Game: Station Master

Thread: Re: Station Master- Fantastic 15 Minute Game

gamesgrandpa — 2008-09-24T19:56:42+00:00

Good review of a fun game.

We play this with up to seven people (with one additional set of tokens), and the competition and action is excellent. Easily to learn, quick to play. Keeping the running total of scores for seven people is a challenge, and it's important to know who is leading the scores. The whole order of finish can change with one or two trains, so it is intense toward the end of the game.

Thread: Station Master- Fantastic 15 Minute Game

tallgrant — 2008-09-21T15:31:52+00:00

Station Master is a gem I discovered at GenCon, while waiting for a game of something else. What really brought made the game shine is the simplicity in teaching it, the speed of gameplay, and the competitive interaction between players.

Rules
Station Master is fairly simple- each player has a hand of 3 cards, and six passenger tokens (three '1' tokes, two '2' tokens and one '3' token). A number of locomotives equal to the number of players is set on the table- each locomotive indicates the number of passenger tokens it can carry and the number of carriages it can pull. Players either place a passenger token face down on a train or play a card from their hand- cards are either carriages added to trains (colored green or red) or special cards that let you manipulate the trains/passengers (colored yellow). If you play a card you draw a new one to replace it.

Trains leave the station when the appropriate number of carriages are added or when certain special cards allow them to leave. Each of the carriage cards placed on a train will add or subtract a value from the total of the train- a player's score for a train is this value multiplied by the number of passengers he had on the train. The winner is the player with the most points when the final train leaves the station.

Gameplay
Most of the interaction during the game takes place when carriages are added to trains. The general strategy is to ensure your passengers are on trains with positive values, while your opponents are on trains with negative values. Often several players will find themselves with a decent number of passengers on the same train and will work together.

There is quite a bit of strategy in placing the passenger tokens. The tokens are placed face down on the trains, keeping their values secret from other players. As a result, one can only have partial information about how heavily invested another player is in a train. A well placed '3' token on a train where all the other players have a '1' token in play can lead to big rewards.

Our group tends to be somewhat vicious in this style of game, so our games are vindictive struggles where retribution is swift. There are lots of opportunities to punish opponents by placing large negative carriages where they're heavily invested and it's especially satisfying when one card hurts several people at once. The yellow cards also help add variety, as they introduce a few additional surprises that spice up the game nicely. The game is simple and moves at a brisk pace.

You can teach Station Master in about 2 minutes and play it in under 15 minutes. It's great if you want something quick between games, or something light to close out the evening.

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

Chris Baylis — 2008-06-07T15:45:55+00:00

I'm having one of those days when answering queries seemed like a good idea, although waiting 3 years to reply to this is possibly a little too long. But anyway....

The Zero chit idea was tried and discarded during the design phase. Not too sure why now - long time ago, but reading your note reminded me of it.

The 5 card hand was also doscarded because during play-testing players were taking to long to decide which card to play. We also tried a Carcassonne style draw-and-play with no cards in hand (except one which you could use instead of drawing one) but we settled on 3 cards as in our games and testing it kept the game running smoother and put players under pressure, and at times forcing them to play negative cards on their own trains. You rarely get this pressure with a 5 card hand.

Apologies again for the long, long delay in replying, but I am pleased that whatever changes you have made you are, in principal, enjoying the game.

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chezzilla — 2008-01-02T18:00:11+00:00

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dan4th — 2007-11-18T16:10:57+00:00

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dan4th — 2007-11-18T16:10:33+00:00

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dan4th — 2007-11-18T16:09:53+00:00

Thread: Re: Card Distribution

TheCat — 2007-10-27T03:16:55+00:00

GaryP wrote:
(Plus, the game is inexpensive enough that I can't imagine it would be worth anyone's time and money to make a homemade set.)

Even if it was, an inventory of the cards is completely legal.

Thread: Card Distribution

GaryP — 2007-10-15T15:34:08+00:00

Since this game has a rather unusual card distribution, I thought I'd post it in case anyone ever finds themselves missing a card or two. (Plus, the game is inexpensive enough that I can't imagine it would be worth anyone's time and money to make a homemade set.)

15 Locomotives

(1) 3
(1) 4
(5) 5
(2) 6
(1) 7
(1) 8 for 5-6P
(1) 7 for 4-6P
(1) 3 Executive
(1) 4 Executive
(1) 5 Freight

97 Cars

(6) +6
(6) +5
(5) +4
(8) +3
(12)+2
(12)+1
(2) 0
(4) -1
(5) -2
(5) -3
(4) -4
(3) -5
(3) -6
(3) +7/-4
(3) +6/-3
(2) Caboose
(2) Re-Assign Car
(1) Repair 3
(1) Repair 5
(1) Royal Carriage
(1) Rush Hour
(2) Standing Room
(2) Transfer 3
(2) Uncouple 1
(2) Uncouple 2

Thread: Re: Freight trains

drsingle — 2007-01-27T18:33:07+00:00

That is correct. The exact wording in the rules, under the Freight Train section concludes with:

But, since a Freight Train is not an Executive Class Train, 1st-Class and Executive Class cars will still score a negative value.

Thread: Re: Freight trains

pilight — 2007-01-27T17:20:44+00:00

The answer is no. VIP cars subtract from the score of freight trains.

Thread: Freight trains

swanhills_ca — 2007-01-27T16:51:48+00:00

If VIP cars score big positive points for Executive trains, but negative points for all other trains-- does this mean that I can use the negative points to count towards the freight train? Since Freight trains only score negative points? Thanks for the help

Thread: Re: Station Master Review - Train not in vain

faidutti — 2006-11-18T08:56:19+00:00

I really like this game,and rate it much higher. It's a pity it has been so overlooked. It's a light, nasty and cleverly themed bluffing and tactical card game.
If you like some of my card games, like Citadels, Corruption or Dragon's Gold, I'm confident you will like Station Master as well.

