RAILROADS of CATAN Copyright 2004, Yehuda Berlinger (jon@actcom.co.il) A railroad game utilizing the Settlers of Catan game components. Other equipment desirable, but not required. Borrows inspiration from Mayfair train games and Age of Steam. 3 - 4 players (4 is recommended), and about 3 hours of time. GAME COMPONENTS Hexes, pieces, numbers, robber, development cards (optional) and dice from Settlers of Catan, paper and pencil, numerous small slips of paper for writing delivery orders and/or train loads in transit, and enough money in denominations of 100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000 (Acquire, etc.., or you can just track on paper). GAME SETUP At least 100 slips of paper should be prepared, each with a random city color (R,B,O,W) and number 2-5 (indicating dots) identifying the destination. This can be done by hand, by rolling dice and writing (it took me about 20 minutes, after which the same slips may be used for an infinite number of games), or by computer. These are the delivery orders. Lay them face down next to the board. Also leave some small more small slips of paper to use for keeping track of goods in transit, to be placed under the train in question (or use goods from Puerto Rico: Blue for Ore, Yellow for Wheat, White for Sheep, Brown for Wood, Tan for Brick). Lay out Settlers board with water and land hexes mixed together. Lay out number chits randomly on all non-water, non-desert hexes. Remove the 2 and 12 chits. Choose a starting player. Player 1 picks a hex with 5 dots (6 or 8) and places a city of his color in the center of that hex, next to the chit. Continue clockwise around the board. Player 2 then chooses first for 4 dot hexes, then player 3 for 3 dot hexes, then player 4 for 2 dot hexes. Each player takes 15 rails (roads) and 5 train segments (houses) in his color, and $15,000 . Shuffle all the goods from Settlers and place in a pile near the delivery orders. Create six Associate Cards and place on table: Construction Crew, Banker, Engineer, Conductor, Negotiator, Union Manager. Optional: Take 5 Soldiers, 2 of each Year of Plenty, Monopoly, Road Building and VP cards from the Settlers development cards. Mix well, discard 6 face down, and place the remaining 7 near the board. This is the event deck. A NOTE ABOUT BIDDING All bidding is blind (write down a number and then reveal it, or hold the cash in your right hand and then reveal simultaneously). In case of ties, roll a die to determine precedence for these players. PLAYING THE GAME The game is played one turn at a time until an ending condition is met. During each phase of the turn, all players act in player order, except for bidding. PHASE 1 - MAINTENANCE (all players) Items are maintained at 1/10 the cost of the item, i.e. tracks at $100 each, mountain/water tracks $200, small trains $500, large trains $800. If a player does not want to maintain something, other players can then bid on it. The player can then either accept the bid or continue to maintain the item. If the bid is over half of the value, the player must accept the bid. If someone wins the bid, that person replaces the item with one of his own and pays the current player and the player's own item returns to his supply. If noone bids, he may remove the item from play and place back in his supply, anyway. PHASE 2 - EVENT (optional) Flip over an event card and note or perform the event. Only one event card is flipped during a turn (not one per player). EVENTS - Tax (Soldier) - Pay $100/barrel tax on all goods currently owned. - Year of Plenty (Year of Plenty) - All goods cost half price this year. - Monsoon (Monopoly) - All water tracks are destroyed. Tracks on the coast may not be built or used during this turn. Any trains on the bridges or coasts (and any goods in them) are lost. - Surplus (Road Building) - Each player (in player order) can lay additional 2 tracks or 1 mountain/water track this year. Follow normal rules about placing tracks. - Holiday (Victory Points) - Each player gets $1000/small train, $2000/large train, they own. PHASE 3 - STARTING PLAYER/ASSOCIATES Players bid for starting position. Starting player takes the robber. Second player takes a die, turns it to 2 and places it near him. Third player takes the other die and turns it to 3. Each player, in player order, selects a role. The roles are: Construction Crew: build up to two more rails this turn. Banker: take 10% of your money holdings in cash from the bank. Engineer: All rails you build are half price. Conductor: Move trains through mountain areas at full movement rate. Negotiator: Pay half price for any goods bought this turn. Union Manager: Run trains over other player's tracks for free. PHASE 4 - FLIP DELIVERY ORDERS. All face up delivery orders receive additional $2000 under them. Turn up new delivery orders until there are 2 * number of players flipped up. When you turn up a delivery order, place a random card from the goods deck under the delivery order. The delivery order indicates a $4000 commision to deliver one barrel of a type of good to the indicated city. For instance, if the delivery order is 3 - O and has a wood under it, then a player who delivers 1 barrel of wood to the Orange city on the 3 dot chit may take the delivery order, any money under it, and $4000, in addition to th usual delivery fee. You do not get more for delivering more than one barrel. When a delivery order is first flipped up, the good placed under it cannot be the same as the good produced in the city. If Orange 3 is on a wood hex, discard the wood and pick a different card. PHASE 5 - BUY TRACKS/TRAINS (player order) You may buy tracks at $1000/track, $2000/track through mountains or over water, $5000/small train (one house), $3000 to upgrade a small train to a large train (two houses together). Pay an additional $1000/track to the owner of a city you connect to. Tracks are laid from vertex to the center of a hex, or from vertex to vertex (along the side of a hex). Two tracks cannot connect the same two points. All tracks you buy must begin at one of your cities or extend one of your tracks. A player can only place 3 tracks per round, and may buy one small train or upgrade to a large train once per round, but not both. Place new trains next to one of your cities. PHASE 6 - RUN TRAINS (player order) Run trains on your own track for free. Small trains can make 8 moves per turn, and large trains can make 6. Each move through a mountain space costs double, good pickup/dropoff costs one move (for either or both). You may run on other player's tracks by paying $200/track segment + $200 if passing through another player's city or parking in their city at the end of the phase, subject to a maximum of $1000 to another player per turn for each player. No more than 3 trains can be in a city at any time. No more than 1 train can park on any non-city location, although trains can pass each other freely. Pick up goods (wheat, ore, brick, wood, sheep) by buying them in cities on hexes that produce them. Small trains can hold 2 goods, large trains 5 goods. Goods cost ($100 * the number of dots of the city) each, paid to the city owner ($200/dots for ore). You produce goods in your own city for free. If you make a delivery, receive $200 times the number of dots of the city you delivered to ($300/dots for ore). You cannot sell goods to a city that produces those type of goods. If you fulfill a DO, receive the delivery bonus (in addition to the sale value of the goods) and discard the DO. If your train has goods on it at the end of this phase, note the goods on a small piece of paper and place under the train (or place PR goods next to it). PHASE 7 - ROUND END The game ends when a) A player reaches $75,000, or b) a player has connected all of his cities with his own color tracks, or c) 7 rounds. Continue play until all players have finished phase 6. The winner is the player with the most cash. Ties go to the player with the most assets, counting tracks as 1, mountain and water tracks as 2, trains as 5 or 8 times, and goods as half each. If the game hasn't ended, continue with phase 1.