/pic3869603.jpg)
Game Info
Year
2005
Collection
Your Tier
Loading…
Expansions & Family
/pic685557.jpg){kind=small}
/pic3309342.jpg){kind=small}
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
Vibe profile
Not enough video data yet
Description
Railways of the World (2009) is the new edition of the base game for Eagle Games' popular Railways of the World series, first published as Railroad Tycoon in 2005. It reimplements the original game with several improvements.
Revisit the early days of the Age of Steam as you begin with a locomotive (the venerable John Bull, the first locomotive to run in North America) and a vision (your Tycoon "mission" card). From there, build your budding railroad network into a vast empire. Connect New York to Chicago, earn the most money, develop bigger and faster locomotives and maybe even span North America and build the Transcontinental Railway!
Multiple expansions featuring different maps are available. Railways of the World is the new base game for the system and includes the engine placards, railroad tiles, train tokens, money, bonds, and other items that are needed in almost all the Railways of the World series. A gameboard depicting the eastern half of the United States is included in the base game, as well as a mounted map of Mexico.
This game is preceded by the designer's other Winsome train games: Age of Steam, Australian Railways, Volldampf, New England Railways, Veld Spoorweg, Lancashire Railways, and Ferrocarriles Pampas. Railroad Tycoon was the result of a collaboration with Glenn Drover, in which the mechanics and game-play of Martin Wallace's Age of Steam were simplified and streamlined and attractive over-produced components were added, in order to make Railroad Tycoon more appealing to less hardcore gamers and more accessible to a wider audience.
A revised reprint was published at the end of 2010 which made some component improvements, such as the addition of Railroad Operation cards for the Mexico map.
Complete series overview - The Railways of the World Series: Introducing the family members of the ideal medium-weight train game
Note: The RailRoad Tycoon board itself is gigantic (about 36x45 inches, 91x114 cm) and requires a huge table or playing on the floor.
Similar to:
Steam
Railways of the World Family
(3 games)
This page includes videos and mentions from the whole Railways of the World family. Drill into a specific game below.
/pic3869603.jpg)
Featured Videos
Ask a Rules Question
All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 8
This page: 8
Sentiment:
pos 3 ·
mix 2 ·
neu 1 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–8 of 8
Video ORK1RhKDq00
Drive Thru Games Review at 0:23 sentiment: positive
video_pk 90633 · mention_pk 242338
Click to watch at 0:23 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Enjoyable across various player counts
- Modular system allows for tailoring the game experience
- Offers strategic depth and high replayability
- Streamlined mechanics compared to predecessors
- Good package with multiple maps included
- Room for expansion storage
Cons
- Portugal map is not for beginners, described as 'crunchy' and 'tight'
- Paper money is considered 'horrific'
Thematic elements
- Railroad operations and expansion
Comparison games
- Age of Steam
- Steam
- 18xx style games
- Railroad Tycoon
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Players have a set number of actions per turn to perform various tasks like building track, urbanizing cities, upgrading engines, or delivering cubes.
- Auction — Used for determining turn order, with options for different auction variants.
- card drafting/playing — Players select and use various cards, including railroad operations cards, goal cards (replacing barons), and service bounty cards, which influence gameplay and scoring.
- economic management — Players manage money, take bonds which incur penalties and score deductions, and collect income based on their position on the income track.
- Engine Building — Players can upgrade their engine level, which affects their delivery capabilities.
- Map building/tile laying — Players build track on a map, connecting cities and expanding their rail network.
- Route Building — Players build track between cities, with costs varying based on terrain.
- Set Collection — Delivering cubes to their corresponding colored cities involves collecting and delivering specific colored cubes.
- Variable player powers — Goal cards (similar to baron cards) provide players with unique secret objectives.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- hey everybody welcome to drive-thru review 706.
