Ride The Rails

Categories: Economic, Trains, Transportation

Mechanics: Hexagon Grid, Network and Route Building, Pick-up and Deliver, Stock Holding, Turn Order: Stat-Based

Players: 3–5

Ages: 12+

Playtime: 45–60 Min

In Ride the Rails, you will invest in railroad companies, build railway tracks across America, and transport passengers to various cities. Each game round consists of three phases:

• Take a Share: Choose a locomotive from the available Railroad companies to take as a share.
• Build Railroad Track: Build tracks for companies in which you own at least one share.
• Ride the Rails: Transport a passenger to a city, distributing points (dividends) to shareholders.

Each round introduces a new Railroad company with unique placement rules. Your goal is to deliver passengers to as many cities as possible to maximize your points. Be mindful of your route, as shareholders of the Railroads you use will also score points.

Ride the Rails is designed for 3-5 players aged 12 and up, and typically takes about an hour to play. The game features simple rules (explained on a single sheet of paper) with diverse strategies and tactics. Contents include 1 game board, 5 player boards, 162 wooden locomotives, 52 wooden passengers, 7 tracker disks, 15 player disks, 1 round marker, and 1 rule sheet.

This game reimplements Rail USA from Winsome Games, originally released in 2014, with new global settings and an updated turn order structure.