Railway Rivals
The very difficult plan of Western USA
Players:	2–6
Age range:	10+
Setup time:	10 minutes
Playing time:	90 minutes
Rules complexity:	Medium
Strategy depth:	Medium
Random chance:	Medium
Skills required:	Strategic thought

Railway Rivals is a railway development-themed board game designed by Glynn and David Watts and popularised by Games Workshop in 1985. Players build railways and then run trains along them. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ... A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... David G. Watts is a Welsh games designer and publisher. ... The style of the Games Workshop logo is copied in the titles of many of their games Games Workshop is a British game production and retailing company. ... This article is about the year. ...

Gameplay

The game is in two stages; in the first part players draw tracks on the card using washable finetip pens (allowing the board to be cleaned for reuse). Players have a building allowance each turn; building through difficult terrain costs more moves. Once all cities are joined by railway tracks, the second part of the game starts. Trains are raced along the tracks between the cities; just as in real life, players must pay other players to use elements of their track if they don't have a complete route of their own. The choice of routes raced is random; each city is used one or more times. Money is awarded to the fastest trains, and the player with the most money when all routes have been raced is the winner.

History

Watts had self-published the game for many years, from at least the early 1970s, before it was released in a boxed set. Trading as "Rostherne Games", Watts sold individual maps, together with brief instructions and the special dice required. Many maps were available, based on Watts' own encyclopedic knowledge of railway history, and each set in a specific geographical area, such as England, Scotland, Leeds to Liverpool, or India. The maps were made of laminated paper, and the Rostherne Games edition of Railway Rivals was both addictive and very cheap. The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Rolling dice A die (Old French de, from Latin datum something given or played [1]) is a small polyhedral object (usually a cube) suitable as a gambling device (especially for craps or sic bo). ...

In the 1980s, the game was formally published first by Butehorn and then by Schmidt Spiele (from 1981), both in Germany, and won the Spiel des Jahres in 1984. But it was the mass-market Games Workshop edition that brought it to many people's attention. The GW game board was made of laminated card, with a map of Central England on one side and the Western USA on the other; pens, dice and small plastic trains were also included. The game has subsequently been republished under its German name, Dampfross, initially by Laurin (1990) and then by Queen Games (1995). In 1998 Watts sold the rights to all Rostherne Games to Theo Clarke. The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ... The Spiel des Jahres (German for Game of the Year) is arguably the most prestigious board game award for German-style board games. ... This page is about the year 1984. ... The style of the Games Workshop logo is copied in the titles of many of their games Games Workshop is a British game production and retailing company. ... Queen Games is a publisher of German-style board games. ... Theo Clarke is an English journalist and games specialist. ...

The original maps are now out of print. Nevertheless, hundreds of after-market maps have been developed for Railway Rivals, and they can be developed straightforwardly by enthusiasts. It is also interesting to compare the results of games of Railway Rivals with the way that real railways developed in a particular area.

External links

• BoardGameGeek reviews and pictures of Railway Rivals and Dampfross
• History of Railway Rivals at the Game Cabinet

BoardGameGeek is a website started in January 2000 as a resource for the board gaming hobby. ...

See also

Crayon Rails // Introduction Crayon rails is the generic term for a series of board games published by Mayfair Games which recreate the building of railroads via the use of crayons (or in some cases non-permanent marker pens) on a reusable wipe clean board. ...