Build Railways in Chicago, the Western U.S., India, and Japan in Time for the Olympics

From the turn of the 20th century, Chicago's Union Station rose to prominence as one of the busiest and most used train station hubs in the United States. At one point, five railroad companies each owned stock in the Chicago Union Station Co, collaborating to build the greatest train station at the time.

Union Station is a quick-playing cube rails game, focusing more on share purchasing and stock manipulation than route building. On your turn you may either buy stock and increase its value, sell all of your stock to get quick cash while also lowering the company's value, or lay track. While the shares might come out randomly, it's all about careful timing and the willingness to drop something good for something even better.


The game ends immediately when all of the Shares have been bought or sold off, 20 dividends have been paid, or railroad companies cannot lay any additional track. The players add together their cash in hand to the value of each of their shares, and the player with the most money wins.

Westward Rails is a stock-holding and route-building game about western expansion in the United States. Three-to-five players will bid on shares in five historical railroads, use that money to build routes, connect specific cities to satisfy demands, and develop important metropolitan areas, all with the aim of securing bigger and bigger dividends for the companies in which they are invested.


Westward Rails is played on a point-to-point map, sprawling out west by connecting cities to make major profit. On your turn, you choose to build, auction, or upgrade. This continues around the table until all demands have been met or companies run out of track. Most money wins the game.

India's railroad history began in 1837 when The Red Hill Railway used the country's first steam-powered locomotive to carry stone for road work to Madras, modern-day Chennai. In 1845, India's first railway was incorporated, the Madras Railway. Sixteen years later, on a warm April day in 1853, a 14-carriage train carrying 400 passengers was hauled 21 miles by three steam locomotives - the Sahib, Sindh, and Sultan - and passenger railway service was thus initiated in India. From there, as they say, the rest is history, and India today has the world's fourth-largest railway network.


18 India is an operational railroad game for 2 to 5 people that plays in about 3 hours. The game is inspired by 1829 Mainline by Francis Tresham, and while the venerable Mr. Tresham created some novel mechanics for that game, many of them are not ideal for players that eschew in-game randomness. In 18 India, those random elements are transformed into an amazing level of pre-game variability, which gives each session of the game a different character. Critically, 18 India causes players to think differently about 18XX standards such as train management and investments.

The mechanics in 18 India include: track gauge changes, "Guarantee Companies", competition for commodity contracts, shares with exclusive rights to purchase, train trade-ins, a unique IPO display, and all track upgrades being available from the beginning of the game. By the way, trains do not rust, but there is certainly still a "train rush"!

18 India offers excellent game play variability. Each session features a different mix of companies that are in play leading to variations in route development, company creation, and investment strategies.

At game's end, each player's net worth - the value of their stock portfolio, factoring in the book value of the companies, and their cash - is their final score. The player with the most wealth wins.

The Tōkaidō line of the Shinkansen began being built in 1959 with the aim of inaugurating the fastest train of the time, just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

In Shinkansen: Zero Kei, players take on the role of its builders. They will take charge of constructing this historic railway line and all its corresponding stations. They can also help the Olympic venues in their preparation for the Games. The player who proves themselves to be the most efficient in their role will be declared the winner.


In each round of a game of Shinkansen, you will build your own bullet train, each carriage card you add to your train will provide you with an action or an ability. These actions will mainly allow you to build tracks and stations, collaborate in the preparation of the Olympic venues and obtain new carriage cards. The carriage cards are associated with cities through which the line passes. If you manage to build them in the correct order you will be rewarded in victory points. After five rounds, corresponding to the five-year construction of the line, the player with the most victory points wins.