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Introduction

Background / game goal 1Game preparation 1

Game playGame end 1

Material 2

PhasesPhase 1 - Distribution of private company's 3Alternative distribution 3Phases 2 to 6 3

Rounds Stock round 4

Selling of shares 4Adjusting share price 4Presidents certificate 5Buying shares 5Starting a company 5Change of president 5Maximum number of certificates 5End of the round 5

Operating RoundsIncome from private companies 6Sell or buy its own shares 6Buying private companies 6Laying track 6

New tiles 7Replacing tiles 7Rivers 7

Placing a company token 7Running trains 8

Paying Dividend 9Adjusting share price 9Reaching the maximum share price 9

Purchasing trains 10Available trains 10Number of trains per company 10Train costs 10Forced train purchases 10Bankruptcy 10

Private companies 11

Companies 11

Development notes 12

Acknowledgments and credits 12

Available Tiles 13

1

introduction game play

Background / game goalThe players are investors in the new railroads at the beginning of the railway age of the Netherlands. The goal in the game is to become the wealthiest investor. By cleverly buying and selling of stock and the management of the railroad company's, you try to gain as much wealth as possible. During the game you become the president (Directeur in Dutch) of one or more companies.

Game preparation· Place the map in the middle of the table. Sort

out the company charters, markers and stock certificates and place them at the side.

· Sort out the game money and place it next to the board to form the bank. Designate a player to be the banker.

· Sort out the rails tiles and place the yellow tiles next to the board. The other tiles will enter the game later. The green tiles become available in phase 3 and the brown tiles in phase 5.

· The trains are sorted by number and placed in stacks next to the game-board, in ascending order, with the 3E trains next to the 6 trains

· Place the round marker on the first round· Place the phase marker on the yellow 2 phase.· Determine the start player any way you like

and give that player the priority deal card.· The starting money depends on the number

of players:

2 players fl. 600 per player, 3 players fl. 400 per player, 4 players fl. 300 per player, 5 players fl. 240 per player.

The game is played in rounds, alternating between a stock round and a block of 2 operation rounds. During the game new trains and new rail-tiles will become available as the game progresses into the next phase. Phases are triggered when the first of a new type of train is bought.

Game endThe game ends in one of two ways:

1. The stock price of a company reaches the top of the stock market.

2. At the end of the 15th round.

The winner is the player with the most wealth, both in cash money and the value of his stock. Money available in the company treasuries does not count towards this total.

2

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Pr u

i se n

Ha

nn

ov

er

B e l g i ë

Stavoren

Den Helder

Kleve

Emmericham Rhein

Salzbergen

Papenburg

Vlissingen

Antwerpen

Liège

Enkhuizen

NBD

NCS

NRS

HYSM

NSM

OSM

Société Anonyme des Chemins de Fer d'Anvers à Rotterdam

205

Spoorweg MaatschappijAlmelo - Salzbergen

1x / /

1

Société Anonyme des Chemins de Fer d'Anvers à Rotterdam

205

Spoorweg MaatschappijAlmelo - Salzbergen

1x / /

1

2

205

Spoorweg MaatschappijAlmelo - Salzbergen

1x / /

1

3

4

2

3

4

5

6

300

55

60

65

70

80

90

75

100

110

125

140

160

210

240

180

270

50

330

360

material

Stock MarketRounds

Open market Phase table

Company charters (7)

Game money, from fl 1,- to fl. 100,-

Rails tiles (120)50 yellow, 50 green, 20 brown

One phase - and round marker

35 Company tokens, 5 per company

7 Private companycards

27 train cards 1 start player card 63 stock certificates,9 per company

3

PHases

The phases in the game simulate the technical development of the railways. The triggering of the phases depends on the buying of trains by the company’s. A new phase is triggered when the first of a new type of train is bought. Either the 6 train or the 3E train can start the 6th phase! The new phase goes in effect at the end of the turn of the buying company.If a company has to many trains at the start of a new phase, it has to remove the extra train(s). The president chooses which trains to remove. The trains are removed from the game Phase 1 -Distribution of private company'sShuffle the private cards and deal as many cards open in the center of the board as there are players. The remaining privates are removed from the game. The open privates are auctioned off one by one in ascending order of their number. The player with the priority deal opens the auction and can make a bid, or pass. The minimum starting bid is the value printed on the card. The next player makes raises the bid or pass, the minimum raise is fl. 5. Once a player has passed he may no longer participate in this bidding.The winning player pays the winning bid to the

bank and becomes the owner of the private. If no player bids on the private it is removed from the game. This auction is repeated for all the privates, with the priority deal going to the next player after each auction.After last the auction the priority deal goes to the player with the most cash left.

