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Rail Baron is one of the earlier train games - boardgames with a railroad theme.
Players move trains along historical USA railroad lines and collect delivery payoffs. They compete to purchase the railroads in order to assemble a network that gives access to important map destinations while simultaneously trying to prevent their opponents from doing so.
From the Box (Avalon Hill Bookshelf Game)
Only in America!
You are living in the heyday of the locomotive. You are Jay Gould. And you have just added another railroad to your vast railroad empire. Flushed with success, you now retire to the sartorial splendor of your very own Pullman Palace Car. The dream ends. You awaken to reality with the thought... "just another fantasy." Ahh, but for the grace of Avalon Hill, you dream continues.
Here, in Rail Baron, you become a latter day Gould, or a Cornelius Vanderbilt, or any of those menacingly infamous moguls whose wizardry and acumen established the criteria for which business success was to be judged in decades to come.
Rail Baron is played on a large board of the United States RR network. in fact, it comes in three separate boards. Laid end to end, it spell out America and portrays the 28 major rail lines and major cities they connected during the halcyon days of railroading.
You start with $20,000 - and a train. You make money on trips from city to city. Pretty soon you've got enough money to build up your empire (you can buy the B&O and C&O for just $44,000). More holdings bring more money your way (track rental) from your opponents.
With many new nuances of strategy, it becomes a game where fortunes see-saw until the last rail baron is bankrupt - or has accumulated the $200,000 needed to win.
All of this may take 3 to 4 hours. But it's great fun for 3 to 6 people, ages 10 & up.
- Boxcars
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Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- So, because of that, I actually never got a copy of it um and haven't played it.
- Um so, you drive cars around and shoot at each other. That's basically the game.
- Looks like Carcassonne with Islands. That looks pretty good.
- Do we need a card game version of it? And the answer to that is we really don't. Just play Camel Up.
- This is a war game from Don Greenwood, Avalon Hill.
- But if you like choose your own adventures type games, that's what this is.
- It is a tile laying game that is about as exciting as it looks in this picture here.
- So if you like Klask, um which is a fantastic two-player game, this is just a version for four.
- I really like awkward guests, so why didn't I play the second one?
- He gave it Seal of Approval. A seven out of 10. Well, there you go.
- I think I'm going to have to go with the Bottom of it. It is a fantastic three-player trick-taking game that I like very much and think you definitely should check out.
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References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- Deep strategic gameplay.
- Engaging economic simulation.
- Satisfying route building.
- High player interaction.
- Can be complex for new players.
- Game length can be substantial.
- building a railroad empire
- 19th century American railroad expansion
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Players vie for control over key routes and territories.
- economic management — Players manage money to invest in routes and stocks.
- Route Building — Players lay down track to connect cities and establish routes.
- stock market simulation — Players buy and sell stock in different railroad companies.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It is weekly alaboom. The year of Our Lord uh no 2nd of July, The Year of Our Lord 2025 weekly album is the longest running weekly video cast on YouTube and and I don't know if that means anything, but I'll keep doing this until they plant me in the ground so I can hold that record forever.
- What is up with the crowns?
- Thanks for the fans out in the community. Top three. Get special badges and live chat. It resets every stream so you can always try again.
- The more you chat, the more XP you get.
- I don't even know how that works. I I get emails about it all the time saying, "Do you want to enable super chats or whatever?"
- It's a classic for a reason, the depth is incredible.
- You really feel like a railroad tycoon making big decisions.
- The stock market part of the game is surprisingly tense.
- It’s one of those games that you can play hundreds of times and still discover new strategies.
- It may be gucha.