-
Max Jamelli
United States
Chambersburg
Pennsylvania
-
#29 on my list - Railroad Tycoon
I was first introduced to Railroad Tycoon by my gaming group back in 2009 I think - except we played the England version of the game. This group is heavy into train games and obviously RT is a game that they enjoy. I enjoy it a great deal as well. (No kidding, since it's in your top 30). The artwork is exceptional and the gameplay is fairly easy for as deep a game as it is.
The first thing that I like is the category. I love economic games. RT is different in that you don't start with any money. You have to take shares to get money and in the end, the more shares you have the more points you lose. I love that mechanic.
The game itself is pretty simple. There are three turns per round. On your turn you can do a couple different things - from build track, to deliver goods, to drawing cards, upgrading your train, and so on. Building track costs variable amounts of money depending on terrain. Obviously it's easier/cheaper to lay track on the plains than it is to lay track across/through the mountains. It makes connecting cities a strategic thing.
The other thing about the game I like is the variability. I enjoy games that rarely play the same way twice. Because of the bonus cards and the way each city is initially seeded with goods, the game will always set up differently. When a super-duper crazy card comes out at the start of the game, the initial auction can play a big factor in who wins. (That part I'm not crazy about since I am not an expert on the game or cards, but I do appreciate the fact that a game with experienced players can see such an important decision on the first turn).
The one thing I don't really like about the game is part of the components. The game comes with brown miniatures to help build the board up as you deliver all the goods from a particular city. When a city loses all it's cubes, it's considered scored and marked with a mini like this:
photo credit Nicolas Acosta
Since I'm not an expert on the game, I tend to need to look at the board a lot and some of these minis are pretty cumbersome compared to the rest of the board. Also, I'm clumsy enough to knock them over when I am building tracks. They also are big enough to block the color of the city, so I have to move them when I am trying to see what color cube a particular city will take.
A while back when I was looking to add RT to my collection, I came across a now infamous Ebay auction. I put a bid in and was lucky enough to get my money back, but I was disappointed that I didn't get a copy. It took some time, but eventually I was able to procure a copy through the BGG trade system. Even though it's in my collection, I haven't attempted to show Jen how to play. I am afraid the size of it will scare her a little - but someday I'll break it out and show her.
Final Thoughts
The last game of RT I played (as of this writing) - a buddy of mine took 37 shares, which I have to believe is some kind of record. He didn't fare all that badly on the scoring track despite that as well. Kind of remarkable.
|
|
