Wabash Cannonball

2007 · Economic

Wabash Cannonball

Players act as railroad investors and executives building lines across the eastern United States toward Chicago. On each turn a player auctions shares, expands a company’s rail network by placing track and locomotives, or develops a hex to increase future revenue; each action has a limited supply and rounds proceed until two actions exhaust, triggering a dividend phase that pays income to shareholders. The game runs up to eight rounds or until company pieces or shares run out, at which point the player with the most money wins. Play is deterministic and focuses on share investment, network expansion, and timing of dividends.

Players
2–6 best 4
Playing time
30–60 min
Age
12+
Complexity
2.8 / 5
6.6 on Ludoyafrom $27.99TransportationTrainsVictory Points as a ResourceAuction / BiddingAuction: Turn Order Until Pass

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Full stats in Ludoya
117
Plays logged
201
Players
1h 15m
Average play
37
In collections
7
On wishlists

6.6/10

from 28 Ludoya reviews

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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Do I have to implement the action I choose, or can I pick an action and then do nothing?

You do not have to implement the action you select — you choose an option and may then decide to do nothing; the indicator needle is still moved one space to the right when you select it (you can deliberately choose-but-not-act to force shortages). (p.4)

How is the minimum bid for an auction calculated?

The minimum bid equals the company’s current income divided by the number of sold shares including the one being auctioned, with any decimals rounded up. (p.4)

Can multiple companies place locomotives on the same hex, and what about Forest/Mountain hexes?

City, Industrial and Plain hexes may contain locomotives from multiple companies, but Forest and Mountain hexes may contain only one company’s locomotive (and no other company may build there); also only one locomotive from each company can be on any given hex. (p.5)

How are dividends calculated — do you round per share or after totaling?

Dividends are calculated per share as company income divided by the number of sold shares with decimals rounded up, and then each player’s payout is the sum of those per‑share amounts for their shares (so rounding is applied per share). (p.7)

What happens when a company reaches Chicago?

Placing a locomotive in Chicago triggers a Chicago Phase: the company’s income is updated and an immediate Chicago dividend is paid to its shareholders; Wabash is then opened (black loco to Fort Wayne and its income set), and the player who reached Chicago auctions the first Wabash share under the usual auction rules. (p.5, p.8)

When does the game end?

The game ends after the next General Dividend is paid once any one of four conditions is met: three or more companies have no locomotives on their Charter, three or more companies have no shares on their Charter, the general house supply has three or fewer houses, or Detroit’s income reaches 8. (p.8)

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Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.