Game of Trains

Product Information

In the end it is a filler game that doesn’t last too long (as all filler games should) and sometimes can feel like you can’t stop that one person from winning, but that is the thing with a filler game – you can just play another game or move on to a different one altogether. Each of these cards features some lovely artwork at the bottom, a special ability icon at the top and is numbered between 1-84. In Trains and Stations, a new take on train games, players must make deliveries, develop buildings, and profit from their decisions while working with and against other players. Even though there are several potential actions available in the deck, they are all simple to understand.

The card which is replaced is put in the middle of the table, which could be used as an optional action. It packs a lot into a small box and has the dubious honour of being one of the few games that all three members of Polyhedron Collider own. It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout.There is always planning to do in Trains, and as long as you’re willing to pay there is little your opponents can do to get in the way of your plans. But this will help the other train conductors get a little closer to completing their goals, by giving them the cargo or passengers, which they can then use for deliveries and big end game points! To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Based on their hand, they can then choose to purchase more cards with their “train” cards, build a station in a city in their railroad network with a “station” card, put down more rails with “lay rails” cards, or perform certain actions with “action” cards.

Sometimes this might involve playing suboptimally just to keep another player from getting that swap card they desperately need. Instead, they’re just light fun where players can enjoy being together and having a conversation around the table while playing a game. 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.

I am also a sucker for any board that is a map and this one is a great stylized version of Tokyo and its surroundings on one side and Osaka on the flip-side. Then each player replaces one card in their line with one of their just-drawn cards and places the replaced card face-up next to the train car deck.

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. 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). Play lasts until a player has laid their last rail token, until any player has played the last communal station token, or until four of the fifteen non-Waste card piles have been depleted. Build your engine effectively enough to be remembered as the greatest train conductor on the Isle of Trains!The fact that you can use the board with the cards you have to gain victory points is a much needed breath of fresh air when it comes to deckbuilding games.

My 8 year old also played but did need a little help, I think with a bit more practice she would be fine, but the train theme had less of an appeal to her. If there are exchanged cards in the middle you don’t have to draw a card off the deck, you can pick one of the cards and use the ability on it.It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. I like starting off with tipping over sacred cows – and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Dominion – but I’d rather play Trains over it any day. While there is nothing wrong with the board or the wood parts, the real component quality of Trains lies in the cards. These abilities are: switch two cards, replace all specified cards in all trains, protect your train from others’ mischief. Replayability is high, since eight of the sixteen card piles are fixed and the other eight come from a pool of thirty different cards.