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18GB

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Andy Pymont edited this page Feb 14, 2022 · 15 revisions

Table of Contents

General Information

Rules Highlights

18GB is a very different game to 1889/18Chesapeake/1830.

The game is especially notable for its use of restrictive tile laying: to lay or upgrade a tile, you must always be able to run some of the new track, even for upgrading city tiles.

Key differences include:

Setup

  • The corporations and private companies used depend on the player count

Simultaneous Auction

  • Minimum bid is the price of the private
  • Players may only pass if they have a winning bid or all items have a bid
  • When all players pass, items are sold to the highest bidder and any items without bids become £10 cheaper
  • Player order for SR1 determined by least cash remaining

Private Railways

  • Until Blue Phase, a Private Railway blocks tile lays unless closed
  • Owner may close it any time after SR1
  • From Blue Phase, it closes when a tile is laid in its hex
  • May grant special ability any time after it is closed
  • Pays income to its owner one last time when closed

Corporations

  • Corporations begin the game with five shares and 5x initial share price
  • May convert to ten shares during subsequent SRs or emergency money raising
  • Conversion drops the share price 2 steps and gives 5x new price in cash; director may buy one share during conversion
  • Ten-share corporations get extra station tokens
  • Non-started corporations have 10 shares from the start of the Brown Phase
  • Corporations float once 40% (Yellow Phase) or 60% (Green, Blue, & Brown Phases) sold
  • Non-started corporations are removed in the Grey Phase; each removes a grey train

Share Dealing

  • In SR1, only the first tier (half of the corporations) are available to start
  • Players may only buy 60% of a corporation from the IPO; unlimited from the open market or if the corporation is in the yellow area of the market
  • No limit on shares in the open market, including that president's shares may be sold
  • Player order determined by order of passing; plays may re-enter the SR after a pass, giving up their place in the pass oder

Station Markers

  • All station markers cost £50 (except the home station, and the CR's first station token)
  • NBR, LYR & MSLR have 3 total station tokens; the other corporations have 4

Building Track

  • Track laying is restrictive: a corporation must be able to use some of the new track on the tile, even when upgrading a city tile
  • Corporations may lay or upgrade two tiles, but only one action may be in a city tile
  • It costs £50 to lay track pointing at a hill hex side - per side, so completing a hill connection will ultimately cost £100

Running Trains

  • M+N trains run M+N total stops, of which at most M may be cities and offboard locations
  • nX trains ignore all towns, count n cities and offboards, add a distance bonus of £10 per hex of distance traveled (as the crow flies) on the route
  • E-W and N-S bonuses may be connected by multiple trains
  • Shares in the IPO pay dividends to the corporation

Share Prices

  • Price drops one step for each share sold
  • In the Grey Phase, sales by non-directors do not affect the share price
  • No end-of-SR increase for sold-out companies (or decrease for shares in market etc.)
  • Up to 4 multi-jumps for dividends
  • Share price increases at least once if any positive dividend paid (i.e. do not have to at least pay current share price)

Train Purchases

  • Corporations may not sell their last train, unless the buyer has no train
  • Trains may be sold for between £1 and double their face value
  • Players may not contribute funds for train purchases
  • nX trains available after the first nX train of the previous rank is purchased
  • One train removed at the end of each OR if no trains were bought during the OR

Insolvency

  • Corporations without a train become Insolvent at the end of their operating turn (or, if no president, at the start of their turn)
  • Insolvent corporations may not lay track or station tokens and lease the cheapest train available in the bank, withholding income

Game Rounds

  • 2 ORs between SRs
  • Game ends when a corporation's share price reaches the top, or when all trains are sold (or removed)
  • The bank has unlimited cash

A Note About the Tileset

  • There are no tight curve yellow tiles for OO and XX cities; plan routes accordingly

Rules Clarifications

None at present

Implementation Notes

The president's option to buy a share in a corporation that converts in emergency money raising is presented after the corporation finishes its train buying step

Open Issues

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