Thread: Station Master Review - Train not in vain

Red Wine Pie — 2006-11-18T02:10:47+00:00

Games Review
Game: Station Master
Published by: Mayfair Games
Designed by: Chris Bayliss

Summary and Theme:

Station Master is a card game for 2-6 players. The players are rival station-masters, competing to send off the most passengers on the most valuable trains. Games take about 30-45 minutes, depending on speed of play and maths ability.

Components:

- Train cards, numbered from 3-8 with standard, executive and freight trains
- Carriages cards – green passenger cards, red stock cards and some specials
- Chips in each of 6 colours, with values of 1 to 3
- Rules – 4 pages of A5 sized rules

The cards are nicely illustrated in a photo-realistic style, and well colour-coded with green carriages for passengers and red for freight. The trains seem to be real historic ones, but there are no names or details shown on the cards. The chips are less impressive being thin poker style chips. The numbers look like they were scrawled on with a gold-coloured pen, and are actually hard to read, even though they only go up to 3! The rules are only black and white photocopied sheets – colour would have been much more useful. For the price in New Zealand ($40), the quality of the components is not good enough.

Objective:

The person with the highest score at the end of the game wins. Players score points by having chips of their colour on trains when they leave the station. The game ends when the last train leaves the station.

Rules:

The game starts by dealing 3 carriage cards to each player. 5 train cards are placed in the centre of the table. Each player takes it in turn to play, and may do one of two things - Play a carriage card beside a train, or Add a chip to a train. If a card is played, a replacement is then drawn from the deck. Once a train is filled to the maximum number of carriages, it “leaves the station” and scores for the chips on it.

Passenger cars (green) score positive points for normal or executive trains but negative for freight trains, stock cars (red) score positive points for freight trains but negative for the other kinds. VIP cars score big positive points for Executive trains, but negative points for all other trains. Mixed in with the passenger cards are a few special cards including those that: allow the player to add an extra train; move the two rear carriages to another train; shuffle passengers between trains and send off a train early.

Trains score by add the positive and negative values for all carriages, then multiplying by the value of the chips for each player.
e.g. A 4 value passenger train is completed. There are three passenger carriages of value +3, +4 and +2, and one stock car of –3. This gives a value of +6, to be multiplied by the chip values for each player on the train.

Gameplay:

In your turn you are attempting to maximise the value of trains that your chips are on and finish those trains before another player can add a chip or a negative carriage, Alternatively you can try to lower the value of trains that other players have their chips, on by playing ill matching carriages. The special cards can be used judiciously to change a train from good to bad, or otherwise upset the balance of the cards on the table.

Because you can only make one play in a turn, you need to work out whether a train will pull out of the station without you if you don’t put a chip on it now, or if it’s better to finish a train before someone else gets on it or devalues it. As you only have one 3-value chip, you need to score that and the two 2-value chips as often as possible to maximise your points. More experienced gamers will enjoy a bluffing element, where you can fool your opponents into attacking the trains with your chips on (which are only value 1), while keeping the high value chips for last minute play.

Kobra1’s review suggests changes which might improve this game for more experienced gamers, but I’d try it with the standard rules first as they are by no means broken.

Conclusion:

I quite liked this game, though it is by no means a major release. The train theme is nicely carried through with the card illustrations, though the chips and rules are of disappointing quality. There is a good opportunity to interfere with other players’ plans, though you always have to trade off between advancing your position (and possibly helping someone else at the same time) and reducing another player’s position.

In addition, the maths required to work out the scores is a good workout for interested kids, so this game gets a good score as a family game. Play is fast so there is little downtime. I can’t honestly recommend it as a purchase at the price for the quality of components, however. Final score: 6.5

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Red Wine Pie — 2006-11-12T09:27:18+00:00

Station Master game in progress Nov 2006

Thread: Re: A game of treachery and trains

Rontay — 2006-10-19T01:12:41+00:00

David's review is right on. We have played it over 30 times. It playes quick and simple. Besides the 18XX series it is one of the bloodiest war games weplay. I say war game because we play all games like war games!!!
Excellent review. Rontay

Thread: A game of treachery and trains

drsingle — 2006-10-12T22:24:39+00:00

Station Master
Mayfair Games Inc.
2-6 Players

Station Master is a fairly quick little card game that simulates the loading of passengers and the attachment of carriages to locomotives in a station.

Setup
Each player receives a set of six tokens numbered 1,1,1,2,2,and 3. These tokens represent the players passengers, who will soon be placed on the locomotives (engine cars of a train). Two decks of cards are in play. One contains a somewhat small number of locomotives, of which a number equal to the number of players are turned faceup in the field of play. From the other deck, which contains various types of carriages/cars to attach to the locomotives as well as "special" cards, each player receives a concealed hand of three. The remaining cards in the decks are placed face down in play.

Theme
The train theme is handled well and while I imagine any number of scenarios would fit the mechanics, it isn't a stretch. The train cards are adequate but not overly beautiful. The passenger tokens are cheap plastic.

Gameplay
On his or her turn, each player may perform exactly one action: 1) place a passenger token facedown on a locomotive, or 2) play a card from their hand and draw a new card to replace it. The tokens ("passengers") indicate that a player is invested in a train. On each locomotive is printed a number that indicates two things, 1) how many passenger tokens it may hold, and 2) how many cars can be attached to the locomotive before it leaves (is discarded), and its score tallied.

Most of the cards in players hands are various types of cars that can be attached to a locomotive ranging in value from negative numbers (generally smelly, garbage or freight cars) to highly positive values. To score points, once the length in cars of a train equals the number on the locomotive, the sum total of the train is calculated (negative or positive) and the score multiplied for each player by the value of their passenger tokens. For example, if the red player has a 3 and a 2 token on a train worth +5 points, they would receive (3+2)*5=25 points for that train. If that same train was instead worth -4 points, the red player would receive (3+2)*-4=-20 points.

Once a train is "full" and its points calculated, it "leaves the station" (is discarded from play) and a new locomotive is put in its place.