Alternative distributionIf you play the game for the first time it will be difficult to asses the value of the privates. In that case you can use the following procedure:

Shuffle the cards and deal each player one private. The remaining cards are not used in the game. Each player pays the amount printed on the card. The priority deal goes to the player with the most cash left.

Special ability

Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6Tiles available Yellow Yellow, green Yellow, green All AllNew trains "2" "3" "4" "5" "6" en "3E"Number of trains 4 4 3 2 2Value foreign connections Yellow Yellow Yellow Brown BrownTrains removed "2"trains "3" trains "4" trainsPrivates May be May be Close

bought by bought bycompanies companies

Phases 2 to 6

NumberRevenue

Cost

4

rounds

Stock roundA stock round consists of a number of turns. The players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the priority deal player. Every player will get multiple turns, the stock round ends when all players have passed.

A player can do the following during his turn:

1. Sell one or more shares.2. Buy one share or start a new company.

Both actions are optional, the order however is fixed. If a player wants to perform neither action, he passes. A player who has passed may act in his next turn in this stock round. Unless all players pass, in which case the stock round will end.

Selling of sharesA player may sell one or more shares in this turn. Shared are sold simultaneously. The player receives the current stock value of the shares from the bank. It is possible to sell shares from more than one company.Shares are sold to the open market. There is a maximum of 50% of the shares per company in the open market. No shares of a company may be sold if there are 5 certificates in the open market of that company, Shares of companies started in this stock round may not be sold during this stock round.

Adjusting share priceAfter the player has sold all shares he wants to sell, there is an adjustment of the share price. The share price of a company goes one step down for each share sold of that company. Exception: If the selling player is not the president of the company whose shares were sold, then the share price can not drop below a ledge. There are ledges below the 110, 160, 240 and 330 share prices.

Ledge

5

Presidents certificateThe president certificate can not be sold. If a player sells enough shares to make another player the president, he swaps his president certificate for two normal certificates of the new president. The president certificate can not be sold if no other player has more than one share certificate!

Buying sharesA player can buy one share from the open market or directly from the company, both for the current share price. In a turn only one share can be bought.A player cannot buy any more shares of a company if he already owns 5 certificates (60%).The money goes to the bank if the share is bought from the open market. If it is bought from the company, it goes to the company treasury. If a player sold shares of a company during this stock round, he may not buy any shares of that company in this stock round.

Starting a companyTo start a new company you have to buy in one purchase a number of shares equal to the current phase number. Set a start share price (fl. 65 - fl. 100) and take the company charter and the shares. The player becomes the president of the company.The company gets the money for the initial shares in the treasury. It also gets the remaining shares and the tokens. The shares in the treasury can be bought by players and during operating rounds be sold by the company. The starting token of the company is placed on the starting city when it operates for the first time.

Change of presidentIf a player gets, by buying or selling, more shares than the current president, he takes over the presidency of the company. The player exchanges 2 of his share certificates with the president certificate of the old president and gets the company charter.

Maximum number of certificatesThe maximum number of certificates a player can have is 12. This includes the certificates for the private companies. If a player gets more than the maximum he has to correct that in his next stock turn. A president certificate which represents 2 shares or 20% of the company counts as one certificate for this maximum. A player may not own more than 60% of the shares of a company.

End of the roundThe stock round ends when all players pass in succession. The priority deal goes to the player to the right of the current owner.

6

operating rounds

During the operating round each active company builds track, buys trains, operates the trains and pays dividend to its shareholders. The president of the company takes all the decisions for the company, shareholders may give advice, however the president does not have to follow it.All companies get one turn in an operating round. The companies operate in descending share price order. If two or more companies have the same share price, the order is from left to right.The operating round ends when all companies have operated.To make sure each company operates only once it is advisable to turn the company token over or rotate it 90 degrees when it has operated.

Income from private companiesAt the start of each operating round each private company pays its income to its owner. If a private company is bought by a company, its income goes to the company treasury.

Each company then takes the following steps in this order:

Sell or buy its own sharesA company may sell its shares to the open market to raise money. It may sell in its turn as many shares as there are in the possession of all the players combined. The open market may not contain more than 50% of the shares of a company. The shares are sold for the current share price, the company gets the money for the shares from the bank and it goes to the treasury of the company. The share price goes down one place less than the number of share sold. If only one share is sold, the share price does not move. Instead of selling, the company can buy shares from the open market. The company pays the money for the shares from its treasury to the

bank. The bought shares go in the treasury of the company. A company may only buy or sell its own shares!

Buying private companiesA company can buy a private company from any player. The minimum price is fl.1 and the maximum price is the printed value. The current owner has to agree on the price and may decline to sell! The certificate of the private company goes in the company treasury. Further income from the private company in later rounds goes to the company treasury. The company can use the special power of the private company. See the list of private companies for more information about special powers.

