Railroad Dice e-Games

	For Whom The Web Rocks Railroad Dice e-Games - Reference
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This is a reference page for Railroad Dice, summarising what you can do when, with the aim of helping people to avoid common mistakes. This is not a substitute for the rules of the game, which can be downloaded from the Railroad Dice web site (in Adobe PDF format). This reference page is based no version 1.2 of the rules.

The dice

Each railroad die has these symbols on it: . While the dice are behind your screen, they are just a collection of dice - which way up they are does not matter. When you move them in front of the screen they are rolled and become fixed. Dice that come up with the question mark can be re-rolled in future rounds, and you get an extra die from the bank to roll for each of these you re-roll.

What you can do in a turn

You can take income, roll dice, buy shares, lay track and build stations during your turn. You can only take income or roll dice once in your turn, while you can do the others as often as you like. You choose the order in which to do things. For example, you might take income, roll dice, build a station, lay some track, build another station, and so on. Dice you gain for building stations and laying new terrain tiles can be used immediately.

Taking income

You take income once in your turn. The number and type of dice you get depends on your situation.

If you are currently a Director, you get the greater of 4 hidden dice, or hidden dice equal to the number of stations all your companies have placed.
If you are not a Director of any company but were a Director in the previous round, you get .
If you are not a Director of any company and were not a Director in the previous round, you get 4 hidden dice.

Hidden dice can only be moved in front of your screen when you roll dice. You may, however, use them to pay for mountain and lake costs, and when building stations.

Rolling dice

You roll dice once in your turn. You can roll hidden dice and/or dice. For each die in front of your screen you pick up to roll, the bank gives you a bonus die to roll. All rolled dice end up in front of your screen to be used as you see fit.

Buying shares

You can buy shares as often as you like during your turn. You can only buy shares with or dice in front of your screen. Each die lets you buy one share.

Shares are initially bought from the bank. Once a number of companies equal to the number of players have sold out from the bank, you can buy shares in any companies from the current Directors. They cannot refuse to sell you the shares. When you buy from Directors, they get the dice you spend as hidden dice.

Laying track

You can lay track as often as you like during your turn. You can only lay track with , or dice in front of your screen. The dice can be used as or as required.

You can only lay track at the ends of the line. If the end is a station, you can choose which way to leave the station, but you cannot branch off from a station that is part of the line.

You cannot lay track so that it goes back onto a previous terrain tile, but you can lay track so that it goes off an open edge of the current tile. At this time you choose another terrain tile and continue laying track. If you cannot lay at least one track die on the new tile, you cannot place the tile, or lay up to the edge of the existing tile. There is one other restriction for placing new tiles, which is that there must be at least 5 track dice on the existing tile before you leave it. You count stations as track when checking this.

As soon as you lay the first die on a new terrain tile, you get , which can be used immediately.

If you lay track in mountains, you must pay 1 hidden die or to the bank. You only need to do this once during your turn for each separate mountain range, however many dice you lay. If you build in more than one mountain range, you need to pay for each separate mountain range.

If you lay track across a lake, you must pay 2 hidden dice or (or one of each) to the bank. You only need to do this once during your turn for each lake, however many dice you lay. If you build across more than one lake, you need to pay for each separate lake. Any track that is laid across a lake must reach the shore in the same turn. You do not have to build on the shore, but must leave the end of the track pointing at grassland.

Building stations

You can build stations as often as you like during your turn. The following conditions apply to station building:

You must be Director of a company to lay its stations.
You must have stations of the right type available.
You can only build stations with hidden dice or (or a combination of each). Pay 3 or 5 dice as required.
Stations must be built at the end of the line.
Stations must not be built on the edge of a terrain tile, even an edge that adjoins a previous tile.
Stations must not be built directly adjacent to other stations.
You can only build one station for a company on each terrain tile.
Grassland stations must be built in a grassland space.
Lake stations must be built in a grassland space adjacent to a lake.
Mountain stations must be built in a mountain space. If necessary, you must pay 1 hidden die or to the bank for building the station in the mountain.

As soon as the station is paid for, you get , which can be used immediately.

Each company has a unique mix of stations available, in terms of terrain and building cost. The stations that cost 5 dice to build are the same as the 3 dice stations - they just cost more to build.


Companies	Grassland stations	Lake stations	Mountain stations
Berg & Tal-Bahn	3x3 2x5		3x3 2x5
Eisberg Tours		2x3 2x5	2x3 2x5
Insel Hopper	3x3 2x5	3x3 2x5
Uberall Fahrten	3x3 1x5	1x3 1x5	1x3 1x5
Weiden Express	5x3 3x5

Transporting Passengers

At the end of each round, passengers are transported. Directors receive points for the longest orthogonally connected group of stations in each company they control. Each station in the group counts for 1,000 passengers and earns the player one point.

Assigning Directors

After transporting passengers, the Directors for the companies assigned for the next round. The player who has the most shares in each company becomes the Director. That player is Director of the company for the entire round, even if someone else gains more shares before the end of the round.

If two or more players tie for the most shares in a company, then the Director retains control if they are involved in the tie. If none of the tied players were the previous Director, or if there was no previous Director, the player nearest the start player for the round becomes the new Director.

Note that this is slightly different from the published rules, which state that the next player clockwise from the previous Director takes control if there is a tie. This amendment, which is from the FAQ page of the web site, covers the situation where there was no previous Director.

Ending the game

The game can end four ways:

If any company has built its last station.
If the last terrain tile has been used, or none of the remaining tiles can be placed.
If the line could not be continued from either end due to 'dead ends'.
If the bank is unable to meet the demand from a player for railroad dice.

In the first three cases, the game ends once passengers are transported at the end of the current round. During the remainder of this round, players may only use the railroad dice they already have - they may not take income, they get no bonus dice for rolling dice, and they do not get if they build stations or lay new terrain tiles.

In the last case, passengers are immediately transported, and then the game ends.

For Whom The Web Rocks Railroad Dice e-Games - Reference

For Whom The Web Rocks
Railroad Dice e-Games - Reference