A number of special cards allow players to perform actions which would otherwise not be allowed, such as moving passenger tokens around, discarding cars, and "ending" a train early.

Two special types of locomotives also exist. The freight train turns carriage values upside down (negative become positives, and vice versa), while executive locomotives provide opportunity for big positive points for special high value carriages that would otherwise be worth negative points.

Strategy
Such a simplistic sounding game has a great deal of strategy and numerous opportunities for treachery. For instance, players are not required to place passenger tokens on every train, yet they are allowed to place carriages on any locomotive. Thus, the common strategy of dumping negative value cars on trains heavily invested in by opponents is obvious. Contrary to that strategy, placing your passenger tokens on trains that already have investment by a large number of your opponents is a fairly safe play, as few players will attempt to willfully reduce the value of train on which they have passenger tokens.

There is also a small amount of bluffing involved. As no one but you can check the value of your passenger tokens until a train is full, no one is certain whether the token on a train is a high value 3 or a low value 1. Thus, you might be willing to let opponents play negative cards on a locomotive in which you are only lightly invested while you score positive points on other locomotives with higher value passengers.

The special cards are extremely powerful. For instance, in one game last session, I had an entire hand of cards that allowed me to discard the last two carriages from any locomotive. You can imagine the anger of the two players that kept having their +6 value carriages discarded on a locomotive in which only they had investment. Meanwhile the other player without investment in that train gleefully dropped negative value carriages in their place.

Like poker, seat position plays a role in this game. For example, imagine that four players (A,B,C, and D) are playing a game. If A and B have invested heavily in a locomotive (no passenger spots are left) and you are player C, a negative value card on that train will likely be followed by a similar negative value card by player D if they have one. After all, a negative point value on that train helps both players C and D while harming A and B. Such "alliances" are always short lived though, as you can bet other locomotives will contain different permutations of players.

The negative value point cards as well as the special cards which often waylay the best laid plans of your opponents make this fairly quick card game unsuitable for those quick to take offense. For everyone else, it's not a bad little game. You won't pull it out on every game night, but no one I've played with has had any serious complaints about it either.

While variants exist on this website, I've found that it plays just fine right out of the box.

Thread: To amy o neal

jnchalle — 2006-08-06T19:01:28+00:00

I was just wondering where you got the name 'janiera' from.?
I'd really like if you could tell me.
Thanks,
jan C.

Thread: First Play

janiera — 2006-08-06T16:29:14+00:00

I played my first game of this as a two-player game with the hubby. The rules were simple and easy to understand, so we got started quickly. Note that any card that is not a Carriage is either zero or negative points.

We dealt the engine cards; Train #1 was a 4 passenger Executive and Train #2 was a 6 passenger regular train.

We both started off by playing Passengers and Carriages onto the trains. After a few turns of this, we both played a Re-Assign card and basically ended up having the board the same as it was before the cards were played. There were a couple more Carriage cards played, then I played a Baggage car on Train #2. He responded by playing a Transport on Train #2. I then played an Uncouple card to get rid of the Transport. Note that at this point, I was heavily invested on Train #2, while he was more heavily invested on Train #1. He then played a Carriage on Train #1, which caused it to score. He scored 105 points to my 84.

A 7 passenger regular train came up as Train #3. I played Passengers to the train, while he played a Repair, and reused one of the 6 point Carriage cards that were in the discards. We then traded off playing Passenger and Carriages for a few turns. I played a Caboose on Train #2, causing it to score. We both scored 48 points on this train.

A 5 passenger regular train came up as Train #4. He played a Passenger to Train #3, then I played a Cattle car on Train #3 and he played a Freight car on Train #4. I played another Cattle car on Train #3, and he played a Transport on Train #4. I played a Transport on Train #3, and he played a Carriage on Train #3, which caused it to score. He scored 9 point on the train to my 0. It was only 3 points per Passenger.

A 6 passenger regular train came up as Train #5. We both played Passengers and Carriages on Train #5 for several turns, and throwing any negative points onto Train #4. We quickly caused Train #5 to score. He got 75 points to my 60.

A 3 passenger regular train came up as Train #6. We put a few Passengers and Carriages on Train # 6. We finally caused Train #4 to score, which really didn’t make any difference, as it was a completely negative train, and we had placed no Passengers on it.

A 5 passenger regular train came up as Train #7. We continued to get place Passengers and Carriages on Train #6, which caused it to score. It scored 21 points for each of us.

A 5 passenger freight train came up as Train #8. We both focused on Train #8, playing (normally) negative cards and Passengers on the train. We then started playing heavily on Train #7. He played a Transfer card, transferring of my Passengers from Train #8 to Train #7, and one of his from Train #7 to Train #8, which really messed up any plans that I had made. I played an Executive card on Train #8, trying to hurt his points a little bit, even if it did hurt me less while doing so, causing it to score. He got 91 points to my 28.

A 5 passenger regular train came up as Train #9. I placed a Carriage on Train #7, causing it to score. I got 40 points to his 32.

A 5 passenger regular train came up as Train #10. We placed Carriages and Passengers through here for quite a few turns, and caused the two trains to score quickly. Train # 9 was 105 points for him and 75 for me. Train #10 was 45 for him and 105 for me.

A 3 passenger Executive train came up as Train #11, and a 5 passenger regular train came up as Train #12. We played Carriages and Passengers on these two trains. I waited until Train #11 got filled with Passengers and played Standing Room onto it, allowing an extra Passenger chit to be played. There were several negative cards played through here that were uncoupled. We eventually scored both trains. Train #12 scored first; 6 points for him and 0 for me. Train #11 scored next; 56 points for him and 98 for me.

Train #13 was the final train, a 4 passenger regular train. We both played Passengers and Carriages on this train. I played a Freight car on it because I had nothing else to do. He played a Passenger chit, and then I played a Carriage car, causing it to score. We both got 30 points from this train.

