1817 is a railroad operations and share trading board game in the 18xx series with a distinct financial flair. It is named after the year the New York Stock Exchange opened at 40 Wall Street in New York.
1817 differentiates itself from other 18xx games with its sophisticated financial mechanics that simulate the laissez faire capitalism of early America. While all the familiar mechanics of an 18xx game are present, such as placing tiles, purchasing tokens, and running trains, the game is won or lost based on the financial decisions you make.
1817 includes financial mechanics seen in other 18xx games such as mergers, friendly takeovers, and conversions to different share structures. Beyond these basics, 1817 introduces several additional financial mechanics such as short selling, market driven interest rates, hostile takeovers, and corporate liquidations. The most unique is selling stock short. Short selling is the practice of selling stock you don’t own with the intention of buying the stock back at a later date. You hope to profit from a decline in the price of the stock between the sale and the repurchase. Conversely, you will incur a loss if the price of the stock increases before the repurchase. You are also liable for dividends paid while holding the short position.
- Strong blend of hand management and area control
- Two-player friendly with a solo variant
- Clear programming motif with elegant and approachable design
- High abstraction level may deter casual players
- Strategic depth requires careful planning and long-term thinking
- coding/algorithm-inspired abstract strategy
- Abstract strategy about program lines and code-like structures
- neutral, puzzle-like
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Control lines on a program display to gain points.
- area_control — Control lines on a program display to gain points.
- hand management — Players manage a 16-card identical deck to influence future moves.
- hand_management — Players manage a 16-card identical deck to influence future moves.
- programming_theme_placement — Cards are placed to form a running program that determines scoring.
- run_and_score — Points awarded based on how the program runs and line control.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Tango is a really fun trick taker
- Tango really shines ... two players although Tango really shines
- Players secretly select their role and create temporary alliances employing any tactics necessary to outwit their soon to be traitorous Partners
- The bottle imp will take your points away
- This revamped version features brand new and old roll cards as well as refined rules that enhance the gameplay experience
- Now you can enjoy the fun with up to nine players expanding beyond the original 3 to 8 players
- 101 is an abstract strategy card game that combines hand management and area control mechanics
- the game concludes in one of two ways