Game: Express

Thread: Re: 3 Rules questions

Dmart — 2008-11-17T02:05:06+00:00

Now that I've had the chance to thoroughly review the rules, I can't find anything that specifically prohibits a player from discarding the same card that was drawn from the discard pile.

Thread: Re: 3 Rules questions

Palladin — 2008-11-15T04:40:28+00:00

Thanks for the prompt reply. I agree with your responses. I just wasn't sure, as the questions came up during the first time I played the game, and I couldn't find any help on the Mayfair website.

Thread: Re: 3 Rules questions

Dmart — 2008-11-14T03:47:39+00:00

Let me at least answer 2 and 3.

2. The cards after a Wild card may number any: no minimum number required (and each card is fully scored).

3. Yes, a train may have more than one Wild card (and they may be used for different purposes- one may be used as a Consist card to meet the two-card minimum before using the other Wild car to transition to another consist type.

I believe that the answer to 1. is that you may not pick-up and discard the same card.

I'll dig my rules out and see if I can confirm (or refute) my answers.

Thread: 3 Rules questions

Palladin — 2008-11-14T03:05:55+00:00

1) May a player pick a card from the discard pile and discard the same card at the end of his or her turn? The rules are silent, or at least I didn't find it. I'm of a mind not to allow it.

2) When using a wild card to create a mixed train, while the first group of cards must have at least 2 identical cards (which with the wild card makes a valid meld), is there any required number of cards in the second group? The example in the rule book show 3 cards in the second group (suggesting enough cards to make another valid meld) but the written rules do not indicate a minimum number of cards in the second group, so can only a single card comprise the second group.

3) May a "train" have more than one wild card?

Thread: Express: A Train Wreck or Fast Quick Fun Ride

GeneSteeler — 2007-12-24T01:44:46+00:00

Express: A Train Wreck or Fast Quick Fun Ride

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Introduction
I first played express many years ago when I lived in Canada. It was my cousin’s copy and a common game to play instead of Cribbage or Rummy when we wanted a light card game. I recently saw it for sale at my Online Game Store for AU$12 (used) so I ordered it. When it arrived and I opened it, I saw that the cards were still in their original wrap, only the box shrink-wrap was removed. A good clean copy. So I reacquainted myself with Express and introduced my family to it. I checked the Geek and there wasn’t a single review! Although I’ve only a few ‘recent’ plays, my history with Express made me feel qualified to offer some opinions in this inaugural review.

Game Components

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120 Cards - Express is a card game. The cards of decent quality. Their layout is quite user friendly with the different Cars having colour-coded ovals in two corners for ease of recognition.

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My major gripe is with the Disaster cards which name the disaster, but don’t state what the disaster does. So if you haven’t memorized it, you’ll need to look in the rulebook. Thankfully there are only 5 different disasters (plus turntable) so after one or two hands you shouldn’t be confused. I think a few words such as “lose last carriage” etc would have been appropriate.

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The Disaster Prevention Cards (Way Cards) have a small picture of which disaster they prevent, but this picture is too small and I find that I have to closely scrutinize the card to make out which picture it contains. This should have been bigger.

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I have a similar gripe with the Express Train, as they should really show which car 'ideally' comes before and after it. As if you have them in the correct order you double your points.

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Rule Book – I find the rulebook adequate. At one or two spots it is a bit vague although, no major issues have ever arrived. It also contains 'first game' rules, which remove a few of the cards (including the Express train) which complicate the game.

Discard Tray – The box insert cleverly serves as the discard tray. It is functional

Game Play

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As usual for my reviews, I do not intend to go into a deep discussion of how to play, but I rather spend my time discussing my opinion of the Game Play. For a rule summary please have a peek at the play aid by Chris Conboy here http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/15099

Game Play is relatively simple and will quickly be recognized as a Rummy Variant with trains. Way cards are used to prevent disasters in a manner similar to Mille Bornes.

A hand will usually take less than 10 minutes. With the game ending when one player reaches a pre-determined score. Where Express shines is in two areas:

1. With Children. It is a greatly visual game which children can enjoy and play effectively. It offers meaningful, albeit simple, Gameplay which can develop and hone their strategy skills. My 7 and 9 year olds both think it is a great game. We do not use the "Express" train (refer above).

2. With Partners. The four player (or six player) games are played with a partner. This opens up Gameplay tactics and the ability to ‘show your hand’ to your partner through the locomotive mechanic. In the game, each train needs a locomotive which can be any card. You can change locomotives during your turn. Consequently, with a partner, you are able to pass cards back and forth between each other, by one playing the card as a locomotive, and the partner picking it up on their turn. This simple mechanic, in addition to a few other small changes, make the partnership game a much more satisfying affair for adult gamers than the non-partner numbers (2,3,5 players). My preference is the four player game. This gives Express a Canasta feel to it.

Summary
Express is a quick and simple card game for 2-6 players. It is recommended as either a light game for children, or a deeper game for partners where more strategic skills are required. Is it a Classic? Probably not. But if you enjoy any of the other card games referred to in this review, Express is likely worth the $15 Mayfair game http://www.mayfairgames.com/ sells it for.

