Santa Fe Rails (2001)

Overview

On a map showing the western portion of the United States, each player takes turns building track to extend any of five major railroad lines westward from their originating cities. Players often want the lines to extend in different directions toward the cities that they have a stake in. Some branching is allowed, but each line has a limited number of track pieces. Stakes for specific cities are accumulated throughout the game by drawing blind from a deck of city cards. The more different lines arriving at a city, the higher the score will be for that city. Later in the game, four short lines also become available.

An updated version of Alan R. Moon's White Wind game Santa Fe.

Game Summary The deck is composed of city cards (with some short lines shuffled into the middle third). Players have a hand of 4 city cards to start the game. Each round, players simultaneously select a card to play, then reveal. City cards are added to your personal display -- essentially, you have a share in that city. There are also several special cards (2x, 3x, 4-in-one, Branch Line, Boomtown) that modify the basic game turn. These specials are on public display, and can be acquired at the end of each round (some cost $1; the 2x may be held, but the rest must be played immediately after acquiring them).

Then, in turn order, going twice around, players add a single track to any of the railheads (each of the 5 lines has specific starting locations on the board). If the link is to a previously unconnected city, collect $2. In addition, if the city is one of the goal cities of that train line, collect $4.

After all players have gone (twice), pass the start player marker to the left. THEN, in turn order, players bring their hand total back to 4 (draw from deck and/or from cards on display). If a Short Line card is revealed, discard the card and draw again; that Short Line is now in play. They choose a card to play, and repeat above.

The game ends when tracks for 3 lines are completely used. Each city's value is equal to its base value, printed on board, multiplied by the number of different train lines connected to it. The player with the most cash and city value wins!