2013 · Trains

Northern Pacific

Players manage investment cubes while a shared locomotive builds a railroad west across the northern United States from Minneapolis/St. Paul toward Seattle. On a turn a player either places a small or large cube in an unreached city (not Seattle) or extends the track by adding a locomotive tile along a directed route from the train’s current endpoint. The train follows one-way arrows and never returns to previously visited cities. When the train hits a city containing a player’s cubes, those cubes return to that player and the player gains additional cubes from the supply (one per small cube, two per large). Rounds end when the train reaches Seattle; players score cubes in hand as “good” investments and cubes still on the map as “bad.” After three rounds the highest good-investment total wins, with bad investments breaking ties.

groupPlayers

2–6 best 5

schedulePlaying time

60 min

cakeAge

7+

psychologyComplexity

1.5 / 5