Four players, 18Scan, K450 starting money, 9 certificate limit.

Seating order: Chris, Andy, Jerry, Ian

Private and minor company auction (players are bidding for the right to purchase any remaining item at face value):

* Stockholm-Abo Ferry (ferry token + 1 share VR) K120 cost, K20 revenue
* Lapland Ore Line (ore token + 1 share SNJ) K150 cost, K25 revenue
* Zeeland Railway Company (DSB president certificate) K180 cost, K30 revenue
* Western Mainline (minor 3) K200 cost
* Northwestern Mainline (minor 2) K220 cost
* Southern Mainline (minor 1) K260 cost

I bid K5.

I bid K10

I bid K15.

I bid K20.

K25

K30

pass.

K35

Pass

Pass

I buy the Western Mainline for K200 + K35, leaving me with K215.

I think, since I was first to pass, that makes me first in the next round of bidding.

If that's the case, I bid 5K.

I think it should actually be the player to my left, which would be Chris. But in the event that you're right, I bid K10.

Jerry is correct. The player who passes first in each round of the initial auction is given the priority card, and begins the next auction. The player who passes first in the final auction will have priority to start the regular stock round following the auction.

I bid K25.

That's a surprise to me since I've always played it the other way before, so I went and checked the rules, and I'm pretty sure that's not what it says. To me, it reads like the priority changes in the same manner as in a regular SR, with the exception that once a player has passed in auction, he must continue to pass in that auction. Note the phrasing, "until all have passed _consecutively_". Since I was last to act and last to pass, Chris would thus have started the round of passes.

In any case, an initial bid of K25 renders the point moot, at least this time around.

Whoops, I think you're right, I was in too much of a hurry and mis-read the rules. It's a bit confusing, because:

1) Players who pass may not reenter.
2) Players continue to bid until all have passed consecutively.

There's two ways to interpret this.

1) When you pass, you're out, and you're the first person to have passed consecutively.

OR

2) When you pass, you are then forced to pass again when it is your turn until the auction is complete.

I think the second of these is the correct interpretation, and thus, when I passed, I initiated the consecutive passes. Even though Jerry passed before me, when it came to his turn, he was forced to pass again, because he couldn't re-enter. Then Andy passed, completing the round of consecutive passes.

Does that make sense?

Works for me.

I pass.

The seating order is Chris, Andy, Jerry, Ian. Thus, it's Andy's bid, not Jerry's.

Oops, I just read the most recent post, which inverted the order of the passes. Carry on then.

Sorry for all the confusion.

So which is it? a) the first player to pass starts the next bid? or the next player from the purchaser starts the next bidding round? I'm taking it to be the latter from what I read from y'all.

I bid K30.

Next player from purchaser.

OK, in turn this time:

pass.

K35