The final score was 623 points to 559 points. He beat me soundly in this game. All in all, the game play went smoothly. We both enjoyed the game, and I think it will hit the table fairly frequently.

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

Paul Weaver — 2006-06-01T08:20:56+00:00

Kobra1 wrote:

2) When a train is completed, the instructions say to score it, add up all of the scores, and come up with a current total.

I don't see what's wrong with this, although we've only played it 2-player. It's as easy to simply write down the new total as it is to write down the (and then calculate later)

Score train (have to anyway), e.g. 8
Count tokens (have to anway), e.g. Player 1-6 Player 2-2
Add 48/16 to current score (e.g. 76/92), write new total

Score sheet as follows
.. ..
76 92
124 108
.. ..

Takes less than 10 seconds per train for 2 players, which it would take to count up the train score, the tokens for both players, then write down the values, and then you still need to do the multiplication later.

In the case of a draw you can work out the highest score train later, but draws aren't common as much as I can see.

It's just a case of some simple mental arithmatic, but if darts playes can subtract numbers down from 501 after a few pints I don't see the problem.

Instead of 3 cards in each hand, deal out 5 cards to each player. As play progresses each player must maintain 5 cards.

Might give this a go, last game resulted in me having 3 yellow cards in my hand, didn't want to play any of them as they would have all benefittede the other player or harmed me, fortunatly had some tokens left so I could increase the stakes a little and wait for a better time to re-assign a +6 from t'other persons 3-token passanger train to their 3-token freight train, finishing it off

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

garner — 2006-05-04T10:50:31+00:00

If you are adding zero chits, I think then it would probably make sense to score each train on the platform before replacing the chits.

Because if the big train you were grooming is completed then the players know where your zero's are.

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

Liumas — 2006-01-10T07:52:14+00:00

Good stuff in your suggestions. My old Express/Freight Train pals will probably be by this weekend, we might play this game. I like the idea of a Zero chip (I would prefer only 1, though). We haven't seen any problems with the 1 chips though - they are almost the same as a zero chip. We definitely use them - as in the old RPG days, I never head back to camp with my spells unused (I use all of my chips as much as possible). And, as the rules are written, you know that everyone on a train has at least some stake and potential liability. It's a great suggestion, though. We've got tons of old Mayfair chips lying around.

The hand increase from 3 to 5 is excellent, I also can see that even just increasing to 4 might be interesting. 3 is a bit light, especially with more players (I think). I can't help but notice that you are so focussed on how much quicker the game is - I don't see that in and of itself being so important, but I will attempt these changes "at some point" and see how it goes.

So... can I be a dunce here and ask you to explain exactly how you keep track of these scores for the trains? Maybe you could upload here the sheets you've printed up?

I think you are saying that when a train scores you write down

~ The train number (prepared ahead of time, I get that!)
and type, of course.
~ The color of each marker on the train and its value

I know you've playtested this. But it seems to me that the score is already just about figured out at that point, with the above information. Maybe I'm forgetting the game a bit ... if you don't get back to me before this weekend, I'll keep this stuff in mind and see how it goes. If the game hits the table (it will, again, eventually).

Thanks for the report!

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Kobra1 — 2005-12-15T15:31:04+00:00

Thread: Flawed Gem, but with a few changes, it shines!

Kobra1 — 2005-12-15T05:16:37+00:00

Station Master (Final rating based on our gameplay changes)

The Components (Bits):
Mayfair is tough to figure out. Some of their games have excellent quality, other games have really poor quality. Station Master unfortunately falls into the poor category. The box is flimsy, cheap, and lacks a linen finish. The chips are thin and cheap, to the extent they are nearly see through. The cards are quite thin, but of acceptable quality. The only major problem with the cards are the station cards and ticket cards are the same colour and hard to distinguish. Some people might find the monochrome look of the cards a turnoff, but I find them quite stylish and attractive. The rules are cheap Xerox copies and extremely poor paper stock. Overall, a disappointing showing by Mayfair on this game.

The Setup and Rules:
The rules are very straight forward and short. The setup of the game takes a mere few seconds for a quick shuffle, and everything is ready to go. Absolutely no complaints here other than the quality of the paper the rules are printed on. Engine cards are laid out on the table depending on the number of players. Each player has a 3 hand card and 6 bidding chips numbered from 1 to 3, to the side are draw piles for additional cards as they need replenishment.. From this point the game is setup and ready to go.

The Theme:
This is a bidding, bluffing and stock game with a clearly pasted on theme. But the theme works, and is quite fitting to the overall flow of the game. During play, you actually feel like you are directing passengers to trains, and attaching cars to the engine. The theme works quite well and I’m pleased with it.

The Gameplay:
The gameplay is a combination of bidding, bluffing and card play. Each player takes their turn and EITHER puts a chip on an engine (bid), or plays a card on any engine. You can play either negative or positive cards on a train to influence the value of the train and either help your own trains, or hinder the other trains. Helping yourself might help others, because different players can pack their passengers onto different trains – even your own trains! There are plenty of very chaotic “Action” cards in the game that allow for some pretty intense “Screwage”, such as removing passengers from a train and putting them on another train, swapping train cars, or forcing a train to depart early.. Each engine has a number indicating the maximum amount of passengers AND cars it can hold, and once it reaches the maximum number of cars, the train is scored. Furthermore, there are special engine cards that can make negative cards positive or Executive trains that tie in with special bonus cards. The scoring adds or subtracts each card, then multiplies it by the amount of your bids on that train, so scores can really fly up on a nice train! The game continues until all engines are exhausted, and then it ends immediately and the final scores are tallied.

