company and personal funds. The banker gives each player $50 in three and four-player games or $40 in a five-player game. Now we’re ready to start the game. Let’s go!

GAMEPLAY

When the game starts, we have to do an auction to determine who gets a share from each company. The banker goes first and can either bid or pass. The minimum bid for a share is $10. Then we go around the group clockwise, with each player having to bid or pass. Once a player passes, they can’t change their mind. The last player to pass will win the share.

Once the auction is done, we move on to the action phase. We look at the action markers and start with the player whose marker is at the top of the track. They move their marker to an empty space and decide if they want to take that action. Then the next player does the same thing. We keep going until all players have moved their marker and taken an action. The next two rounds are based on what happened in the previous action phase.

When it’s my turn in the game, I move my marker to a spot on the right if it’s closest to the top. Then it’s the next player’s turn, and they do the same thing. After we’ve all taken our turns three times, it’s time to get paid. How much we get paid depends on how well the companies we own shares in are doing. Once all the companies have paid out their dividends, the round is over.

We keep playing like this for a maximum of seven rounds. But the game might end sooner if certain conditions are met.

THE END

Hey there! It’s a wrap when the players get their share and one of these things happen: it’s 1857, all the shares are gone, or there’s only a limited supply left. Time to add up the points and see who takes home the win. Drumroll, please… the player with the most points wins the game!

Yo, I’m Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and I’m a huge fan of animals, all kinds of fantasy books, and getting out into nature. I’ve got an amazing husband who loves me almost as much as our two fur babies. Being a part of this awesome community is the best.

Yo, I’m Ellie! I live in Northeast Tennessee and I’m a huge fan of animals, all kinds of fantasy books, and getting out into nature. I’ve got an amazing husband who loves me almost as much as our two fur babies. Being a part of this awesome community is the best.