Laying trackA company may in its turn place 2 yellow track tiles or replace one tile and place one yellow tile. Replacing of tile is only possible if the replacement tiles are available.

There are 4 kinds of track tiles.

1. Tiles with track only, these are placed on the

empty fields on the board.2. Tiles with small green stations which are

placed on the small green cities.3. Tiles with red main stations which are placed

on the large red cities.4. Special tiles with “Amsterdam” (1 yellow, 1

green and 1 brown), these can be placed only on Amsterdam and are the only tiles which can be placed there.

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New tilesOnly yellow tiles may be placed on empty hexes on the board. The company must have a single continues route from one of its stations to the field where you want to place the tile, the length of the route is not important. However you cannot trace a route through a blocked city! Exception: If the starting city of the company has no track, the first track has to be put on the starting city.At least one part of the track on the tile has to connect to your route, however it does not have to connect to track on neighboring fields. The tile has to be placed in such a way that no track ends at the edge of the board. Only at external

connections you can lay a track to the edge of the board, these are indicated with tracks on the board.

Replacing tilesStarting with phase 3, you can replace yellow tiles with green tiles. The replaced tile is returned to the stock and is immediately available. A yellow tile can be upgraded to a green tile in the same turn as it has been placed. The order of upgrading and/or placing of tiles is up to the player. All tracks and cities already in place have to be on the replacement tile.The company has to have a route to the tile,

following the same rules as the placing of a new tile.Starting with phase 5, you can replace green tiles

with brown tiles, following the same rules as for the green tiles. You can not replace a yellow tile directly with a brown tile.

RiversThe blue lines on the board follow the contours of the mayor rivers on the map. Building track across rivers costs extra money. For each connection that crosses a blue line the company has to pay fl 50,-. Building a track that only ends at a blue line has no costs.

Placing a company tokenA company may place one token per turn on an empty position on a main station. This station has to be reachable from one of the existing tokens of the company by a legal train route. The length of the train route is not important. The first token of the company is always placed on the starting city of the company and is free of charge, it is placed on the starting city when the company operates for the first time. The second token costs fl 40 and the third and forth cost fl 100. You may not block a starting city of another company. However, you may place a token on a starting city of another company as long as there remains room for the starting token.

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Running trainsA company uses its trains to generate revenue by running routes on the track on the board. A route must start and end at main stations or external connections. At least one of the stations on the route has to have a token on it of the operating company. All tracks on the board can potentially be used, even if they were placed by other companies.For the 1 to 6 trains each route generates the sum of the values of the stations in the route, including the start and end stations. The 3E trains count only the main stations and external connections; however the revenue of those is doubled. The value of a station is in the white hexagons on the tile. Some private companies give extra revenue on certain routes or cities; see the private companies list for more information.The president of the company must choose the routes to create the maximum revenue for the company. The other players may assist in finding the best routes.

A route must comply with the following rules.· At least one main station with a token of the

company.· Start and end at a main station or external

connection.· The maximum length of the route is the

number on the train, only main stations and external connections count; small green stations only count for the revenue.

· It must be a single, continuous route.· Track may be used only once, not by the

same train or by any other train of the company. A tile with more than one track may be used more than once, if the separate pieces of track are used.

· A station may be used only once per train. Amsterdam has two separate stations in the yellow and green phases.

· Trains of the same company may not share the same track, but may share the stations.

· Tokens of other companies block routes at main stations. Only if the company has one

of its own tokens or if there is an open spot on the station may a route be continued past a main station. However it is possible to use a blocked station as a start or end point of a route.

· External connections can only be used as start or end points of a route.

In this example the NCS company can run 2 "3 trains" on the routes:Utrecht - Arnhem - Amsterdam for fl 110,- and Breda - Utrecht for fl 50,-. It can not run on Amsterdam twice because it would use the same track twice. It can not run to Den Haag because it is blocked in Amsterdam by the NRS.If the NRS has a "5 train" it could run the following route: Den Haag - Amsterdam - Arnhem - Utrecht - Breda for fl 160,- The ferry route between Enkhuizen and Stavoren is open to all companies, private company no. 3 only gives a bonus revenue to the owning company if it uses the route.

9

Paying DividendAfter the total revenue of the company has been calculated, the president has two options:

1. Withhold dividends and put the revenue in

the company treasury.

2. Pay dividends to the shareholders. For each

share of the company the owner gets 10% of the dividends. Shares in the company treasury pay their dividend to the company treasury. The president’s certificate is worth 2 shares!

Amount of dividend paid Adjustment of share priceDividend is withheld or there is no revenue, which happens Down one stepif thecompany has no valid route or no trains

The total is the same or lower than the current share price The price stays the same

The total dividend is higher than the current share price The price goes one step upand not more than twice the share price

The total dividend is more than twice the current share price The price goes two steps up

Adjusting share priceDepending on the amount of dividend paid, the share price of the company is adjusted.Put the token on the new share price level to the right of any tokens already on the same price.