The Depth and Tactics:
This is a lightly tactical but chaotic game with some basic short term strategies. You cannot really plan your moves much more than the next turn, and even then you’d be lucky to pull it off. With 3 players it is much more tactical than with 4, and with 5 or 6 players it becomes incredibly chaotic (but fun). Tactics are fairly straight forward, for example you could play a passenger swap card to move people to a bad train, or rescue yourself from a bad train. Or you could disconnect cards from a good train and derail your opponents plans for leaving the station with a high score. There are many possibilities, but none of them any deeper than those few. To be honest, there isn’t much depth in Station Master, you just meander along playing cards and placing bets on trains, and attempting to make your score as positive as you can while hindering your opponents. Most players pile on to good trains before they run out of room, and avoid bad ones. Often there is some screwage and train jostling, but this is fairly infrequent due to limited hand size and turn options..

Summary:
Station Master out of the box is a fairly broken game in my opinion. The game is quite dry and drags on for over 45 minutes per game and drastically overstays its welcome. The bluffing elements in the game are few and infrequent thanks to the lack of zero value chips. The chaotic gameplay means long term strategies and tactics are almost impossible, and the limited hand size means your options are pretty restricted. Despite these bad points there is some hope..We’ve developed a pretty basic set of changes to the game that facilitate a MUCH better experience. Not only do they add more tactics and strategy to the game, they REDUCE the duration of the game down to 15-20 minutes – exactly as it should be. Our simple changes also increase the tension and bluffing elements of the game.

1) Increase hand size to 5 cards per player. This allows a Ticket to Ride like drafting mechanism and hand building that allows for increased play options. 3 cards per hand was just too limited and restricted, and felt overly dry.
2) Ignore the rules that tell you to keep running totals of the score. This adds a useless 10 minutes onto the game. Instead, keep a running total of the train scores and chip numbers on those trains. Then total up the score after each round.
3) Use small stickers, or a hole puncher to make small stickers that cover the numbers on two of the “1” chips. This creates two ZERO VALUE chips for bluffing, and increases the tension and bidding variety of the game. We found the “1” value chips quite useless and decided to replace two of them with Zero chips. So the total chip count should be 1@3, 2@2, 2@0, 1@1.
4) Players may perform TWO actions per round consisting of BIDDING a single chip AND playing a card. Or they can just play a card and skip the bidding, but they must always at the least, play a card. Allowing both bidding and card play on a single turn speeds up the game, and removes all traces of the dry and uninteresting options in this game!

Before these changes I rate Station Master a 5 or 6, but with these changes in place, I think the game deserves at the least a 7 or 8. I'm going to rate the game based on these changes because of their ease of implementation. A lackluster, overly long and dry game becomes quite a pleasing experiance with some simple changes. I can hardly complain about that!

Kobra
www.boardgamespiel.com

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

Kobra1 — 2005-12-15T04:25:24+00:00

Further playtesting, we decided to add another "Action" to a players turn. We found players turns too limited with just the ability to either plant a chip, or plant a card. Therefore we changed it to;

On the start of your turn you can take TWO actions consisting of 1) Play a chip, 2) Play a card. They must be done in this order only. Or you can skip placing a chip and just lay a card, however you MUST lay a card.

With this change, the game plays INCREDIBLY well, and can be completed in 15 minutes! So you can run 3 games, total the scores, and find the winner after 3 games.

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

Kobra1 — 2005-12-12T05:14:51+00:00

AngusBull wrote:
Our change is to simply keep a running list of each train scored
Interesting concept, what kind or shorthand are you using for this, marking the chip/color/value and then the vaule of the train or somthing else?

There should be a "Zero" chips that allow you to bluff during gameplay. "1" value chips got almost no use in any of our games because people wanted to use their big ones to score big, but didn't want to commit to using "1" chips to bluff because of the potential negative hit!
More often than not, the one chips for us would be added to the train with the three or two. Or they would be placed on the same engine over multiple turns to get a better benefit. (Of course the passenger limit must not be met yet to do this) I do like the addition of at least one zero chip though.

I've always felt the same way about the 3 card hand. 5 cards certainly improves your play options.

We're still perfecting the shorthand, but what we do now is about what you say. You know how many trains there will be before the game starts, so we number the trains on a pad of paper. As each train leaves, it gets its number, then the amount of chips for each color. Takes a mere second to do it, and we have printed special scoring cards for the game.

We're playtesting it with 2 zero chips, and it seems really strong. We might drop to only one zero chip and see how the game plays out.

I was "Meh" on this game as played from the rules, but now it is extremely fun and exciting for us. The level of "Tension" in the game is now high, before it was ho-hum. The "Take That" is much higher now due to the increase in hand size. All in all, I think the game plays 100% better with these changes.

Thread: Re: Recommended changes.

AngusBull — 2005-12-12T02:08:43+00:00

Our change is to simply keep a running list of each train scored
Interesting concept, what kind or shorthand are you using for this, marking the chip/color/value and then the vaule of the train or somthing else?

There should be a "Zero" chips that allow you to bluff during gameplay. "1" value chips got almost no use in any of our games because people wanted to use their big ones to score big, but didn't want to commit to using "1" chips to bluff because of the potential negative hit!
More often than not, the one chips for us would be added to the train with the three or two. Or they would be placed on the same engine over multiple turns to get a better benefit. (Of course the passenger limit must not be met yet to do this) I do like the addition of at least one zero chip though.

I've always felt the same way about the 3 card hand. 5 cards certainly improves your play options.

Thread: Recommended changes.

Kobra1 — 2005-12-12T01:11:32+00:00

We played Station Master several times, and found it a "Good" game, but nothing we're consider great. Which bugged me, because I think the mechanics were decent, the cards were good, and the core systems were in place. So where was it missing?

I invited a couple friends over that are game testers, and we played a round, and immediately found where the improvements are needed. We were most puzzled at how these improvements made it past the playtesting for the game? The changes are;

1) Instead of 3 cards in each hand, deal out 5 cards to each player. As play progresses each player must maintain 5 cards. We found increasing the amount of cards allowed for more creative and intelligent gameplay and added a "Card Drafting and Set Collection" element that was otherwise missing from the game. We playtested this and found it a massive improvement in gameplay.

-- What this does is create a Ticket to Ride-Like card system that is quite pleasing and tactical, it allows you to plan your moves potentially several turns in advance, where before planning was nearly impossible.