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skelly9131 — 2006-07-01T09:37:17+00:00

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Storm King Zero — 2006-03-02T18:33:56+00:00

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Storm King Zero — 2006-03-02T18:33:29+00:00

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Storm King Zero — 2006-03-02T18:32:03+00:00

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Storm King Zero — 2006-03-02T18:25:55+00:00

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Storm King Zero — 2006-03-02T18:22:58+00:00

Thread: Re: How to make your wife not want to play a game again.

GeoMan — 2006-01-22T17:00:06+00:00

Next time try the 4 player team rules. It is interesting how you can exchange cards with your partner using the "Locomotive Switch" cards.

Thread: How to make your wife not want to play a game again.

KineticKill — 2006-01-22T05:19:48+00:00

My wife and I have been playing a bunch of train games as of late (Railroad Tycoon, all the Ticket to Ride games, including Online & PC versions) so we brought out Express tonight.

Janelle ended up with the deal, I started off going for 1's (box) and 2's (tanker) and later added 3's (coal), while Janelle went for the express and 4's (piggy backs). I had a wild and a way card, so I managed to go out first:

Mike:
1's x 5 = 3
2's x 3 = 2
3's x 5 = 9
Way x 1 = 5
Out = +10
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Total = 29

Janelle:
4's x 4 = 8
1's x 4 = 2
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Total = 10

So now she was out to win the next hand. She went for 2's (hopper) and 3's (coal), while I started off by drawing two 2's (tanker) to add to the three I started with! Needless to say laying a five meld off the bat didn't make her any happier. She got even by playing a wreck and killing the wole train!. We both spent a long while drawing for cards we needed. I ended up getting all three 3's started as melds. Janelle was close to going out, but I held a wild and a way in my hand (again) and drew just what I needed to go out (again):

Mike:
3's x 4 = 6
3's x 3 = 3
3's x 5 = 9
Way x 2 = 10
Out = +10
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Total = 38 + 29 = 67

Janelle:
2's x 4 = 4
3's x 4 = 6
Way x 3 = 15
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Total = 25 + 10 = 35

Since you only play to 50 in two player games, it was game over. Janelle was not very happy with me, and it will be a while till I can bring this one out again.

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Salt-Man Z — 2005-02-16T13:42:08+00:00

box back

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Salt-Man Z — 2005-02-16T13:37:40+00:00

re-creation of game on the box back

Thread: Session Report

rgtft — 2004-09-16T18:24:05+00:00

Express comes to the table infrequently; so it always requires a rules review before playing. Gail & Rob teamed up against Bonnie & Nathan. Bonnie/Nathan went out the first hand. Bonnie seemed to have a lot of disasters to drop on Gail/Rob. The second hand also went to Bonnie/Nathan as they seemed to have great train car draws completing their scoring melds before Gail/Rob were close. We decided to call it a game after that.

Score after hand one:
Bonnie/Nathan: 18
Gail/Rob: 11

Score after hand two:
Bonnie/Nathan: 50
Gail/Rob: 22

Final score:
Bonnie/Nathan: 50
Gail/Rob: 22

Thread: Session Report

Eric Brosius — 2004-08-09T04:25:03+00:00

EXPRESS
(Walt, Eric, Claire, Rich, Greg)

Eric's wife Claire visited MVGA this week. We seem to have started a tradition that both Claire and Walt's wife Lisa come to MVGA once a year, on consecutive weeks in July. Eric and Claire have a wedding anniversary on July 17 and it seems like an appropriate time for a visit.

Claire had recently learned Alan Moon's train card game, Express. She was eager to play it with a larger group. All of the others had played it before and were willing to play again. Eric and Claire had only played with the beginners' deck (taking out the wild cards, the "fix" cars, the passenger trains and most of the disasters,) so Rich went over the additional features before we began.

Express is a game of timing and opportunity. You play melds consisting of matching train cars in front of you on the table, with an upside down card in front of each train to serve as a locomotive. You'd like to keep cards in your hand to surprise your opponents and to protect against disasters, but you can keep a maximum of five cards in your hand, and any points held in your hand when an opponent goes out count against you.

The first hand was over in a flash as Rich completed a set of trains that included a 5-car train and a 4-car train to go out, gaining the 10-point going-out bonus and putting him into the lead. Eric had melded a set of Auto transports and a few other scoring cards, but the rest of the field were far behind. Scores at the end of the first hand: Rich 22, Eric 15, Claire 5, Greg 2, Walt -2. At this point Walt began muttering darkly, as he is wont to do at times, especially when Rich is in the lead.

The second hand took longer, with all 5 players managing substantial melds. Claire got a fistful of "fix" cars and had seven of them on the table at once at one point in the game. The "fix" cars are worth 5 points each (or -5 if they're in your hand at the end.) Greg finally ended it by going out. Thanks to Claire's "fix" cars, it was close at the top.

Final scores: Rich 37, Eric 36, Claire 33, Greg 25, Walt 13.

