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18GB

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Andy Pymont edited this page Sep 24, 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 Insolvency & Receivership and Restrictive Tile Laying. These features are covered below along with a summary of the other differences.

Setup

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

Private Companies

  • Held by players for the whole game - not sold to corporations
  • Do not count towards the certificate limit
  • Begin the game open: pay revenue to the owner at the start of every OR, block a hex on the board, but their other abilities may not be used
  • May be voluntarily closed by the owner any time after SR1: pay revenue one last time and then stop paying revenue for the rest of the game, however the other abilities become available to use
  • Abilities may be used by any corporation controlled by the private company's owner
  • From Blue Phase (4+2 train), corporations may ignore private company tile reservations and build in the hex, forcing the company to close

Private Company Auction

  • Minimum bid is the price of the private company
  • Players may only pass if they have a winning bid or if 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

Corporations

  • Corporations begin the game with five shares and 5x initial share price
  • In SR1, only the first tier (half of the corporations) are available to start
  • 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
  • Corporations lay home token when they float; corporations in an OO or XX city must start in a disconnected city if possible

Stock Rounds

  • Sell then buy (or, instead, convert to 10-share, as above, optionally including a buy)
  • Players may only buy 60% of a corporation from the IPO; unlimited from the open market
  • No limit on shares in the open market, including that president's shares may be sold
  • If a share price is in the green area of the market, the president may buy two shares per stock round turn
  • Shares in corporations with no train sell for half price (rounded down)
  • Player order determined by order of passing

Share Prices

  • Down 1 space per share sold (yellow/blue/green/brown phases: by any player, grey phase: only for president selling)
  • No end-of-SR increase for sold-out corporations (or decrease for shares in market etc.)
  • Right 1 space for dividend > £0 and < 2x current share price
  • Right 2/3/4 spaces if dividend is at least 2x/3x/4x current share price
  • Left 1 space for no dividend

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
  • 2 tile actions per turn: either or both may be upgrades, but only one action may be in a city hex
  • Many of the corporations which start in single-city hexes have the ability to lay a green tile there, even if the hex is empty and even before the green tiles are normally available. This is shown on the corporation charter
  • Hill borders cost £50 for each track laid pointing at them (i.e. completing the hill connection will ultimately cost £100)
  • Blue estuary tiles are available in blue phase (4+2 train) at a cost of £50 (as shown on the map)

Station Markers

  • Home station markers are placed during game setup and block routes, track-laying and station marker placement even if the corporation has not yet floated
  • Home station markers remain even if a corporation is removed from the game by phase changes
  • Placing each subsequent station marker costs £50 (except the CR's first non-home station token)
  • Corporations receive additional tokens on converting to 10-share
  • End-game restrictions: No new station markers may be placed once an operating round ends with 2 or fewer unsold trains remaining

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
  • Crossing the tunnel (white track) on the S and FT estuary tiles will grant bonus revenue as shown; this is not a stop and the route must continue to a revenue location beyond the tunnel

Dividends

  • Full pay or withhold
  • Shares in the IPO pay dividends to the corporation

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
  • A 5-share corporation may emergency convert to 10-share if it has no train; the price drops 3 spaces (instead of the usual 2 and in addition to the space already dropped for paying no dividends) and the corporation receives 5x the new price in additional capital
  • 5X trains available after the first 4X train; 6X trains available after the first 5X train
  • One train removed at the end of each OR if no new trains were bought during the OR
  • Trains discarded due to the train limit are removed from the game
  • A corporation is only forced to buy a train if it cannot afford the most expensive train currently available

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
  • Insolvent corporations lease the cheapest train available in the bank (and run it normally), withholding income
  • Insolvency ends when the corporation owns a train

Receivership

  • Corporations with no director are in Receivership
  • Do not place track or tokens
  • Always withhold
  • If trainless, declare Insolvency at the start of their operating turn (and therefore can lease a train immediately)
  • If trainless, will buy the most expensive train they can afford
  • If trainless and 5-share, will emergency convert to 10-share

Game Rounds & Game End

  • 2 ORs between SRs
  • Game ends at the end of the OR where either a corporation's share price reaches £350 or more (blue area in market), or all trains have been 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

  1. This version implements the 2nd Edition rules: see this BGG thread for details of changes if you are more familiar with 1st Edition
  2. 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
  3. In the three player game, the implementation randomly selects which of the GSWR, GWR or MSLR to include.

Open Issues

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