2) When a train is completed, the instructions say to score it, add up all of the scores, and come up with a current total. We found this method very poor and interfered with the flow of the game. Our calculations were that this added a full 15 minutes+ to an average game. Our change is to simply keep a running list of each train scored, then once the game is complete, add everything up and determine the winner. What this does is create ongoing "Tension" because you can never be too sure who is winning, and it has an added bonus of preventing people from possibly ganging up on the leader or kingmaker issues.

-- Imagine scoring Lost Cities each time after you completed an expedition, sound silly? Well that is exactly how the instructions tell you to play this game. It is silly and disruptive and quite odd they didn't spot this in testing.

3) Despite this being a bluffing, bidding and stock game masked in a "Train" theme, there is very little bluffing. The reason for this is the chip layout is incorrect. There should be a "Zero" chips that allow you to bluff during gameplay. "1" value chips got almost no use in any of our games because people wanted to use their big ones to score big, but didn't want to commit to using "1" chips to bluff because of the potential negative hit! It was quite evident that the gameplay could be enhanced tremendously just by having a couple of fake chips to throw people off. So I used a hole puncher to create little round "Stickers" to cover up the number on two of the "1" value chips, this changing the chips to 1@3, 2@2, 2@0 and 1@1.

-- I've heard games having these fake bluffing systems, but the only one I personally know of is "Money", which has zero value null currency to allow you to bluff on your bidding rounds. But i'm sure many games out there use bluffing chips.

I rate Station Master a 7 or so, but after our changes - which we've play tested, my rating has increased to a 9! So when I rate the game, should I rate it based on my changes, or the way the game was packaged? There is no way in hell this is a 30 minute game, we found our games averaging 45-50 minutes. After the above changes, we shortened the game duration to 20-25 minutes! Talk about a huge improvement, now this light filler is actually a FILLER like it was supposed to be!

Thread: Station Master - Underappreciated

txaal — 2005-11-24T20:28:18+00:00

Given its size, price and short playing time, Station Master is an underappreciated game. Station Master comes with a deck of “Engine” cards, a deck of “Carriage” cards and 6 sets of different colored “Passenger” chips. Each set of Passenger chips contains 3 – “1” chips, 2 - “2” chips and 1 - “3” chips. To start the game, a number of Engine cards equal to the number of players are dealt face up. Each player is then dealt three Carriage cards. Play starts with a randomly determined player and each turn a player has two options: play a card (and then draw a card so at all times each player has 3 cards in their hand) or place a Passenger chip on an engine.

Each engine is identified by a number (3-8). The number denotes both the number of Carriage cards that can be attached to the engine before it leaves the station and the number of Passenger chips that can be placed on the engine. The majority of the Carriage cards have a value from +6 down to -6. Each time an engine leaves the station, the values of the Carriage cards are totaled and then each player who has a Passenger chip on that engine equals the total of the Carriage cards multiplied by number on their respective Passenger chip (or chips a player can place more than one Passenger chip on each engine). After the points are totaled for an engine that has left the station, a new engine card is dealt face up. Once all engines have left the station, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

One other spin is that some of the Carriage cards are not train cars but instead “events” that allow you to, among other things, decouple Carriage cards that have been played, move Passenger chips that have already been played, and other similar events designed to add an element of surprise to the game.

Simple.

As is the strategy but it can be challenging. Deciding when and where to place Passenger chips is the key to the game. Place to soon and other players will plop big negative Carriage cards down meaning the train will leave giving you a big negative number to your score. Wait too long and the Engine cards will fill up with other players’ Passenger chips.

This game isn’t rocket science but it plays more fun than the appearance of the non-descript box and bland rules. Even the cards add to the game. They each look as if they are some 1800’s painting of a train car or scene.

This game is especially good for 5-10 years old as it requires a good deal of math. My 6-year old enjoys this and gets to add up the trains each time an engine leaves the station. Yes – I trick him into enjoying math – it’s a great thing.

I picked this game up for $5 at the 2005 BGG.con flea market. I had had my eye on it for some time at my FLGS but the $20 retail price seemed steep for such a simple-looking game. It probably is but $5 is a steal.

Playing time will run around 45 minutes. Station Master is played best with 4-6 players although it will support fewer.

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gashlycrumb — 2005-10-18T04:29:32+00:00

Thread: SR: Station Master

jbluestein — 2005-06-15T14:55:24+00:00

.chip brought Station Master with him, so we started with that while
waiting for others to arrive. Playing were Rob, Rob, Mike, .chip and
me. The game is very simple. You have a hand of three cards and as
et of six numbered poker chips: 1x3, 2x2, 3x1. There are a number of
locomotives laid out on the board, each with a load number, which is
both the number of passengers (chips) that the train can take and the
number of cars that need to be loaded on the train. On your turn, you
can either play a card (usually adding a car to a train) or place one
of your chips. Railroad cars have positive or negative values, so
your goal is to get your passengers onto a train with a high value,
and to make other peoples' trains less valuable. When a train is
full, players score the value of the train multiplied by the value of
their passenger chits. So if a train is worth 12 points and I have my
3 passenger on it, it's worth 36 points to me.

The game goes on like this until the deck of locomotive cards has been
exhausted and all possible trains have left the station.

This game really didn't do much for me. I don't know that I could put
my finger on why, but it just didn't seem like there was enough going
on to keep my interest. The feel is a little reminiscent of Auf
Heller und Pfennig (aka Kingdoms), but it doesn't feel like it has any
of the strategic choices of that game. Overall, it was just kind of
blah.

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Sexy Amy — 2005-04-29T01:28:37+00:00

Typical Cards

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EJKemp — 2005-03-01T21:12:10+00:00

Thread: User Review

tolendante — 2005-02-16T17:45:38+00:00

Chris Baylis's Station Master from Mayfair games is a neat little filler that presents some interesting decisions, screw your neighbor card play, and doesn't overstay its welcome. The decision making process reminds me a bit of Titan: The Arena, and the members of our group who loved T:TA have all enjoyed Station Master.