Eric's rating: 7. This game is just fun to play. Claire and I have been playing a number of 2-player games (she really enjoys train games.) I'm not familiar with all the strategies yet, and I'm sure those will come with time, but it's a nice game even when you're beginning.

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davemenc — 2003-11-03T23:09:57+00:00

Box Cover

Thread: Session Report

BruceGee — 2003-02-19T13:58:10+00:00

Family Game Day. We'd all been watching a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine recently for the little one, so I thought this would be good while trains were on everyone's mind.

We played three hands, and I added a few more cards for every round. The first round I just used the regular cards, second round I added Wild cars, Turntables, Switch Engines, and the Passenger Train, and third hand I added everything. That seemed to make it all fairly clear for everyone.

Amory (age 8) won the second hand, but I won the first and third and thus the game. Everyone had a pretty favorable reaction to it, and everyone agreed that it was a lot more interesting with the Way cars, etc.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2002-04-30T18:51:47+00:00

Michael has been itching to teach us Mayfair Games' Express, which is
one of his favorite games. The opportunity finally presented itself, so
Jerry and Joe teamed against Michael and I.

Sadly, Michael's explanation of the game was rushed, so we newbies
seemed to play the game in a fog, not really sure of the rules and the
effects of several special cards. I catch a lot of grief from my wife
and a few of the Westbank Gamers for my lengthy, example-laden rules
explanations, but it seems the players have a much better understanding
of the rules, mechanics and strategy tips utilizing this method. I'm
not a fan of the 'let's just jump in and play' method of teaching rules
and don't adapt well when it is used. Thus, since I really didn't
understand the game's mechanics and strategies, my initial view of
Express is a bit tainted. I do want to give it another chance, however,
as it does seem to have some interesting Rummy-like mechanisms and,
hopefully, some room for strategy.

As is, Michael was the only one who really knew what he was doing, and
he led our team to victory in the one and only hand we played.

Finals: Michael & Greg 56, Joe & Jerry 35

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2001-12-02T18:57:24+00:00

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Roger Smith writes:

Alan and Donna/Craig Mc: 101
Roger and Graeme: 76

A new game for Graeme, and one which I had only played two-player with Dey. Alan and Donna corrected a couple of scoring mistakes I'd been making, and we used their house rule of the first three way cards not scoring.

Unfortunately this was a very luck dominated game. The first round being the worst example: Graeme and I had a single disaster card to play and Alan and Donna had all the rest. This, coupled with our inexperience, saw an easy win for Allan and Craig Mc (who had replaced Donna who went to join a game of Mu). Despite our misfortune, I enjoyed the game and would like to play again. I suspect it is one of those games where a single round can be luck dominatedm but there is still plenty of opportunity for skillful play overall. Alan and Donna provided a few examples of this which I'm keen to try out. The only other observation is that the game seemed to drag a bit (1.5 hours) but this could be due to distractions and inexperience,

Roger's rating: 7

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

Donna and Doug managed to play one hand of this while the big Acquire match was finishing up on the next table. Donna went out with Doug on about 1 point. It wasn't scored.

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Doug writes:

We split into two teams of 3 players here to play Donna's brand new copy of this Mayfair game. I'm not sure I like this way of playing, as turns seemed to take an age to come back to you. We only played two hands before we finished for the night. Julian, David and Donna lept out to a huge lead after game one, but Alan, Janet and Doug came back strongly, forcing a negative score out of the others, to be five points up after two hands. I like the game, but I prefer a four player game, I think.

A good evening!

Thread: Session Report

dougadamsau — 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

Present: Alan, Julian, Janet, Doug

Alan Stewart writes:

Doug and Janet thought they'd played this a while ago, while Julian and Alan were well used to it.

Using Alan's "House Rules" -

* Way cards can be played as protection as many as you like on one turn.
* Wild cards score 0 when used to join different types of carriages
* For the "order bonus" in passenger cars you must play MCDSO, no gaps, but duplicates allowed. (MCCD would be okay).
* Only the 3rd and more surviving protecting way card scores 5 points.
* 2 Turntables removed from deck.

The scores for the four hands played were:

Julian/Doug: 19(out) - 38(out) - 48 - 55
Janet/Alan: 14 - 16 - 49(out) - 70(out)

After the third hand we decided to just play the one more and end the game then, instead of playing to 100.

As usual fortunes swung, and the first 2 hands were pretty short. Janet and I would have gone out in the first hand if Doug hadn't broken carred one of our carriages, but's thats the game!

I think every team that went out used a wild card. Their influence on the game is powerful. Very few disasters played overall. No successful wreck from memory.

My set is looking pretty used, so I might pick up a replacement.

Doug Adams writes: Took me a few hands to settle in, and I was starting to enjoy it just at the moment the game ended. I found the exception rules like the counter cards and passenger train confusing. The counter cards (Way cards?) should have the text of the card they counter listed on them, as beginners will betray their hand as they peer at the symbol to see if it matches the way card in their hand! Still, good game - love the passing cards mechanism to your partner via the engines.