Reaching the maximum share priceIf a company reaches the maximum share price, the game ends at the end of the current operating round.

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Purchasing trainsA company may purchase one or more trains in its turn. Trains can be bought from the bank or another company.

Number of main stations

Operatingphases

Cost

Available trainsOnly the trains of this phase are available in the bank. Only after all trains of this phase are sold is it possible to buy trains of the next phase. Buying the first train of the next phase triggers the new phase, which starts at the end of the turn of this company.

Number of trains per company Depending on the phase a company may own several trains:

Phase 2 3 4 5 6Trains 4 4 3 2 2

Train costsTrains bought from the bank cost the printed price. Trains bought off another company cost a minimum of fl 1 with no maximum price. Both presidents of the companies have to agree on the price (this can be the same player). It is allowed to buy the last train of the other company, leaving it without trains. Forced train purchasesIf a company does not own trains and has a valid route it is forced to purchase a train. The president will have to raise the funds if the company does not have enough in its treasury to buy a train.The president has to raise money to buy the cheapest available train in the following order:

1. Sell shares of the company to the open market

if possible.2. His own private cash.3. He has the option to sell his own shares to the

open market if possible. He may also sell shares of other companies. No change of presidency may be a result of this selling.

If the above steps would not raise enough money to buy a train, no shares are sold! The president has to buy the cheapest train available, but does not have to accept an offer from another president to buy a train of that company. BankruptcyIf not enough money is raised to buy the train, the company goes bankrupt and is removed from the game. All tokens are removed from the board. All shares of the company still in possession of the players are worthless and are removed from the game.The money in the treasury goes back to the bank. The president retains his private cash.

11

private companies

Naam Kosten Opbrengst Speciale eigenschap1 Spoorweg Maatschappij Almelo 20 5 One time place or upgrade one

extra tile, free of charge. Closesafter this action.

2 Koninklijk Korps van Ingenieurs 40 10 Pays one time the costs for crossing a river. Closes after this action.

3 Veerdienst Enkhuizen - Stavoren 75 15 Fl 20 bonus revenue for the owning company if it uses the ferry across the Zuiderzeebetween Enkhuizen and Stavoren

4 Veerdienst Vlissingen - Londen 75 15 Fl 20 bonus for the owning company if it starts or ends a route in Vlissingen, using the ferry toLondon

5 Rijks Waterstaat 80 20 Pays one time the cost of placing a company token. Closes after this

action.

6 Werkspoor 100 20 Gives a 10% discount on all trains the owning company buys fromthe bank

7 Koninklijke Ondersteuning 100 10 The buyer also gets one share of the NRS company

bedrijven

Name Short Starts in

Noord Brabantsch Duitse Spoorweg maatschappij NBDS Den Bosch

Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg maatschappij HIJSM Amsterdam

Nederlansche Rijnspoorweg NRS Amsterdam

Overijsselsche Spoorweg Maatschappij OSM Zwolle

Société Anonyme des Chemins de Fer d'Anvers à Rotterdam AR Breda

Nederlansche Centraal Spoorweg Maatschappij NCS Utrecht

Nijmeegsche Spoorweg Maatschappij NSM Nijmegen

12

development notes

My goal in the development of this game was to create a short 18xx game wich is also suited for players who are new to the 18xx system. For this reason I kept the game reasonably straight forward and there are no extra's, like mergers, loans etc.The emphasis of the game is more on the operation of the companies then on the stock market. To keep the game relatively short it is limited to 15 rounds: 5 sets of 1 stock round and 2 operation rounds. This is sufficient for all the all the trains without having rounds in wich nothing changes on the board.

The companies used in the game did all exsist in reality. Only not all companies operated a railroad. The OSM never got past the planning stage before the investors gave up. The NSM did operate, but not with it's own trains. The "staats spoorwegen" (state railroad) operated on its lines on behalf of the NSM.

The other companies all operated with more or less success until they were nationalized in the state railroad. The state railroad is not in the game because I could not find a suitable way to fit it in the game without lengthening the game to much.

I hope you have at much fun playing the game as I had developing it.

Bart van Dijk

Acknowledgments and creditsThis game and its graphics are designed by Bart van Dijk. The game is based on the 18xx series of games wich was started with 1829 by Francis Tresham.

Thanks go out the various play testers:André Verheij, Peter jans, Dick Ruck, Peter Delafontaine, Frederic Taton, Geert Lagrou and many others wich provided me with invaluable feedback

13

available tiles

Yellow Tiles Green Tiles Green Tiles (cont.)

Brown Tiles

Copyright © 2007 Bart van Dijk