In Station Master, players take turns either playing a train car (with negative or positive value) onto a locomotive, playing a passenger onto a train, or playing an action card to manipulate the cars and tokens already on the table. When a train has reached the token limit marked on the locomotive, no more passengers can be placed. When the length of the train reaches that same number, the game is paused and that train is scored. When all of the trains have been scored, the game ends.

A handful of details make this game more exciting than the above description might indicate. First, passenger tokens are played face down, so players can never really be sure how invested their opponents are in a particular train. Secondly, the action cards can really alter things drastically. Cards exist to switch tokens from one train to another, to discard cards in play, to increase the number of passengers allowed, and to do other mean and ornery things. It is impossible to ever get too comfortable with tactical decisions, but this feels okay since the game plays quickly (20 minutes for our group) feels light and fluffy, so it is hard to invest much pride in a win or loss.

I've heard some complaints about the boring nature of the art, but I wasn't put off by it. It is a train theme and the trains and locomotives are well drawn, if a bit drab. I would have liked to see the backs of the cards differentiated to a greater degree as they can be hard to separate when they have mixed around in the box during transportation, but that is a minor complaint. This is a fun, light filler that probably should be getting to a lot more gaming tables than it seems to be. It fits nicely in the same slot as For Sale, Trendy, Zirkus Flohcati, and Coloretto.

Thread: User Review

SusanRoz — 2005-01-13T14:11:24+00:00

Station Master is a quick and simple card game of tactics and bluffing. Players are “Station Masters” who assign carriages and passengers to trains, hoping to score points as the trains leave the station.

Components:
112 cards, each depicting an engine, carriage, or special action
36 passenger tokens, 6 of each player color. These are small poker chips with the Mayfair logo stamped on one side and a number from 1 to 3 on the other side.
Rules – printed in black and white on rather flimsy paper.
Plastic tray to organize components

Station Master appears to be in same economical line as the new edition of Modern Art in a small box and with serviceable, but not flashy components. The cards are of good quality, which is most important, although the art is a bit on the bland side. The rules are clear and concise with good illustrations and examples.

Game Play:

The cards are sorted into two piles, with Engine cards in one pile and Station Master cards - carriages and special cards - in the other. Players each have a set of tokens (small poker chips) with a number from 1-3 on each, representing passengers. They also start with a hand of three Station Master cards.

At the start of the game, a number of Engine cards equal to the number of players are laid out on the table. Each Engine card has a number on it that represents both the number of passenger tokens it can hold and the number of carriages it can pull. On a player’s turn, he may add a facedown passenger token to an Engine card, add a carriage card to an Engine on the table, or play a Special card (more about them below). If he plays a card, he draws a new one from the Station Master deck to add to his hand.

Carriage cards have a negative or positive value on them. Once a train has the maximum number of carriages, it “leaves the station” and is scored. The numbers on the carriages are added up to get the train’s value. The passenger tokens are revealed and the players add up the values on their tokens and multiply by the train’s value to get their score for that train. Players then get their tokens back to be played again on another train. There are a few special trains that add some simple scoring twists as well. The Engine and Carriage cards for the scored train are placed in a discard pile, and a new Engine card is drawn from the Engine deck to replace it. There is a special card in the deck, “Rush Hour,” that when drawn, adds another Engine card to the total on the table. The game ends when the last train is scored. The player with the highest total wins the game.

There are seven different types of Special cards that do a variety of things. These include allowing a train to leave the station early, removing, adding or shuffling passengers and carriages around, and changing a train’s scoring. They add a lot of flavor, but they also add a lot of chaos to the game.

Discussion

The game reminds me a bit of an older Knizia game, Auf Heller und Pfennig, but with even more “take that!” plays due to the numerous Special cards. It has the same feel with the timing of not wanting to commit your tokens too early lest you get targeted by everyone else, yet trying to commit early enough to get in on the high scoring trains. Unlike Auf Heller, there is a bluffing element with the tokens being placed facedown. I like the bluffing, but it would have been nice to have a zero valued token to use to try and throw people off even more. I also found it quite cumbersome to keep score. We kept a running total on a piece of paper, but the game moves so quickly that it is hard for the scorekeeper to keep up. Keeping a running total also encourages a great deal of bashing on the current leader. I think I would like to try adding all the scores at the end of the game instead of keeping a running total.

Overall though, I found the game to be fun and fast. There is a heavy dollop of chaos and not a whole lot of control, but for a short, light game, I don’t necessarily consider those characteristics to be a bad thing. The game is simple enough for family play and is also short enough to make a good lunchtime game. The fact that it handles up to six players is also a plus. While I wouldn’t call it spectacular, Station Master is a decent, solid lightweight game that will definitely see playing time in both my family and adult gaming group.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-11-03T17:27:24+00:00

Michael, John, Jim and I once again visited this recent Mayfair release in attempts to become the station master. I described the game in detail in the September 22nd report, so will spare you the excess verbosity here.

Our first game consisted of six players. I enjoyed it, but there really wasn’t much, if any, control. Your fate was pretty much determined by the plays of all of your opponents. I had hoped that playing with fewer players might increase the control, but I really didn’t get the impression that it really improved the matter. Sure, you do have choices and can try to place your passengers and carriages in a fashion to optimize your chances at scoring, but it is very easy for your opponents to foil any plans very quickly. There simply isn’t much control, even with only four players.

Still, the game is enjoyable. The fun appears to be in the trying to work things to your favor, and hoping it comes to fruition. Appropriate enough for a train game, the fun is in the ride.

John scored BIG – 128 points – on the very first train that left the station and held a sizeable lead. However, points can come in droves in this game, as can negative points. He was hammered several times on subsequent departures, but managed to recoup those losses and retake the lead down the stretch, claiming the victory.

