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Irish Gauge Game Rules


Components

  • 1 Game Board
  • 16 Share Certificates
  • 95 Locomotives
  • 5 Railway Dividend disks
  • 30 Dividend cubes
  • 1 Bag
  • 70 Currency cards
  • Instructions

Setup

  1. Place the Game Board in the center of the table.

  2. Separate the Share Certificates into their matching colors. Arrange the Shares so they ascend from the highest-valued Certificate on the bottom to the lowest-valued on the top.

  3. Place the Share Certificates next to their corresponding positions on the edge of the board.

  4. Place the matching Locomotives next to their corresponding Share Certificates.

  5. Place the 5 Railway Dividend disks next to the Dividends Per Share box.

  6. Place 12 Dividend cubes, comprised of 4 each of the 3 different colors, into the bag.

  7. Pulling from the bag, Randomly place 1 Dividend cube onto each City on the board.

  8. Take the remaining 18 Dividend cubes and add them to the remaining 4 cubes in the bag.

  9. Place the starting Railways in their respective Cities:

    • Place a yellow CBSC Locomotive in Cork.
    • Place a purple WLW Locomotive in Limerick.
    • Place an orange BCD Locomotive in Belfast.
    • Place a blue GSW Locomotive in Dublin.
    • Place a red MGW Locomotive in Dublin.

  10. Give each player £20. Place remaining Currency cards next to the board and in reach of players.

  11. Randomly select a starting player. They will make the first bid on the first Share in the initial auction.


Initial Auction

Initial Shares are auctioned off in the following order: yellow CBSC, purple WLW, orange BCD, blue GSW, and then red MGW.

Beginning with the starting player, and continuing clockwise, players bid on the Share up for auction. The minimum bid is the large printed value on the Share Certificate.

If a player chooses not to bid or passes, they may not reenter the bidding. When all other players pass, the winner of the Share pays the bid money to the bank, takes the Share, and becomes the opening bidder for the next Share.

If the opening bidder passes, along with every other person at the table, the opening bidder gets the Share for free.

After the initial Share of each Railway has been auctioned off, the owner of the CBSC Share Certificate is the first player to take a turn.



Game Play

The game is played over multiple turns until the game ends.

On your turn, you must select one of four actions:

  1. Auction a Share
  2. Place Railway Track
  3. Place a Special Interest
  4. Call for Dividends.

After your action, if the game is not over, play continues with the player to your left.


1. Auction a Share

Choose one of the topmost available Share Certificates and put it up for auction. You are the opening bidder.

The opening bid must be at least the minimum printed value amount. Bidding continues in clockwise order. If a player drops out of bidding, they cannot reenter the bidding. The winner of the Share pays the money bid to the bank.



2. Place Railway Track

You may only select this action if you own at least one Share of the Railway you want to place track for, and that Railway has at least one unused Locomotive. When building, you have 3 Build points available to use.

You do not have to use all 3 Build points, but must use at least 1. Build points are not saved from turn to turn and cannot be used by another Railway.

Placing a Locomotive in a hex shows that a Railway has track in that hex. The Locomotive placed must connect back to the Railway's starting hex by Locomotives of the same color. A Railway may not have more than one of its Locomotives in a hex.

To place a Locomotive in a hex, it costs Build points depending on the type of hex.

There are 3 types of hexes:


Easy hexes are light green.

Difficult hexes are dark green.

Urban hexes are shaded with a blue outline.


Towns are Urban hexes that do not contain a Special Interest cube.

Cities are Urban hexes that contain a Special Interest cube.



Build Point Cost

  • Empty Easy hex: 1
  • Easy hex occupied by other Railway(s): 1.5
  • Empty Urban hex: 1
  • Urban hex occupied by other Railway(s) : 1.5
  • Empty Difficult hex: 5

Note: Only one Railway may occupy a Difficult Hex!


Major City Dividend

Each time a Railway connects all three of the Major Cities (Belfast, Dublin, and Galway) a special Dividend immediately occurs. Any player who owns a Share of that Railway splits £12.

Divide £12 by the number of Shares owned by players-rounding up-and pay this amount to the holders of these Shares for each Share they own.


3. Place a Special Interest

Place a Special Interest in a Town, converting it to a City. The Town must be connected to a Railway in which you own at least one Share.

Look into the bag of Dividend cubes and select one. Placing a Special Interest is not a random draw.

Place the selected cube on the white square in the Town's hex. If the last Dividend cube is drawn from the bag, the game ends on this turn.

Note: Except during Calling for Dividends, any player may look into the bag and see what Dividend cubes remain.


4. Call for Dividends

Take the bag and blindly draw 3 Dividend cubes. If there are fewer than 3 Dividend cubes, draw all that remain.

Place the drawn cubes in the next available row of the Drawn Dividend cubes display on the Game Board. The order placed does not matter.

The drawn Dividend cubes determine which Cities pay Dividends this turn. A City only pays if at least one of the 3 drawn Dividend cubes is the same color as the Special Interest cube in the City. Payouts do not happen multiple times if multiple cubes of the same color are drawn.

Beginning with the leftmost (CBSC) and continuing right with the WLW, BCD, GSW and MGW, each Railway's income is determined and paid.

It may well be that a Railway does not generate any income and pays no dividends.

To generate income and payout to Shareholders:

  • The Railway must connect to a paying City and a Town, OR

  • The Railway must connect to two paying Cities.


If the Railway meets one or both of these requirements, the Railway generates income:

  • Paying Cities each generate £4.
  • Paying Towns each generate £2.

Total the income generated by Towns and paying Cities that are connected to that Railway, divide that by the number of Shares sold-rounding up- and pay each Shareholder income for each Share.

For ease of use, when a Railway's Share is purchased and/or a connection to a Town or City is made by that Railway, find the intersection between the number of Shares owned and the total value of the Towns and Cities the Railway is connected to and place the Railway Dividend disk in the space above that column.

However, remember that the Railway may not pay out its full possible amount if the Dividend cubes drawn during a Call for Dividends action do not match the Cities they are connected to.

The Dividend Track can also be used during a Call for Dividends action where players move the respective Railway's disk the appropriate spaces forward from zero as they count each paying Town and City.


Example: In the example below, White and Pink Dividend cubes have been drawn, so Black cities will pay no Dividends.

The purple Railway will pay Dividends of £16 (£2 for every town that it passes through, and £4 for every Pink or White city), divided among the shareholders. Each Railway is assessed in the same manner.




End of the Game

The game ends when no Dividend cubes remain in the bag. At the end of that player's turn, the game is over.

All players add their cash in hand to the initial printed value of their Share Certificates. The player with the most money wins the game.

Ties are possible.


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