Game of Trains

Product Information

Destructoid praised the game's nuance and mechanics, noting that it makes effective use of the board game format: "The Auschwitz revelation is but one aspect of an entire experience designed to make players question the way they follow rules, and how they’ll behave once they understand what’s going on, and how complicit they’re willing to be. Power Gamers” may be more interested in Dominion with it’s enormous amounts of expansions instead of Trains until more is available. Each turn player can do one of the following: take a random card from the deck or use definite ability of the card which was removed from any train earlier. Players continue to do this until either the station tokens run out, a player runs out of railway tokens, or four sets of cards from the common pool have been depleted.

Four players, you will need good table space and possibly will be waiting for your turn quite a bit, as people can tend to want to see everything going on. Take a carriage card face-up in the centre of the play area and use its special ability to affect your (and potentially your opponents’) lines in some way.The only choices are where to place the drawn card (if at all) and who to impact when discarding a card with an action. Or perhaps you will focus on laying tracks across the landscape and helping other players move their goods - taking your cut, of course. A market exists on the side of the board, selling off sexier trains, more opportunities to lay rails or even abilities that instantly gain you victory points. It’s a game that could be brought out with relatives who like classic card games and if they are a fan of the HBO show then that would be an added bonus. As a two player game it’s quick, doesn’t take up too much table and is simple to keep an eye on each other.

Cards can also be spent to pay for the construction of your new train cars and buildings, or you can use your cards as cargo and load them onto available freight cars. The expense of building is determined by the location: empty fields can be built on for free, while building on a mountain that already contains another player’s rails could cost enough to prohibit you from purchasing a new card on that turn (and force you to take an additional Waste). My son who’s big into “action” games like Sentinels of the Multiverse, thought Trains was going to be boring.I’m not exaggerating though, the box for this game is very small – It definitely won’t take up a lot of precious shelf real estate in your collection. Another thing the game gives you to think about, if you can take in that much information, is that the card you are discarding in the middle might be a huge advantage for another player. Isle of Trains: All Aboard is all about balancing the need to upgrade your train, with loading cargo or passengers onto opponent’s train for big bonuses, and delivering cargo and passengers to their destinations before anyone else. Because the abilities on the cards they discard will then be available for the other players to use on their turns. These contain additional 2-player maps as well as enhanced rules for 2-player games (like making smaller decks of cards to start the game and having static starting rail locations).

Also, I have really enjoyed playing it with Caitlin (my 10-year-old) she picked up how to play straight away and we played four games in a row with her winning one of them and wanting to play more the next day, but the timing wasn’t right. From transporting the populace to carrying essential materials, trains play an integral part in a nation’s power and economic development. Additional Lay Rails and Station Expansion cards are available for purchase during the game, but your starting Normal Trains are the only ones you’ll get (more powerful train cars are purchased during the game). It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. This convenient pocket sized family friendly card game takes just a few minutes to learn and 20 minutes to play.While prior experience with deck-builders will grease the wheels, Trains is extremely easy to pick up.

The tokens used for rails and stations — colored cubes and colorless hexagonal cylinders, respectively — are not terribly representative, but they are simple and easily distinguishable. The entire world, characters and themes of ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’ are solely Zevin’s fictional creation and the only games listed in the author’s acknowledgments are video games. Build your engine effectively enough to be remembered as the greatest train conductor on the Isle of Trains! I’ve played several games now with two and three players, and I think the game works fine at both counts (and likely up to four–the game moves swiftly and isn’t hurt by the addition of players), although I prefer the two-player game because it’s easier to track what my actions will leave open to other players. Special powers include such actions as swapping two cards, moving a card, destroying everyone's cards, and so on.While there is no way to stop another player’s expansion regardless of how crowded the board becomes, tight quarters will at least force players to weigh the value of their money a little more deliberately (you’ll need more of it if you want to build in the same location as an opponent’s rails). Having two maps to choose from adds some variability to the game, but they’re not different enough to change the way you’ll play. While decisions do matter, as I mentioned, there is also some luck in the game, which more or less evens the field. The symbol-based approach to most cards is a welcomed diversion in a genre that frequently includes paragraphs on its cards.