Finals: John 253, Greg 239, Michael 214, Jim 191

Ratings: Michael 6.5, Jim 6.5, Greg 6, John 6

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2004-11-03T17:27:24+00:00

Mayfair Games obviously loves train-themed games. In addition to their series of 18xx and crayon-rail games, they have released numerous other games which somehow incorporate trains or train rails. The latest in this seemingly endless series is Station Master by Chris Baylis.

Station Master is a card game wherein players assume the roles of, well, station managers, attempting to guide passengers onto the proper trains and make sure those trains are coupled with the most luxurious and desirable carriages. It is a fast-paced, easy to learn game that seems well suited for families and as a slightly extended filler for gamers.

The components are a simple lot: a deck containing engine and carriage cards, and an assortment of poker chips, six of each color. These chips represent the passengers that players will assign to the various trains. This austere collection is packaged in the familiar Mayfair small box, but it could easily fit in a box half of this size.

The cards are divided into two decks: locomotives and station master cards. Locomotive cards depict a numerical value, which determines the maximum number of carriages that train can contain, as well as the maximum number of passengers that can board. There are a few special locomotives – the Executive Class and Freight – which I’ll describe a bit later.

Most of the “station master” cards are either green or red carriage cars. The green cards are positive, ranging in value from 1 – 6, while the red cards are negative in value with similar ranges. There is also an assortment of special cards, which allow the players to perform sneaky maneuvers or otherwise alter the normal rules.

A number of locomotives equal to the number of players are revealed, and each player is dealt three carriage cars. After receiving their “passenger” tokens, the game is ready to begin.

A player’s turn is quite simple, as he has two choices:

1) Assign a passenger token to an available train. Place one of your passenger tokens directly onto the locomotive card. Each player possesses six passenger tokens, with values ranging from 1 – 3. These are placed face-down so that opponents do not know which ones have been placed.

Once a locomotive reaches its limit of passengers, no further passenger tokens may be placed upon that train … unless a special card is used. For instance, the “Standing Room” card allows a player to add an additional passenger token to the train, while the “Transfer Passengers” token allows a player to remove up to three passengers from a train and reassign them to other trains. The proper timing of the use of these cards can dramatically alter the potential scoring of the affected trains, and the subsequent placement strategies of the players.

2) Play a Station Master card and draw a new card from the deck. Carriage cards are added to a train by placing it behind one of the locomotives and behind the last carriage car currently in that train. Again, the number listed on the locomotive is the maximum number of carriages that can be attached to that train.

There are a few special carriage cars: 1st Class Passenger carriages and Executive Class Passenger Carriages. Each of these carriages depicts both positive and negative values. If these carriages are attached to an Executive class train, the positive value is used when scoring that train. If they are attached to any other train, the negative value is used. This allows players to either positively affect the ultimate value of trains upon which they have passengers, or reduce the value of trains that are heavily laden with their opponents passengers.

When a train reaches its maximum number of carriages – not necessarily passengers – the final “All Aboard!” call is made and the train leaves the station. This results in a scoring of that train. All passenger tokens on that train are revealed, and the total value of the carriages is determined. Add the positive value of all carriages on the train, then subtract all carriages with a negative value. Each player then totals the value of all of their passenger tokens on that train, then multiplies this by the total value of the carriages. The sum is the player’s score, be it positive or negative. These scores are maintained on a score sheet (not include in the game).

Each time a train leaves a station and is scored, a new locomotive card is drawn to take its place. The “Rush Hour” station master card can cause an additional locomotive card to be placed during the course of the game, permanently increasing the number of trains which can be constructed. Once the locomotive deck depletes and the final train leaves the station, the game ends. The player with the highest cumulative total rises to achieve the status of station manager legend!

The game is clearly designed to be a lighter, family-style game. There are certainly choices to be made, primarily where to place carriage cars and passengers, and when to use the special station manager cards. On the whole, however, it is primarily a game of “playing for fun”. A player’s fate is largely determined by the actions of his opponents. Once you place a passenger token onto a train, all of your opponents will have the opportunity either join you on that train, or affect its value. With more players (we played this game with a full complement of six players), a player’s control plummets. It is easy to spot the trains wherein your opponents are concentrating, and place negative value carriages upon it. If the majority of your opponents are placing passengers on a particular train, you had better join them on that train as it will likely be filled with positive value carriages. There really isn’t long-term strategy here. It is more a matter of placing your tokens and carriages and hoping for the best, and taking advantage of the rare opportunities and special cards when they surface.

That being said, the game is still fun to play. It most certainly is not the next Puerto Rico or El Grande, but it is a very satisfying game that falls into the “light” category. I can easily see this game being played as an “opener” or “closer” with my game group, or within the context of a gathering of friends or family members. In this sense, the game is versatile, and there is always room for games with versatility on my shelf.

Matt, Jim, Keith, Jerry, Willerd and I constructed the trains and boarded our passengers, hoping to be part of the “fancier” trains. There certainly wasn’t much control, with only the occasional special card giving any player additional control over his own fate. In the end, I managed to get my passengers onto the more desirable trains and avoid being smacked by negative carriages.

Finals: Greg 228, Keith 181, Jim 154, Jerry 139, Willerd 113, Matt 104

Ratings: Keith 7, Jim 6.5, Matt 6.5, Willerd 6.5, Greg 6

Thread: Session Report

rgtft — 2004-10-08T15:20:55+00:00

The UPS man just dropped off Station Master from Mayfair Games, so Bonnie and I (Rob) decided to give it a try. Station Master is a card game for 2-6 players where on your turn you can either add a passenger to a train or add a car to a train. Each locomotive has a number which indicates the maximum number of passengers and cars that it can carry. Once the train is full or a caboose card is played, the train leaves the station and points are totalled. While the game was okay with 2 players, it seems that it would be better with more players. With two players the game took aprox. 30 minutes.

Final scores:
Rob: 487
Bonnie: 440

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edroz — 2004-09-12T14:07:56+00:00

Station Master in progress