Components

• 1 Game board
• 6 screens
• one per player
• 198 locomotives
• 33 of each of 6 colors
• 1 linen bag
• 6 locomotive storing boards
• 1 start player locomotive
• Instructions

Object of the Game

As French entrepreneurs the players build railroads through France. By connecting various cities, they increase the value of the individual railway companies.

Clever trading and bluffing are needed to acquire shares of the most profitable companies at the end of the game.

Setup

1. Each player receives a screen with the player symbol.

2. One locomotive per color is placed in each one of the six start hexes surrounding the Eiffel tower hex.

3. One more locomotive of each color is placed in the corresponding hex at the start of the company value track.

4. Next, all remaining locomotives are put into the linen bag. Depending on the number of players, each player randomly draws a number of locomotives out of the bag and puts them behind his screen, without showing them to the other players.

   • 3 players: 10 locomotives
   • 4 players: 8 locomotives
   • 5 players: 6 locomotives
   Hint: The locomotives are used both as built track on the game board and as stock in that railroad held

5. The linen bag is emptied again, and the remaining locomotives are placed on the locomotive storing boards, sorted by color.

6. The start player is determined randomly. He receives the start player locomotive.

   If several games are played, it is passed to the next player in clockwise order

Game Play

Beginning with the start player the game is played in clockwise order. The active player conducts one of the two possible actions (he may not pass):

Building Track

With this action a player influences the value of the companies.

The player takes one to five locomotives from any one locomotive storing board and places them on hexes on the game board. If a color is not available, it cannot be chosen.

The following rules are in effect for building track:

Rules for building track:

• A new locomotive has to be placed adjacent to an already placed locomotive of the same color.

  
  
  

• Hexes divided by a checkered line are not considered to be adjacent. No track may be built across such a line.

  
  
  

• Two locomotives of the same color may never share the same hex.

  
  
  

• A rural hex may contain a maximum of two locomotives (of different colors). A city hex may contain only one locomotive.

  No locomotive may ever be placed in rural hex the Eiffel tower hex and the start hexes.

  
  
  

• It is not allowed to build track m such a way that a company is "cut off" completely. Each company has to be able to build track from its starting hex to at least one city.

  
  
  

Scoring

At the end of this action, each locomotive placed may be worth points. These points are kept track of on the scoring track of the game board.

Trading

By trading a player changes his shares in the companies.

While trading, a player first returns one of his locomotives, then he receives one or two new locomotives.

Returning a locomotive

The player takes 1 locomotive from behind his screen and places it on the locomotive storing board of the corresponding color.

Receiving Locomotives

The player takes 1 or 2 locomotives from one different locomotive storing board and places them behind his screen.

Depending on the number of players, a player may only have a certain maximum of locomotives:

• 3 players: 20 locomotives
• 4 players: 15 locomotives
• 5 players: 12 locomotives
• 6 players: 10 locomotives

End of the Game

The game immediately ends, when one of the following conditions is met:

• There are locomotives on only one of the locomotive storing boards

• Marseille has been connected by track

  
  
  

Now all players remove their screens and calculate their victory points. For each of the locomotives (including the excess) behind his screen, a player receives as many points as the corresponding color on the company value track shows.

Scoring example for 4 players:

Locomotive color	Number of locomotives	Company value	Victory points
Blue	6	12	72 VP
Yellow	3	9	27 VP
Red	4	8	32 VP
Green	2	3	6 VP
Total	15		137 PV

Any player having more than the maximum number of locomotives allowed subtracts 20 VP for each extra locomotive from their total score.

The player with most points is the winner.

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