- this is the 10th anniversary edition box
- i'm going to show you this game through the guise of the railways of portugal expansion which i believe this time is the newest expansion for this
- railways of the world has been out for 10 years and really it's kind of one of three games in what you might call or somewhat called the martin wallace trilogy of training games with age of steam steam and then railroad tycoon which kind of morphed into the railways of the world
- now one nice thing they've done with the railways of portugal map is they've actually included the score at slash income track along the side
- so you can kind of look and see what the other expansions do and be like oh i might want to try that one because of this and that
- now if you do go the auction route it's worth noting that you don't start off with any money
- and here we can see the horrific paper money it's just i don't know what it is we'll just we just play with poker chips but it does come with paper money
- after sorting out turn order we're going to go into the three different action phases
- this is a little bit simpler than a lot of the other steam age steam or even 18xx style games with how much it costs to build a track
- instead of track and this is individual to portugal is build a maritime connection
- so many of the cities are colored but a lot of them are gray and the gray cities don't want any particular kinds of cubes
- if you want to make it a black city that only costs you five dollars but urbanizing a black city has some ramifications we'll talk about in a minute
- so we've upgraded to a level two so we're going to take this purple cube for our next action and we're going to deliver it one spot up north to this gray city and then finally over to the right and then that purple cube has gone to its purple city and we've delivered that
- once you empty a city of cubes you're going to put an empty city marker on top of it and this acts as a timer to the end of the game
- specific to railways of portugal you will actually seed two random cubes one to acores and one to madeira until something triggers the industrial age
- so that's that's pretty much how you play the game with a little bit of the rules there for portugal i'll talk more about portugal in the review part here
- now i have played a railways of the world with just about every player count
- i think this one kind of is and maybe it's just something to do with the the freshness and the newness and everything but one thing i've really liked about this is i've had a good time playing with my game group over the years but now seeing how i can kind of tailor this and play this with the family
- because in this game the income and the victory points are like the exact same we're in steam you kind of have to make that sort of paradigm shift
- and i was like okay well i don't know how that's really going to work out now that i haven't played this in a while kind of coming back to this but i actually like this better
- this it still has all of that but this sort of spices up that gameplay with the cards they got the baron cards or the gold cards in this case and then you've got the the major lines and all
- this has all the eastern u.s the mexico the portugal all the extra cards and all the bits and stuff and there's still room to like fit in here probably good two three other expansions and maps comfortably
- so it's a nice sort of little system to buy and it's not going to take up you know more than this amount of room on your shelf
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video creGsTAg7kQ
Meeple University Promotion at 0:49 sentiment: positive
video_pk 90554 · mention_pk 242088
Click to watch at 0:49 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Mentioned as a game that could fit into the deluxe train set space
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- for deluxe board game train sets from the little plastic train company
- like inside ticket to ride box
- the design that won't break when your cat or child dropped them on the floor
- a wooden stackable skull marker
- 48 train pieces
- check out deluxe board game train sets on kickstarter
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video 3V4_pDO57Wg
Watch It Played Discussion at 4:09 sentiment: neutral
video_pk 89643 · mention_pk 238460
Click to watch at 4:09 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
neutral
Pros
- new maps for games like railways of the world
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- nay i don't really go in for expansions for a couple reasons we'll get into
- i don't play any of my games enough to need any expansions really
- board games are meant to be an experience that everybody enjoys and everybody comes away from feeling better
- just because it's rated low doesn't mean it's bad it just means it's misunderstood
- don't judge a book by its cover especially when it's a board game
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video EzyPn3aMjbE
Watch It Played Discussion at 1:17
video_pk 83780 · mention_pk 211797
Click to watch at 1:17 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I very rarely very rarely want to play the big old Euro at the full six player count.
- Power Grid is the game that's so popular, so successful, but still feels like an underdog when compared to other games.
- The auction here is very tense at six players.
- Cursed Court is a fantastic betting game that really shines at higher player counts.
- Lifeboats. H you want to play a game with six friends but you don't necessarily want six friends at the end of it.
- Zu Vardis, that's a fantastic game where everyone's trying to help each other get to the top of the board, the zoo in Zuardis. But you also want to be the person who gets to the very top the first.
- The jazzy pattern, which doesn't always make for great cognition of a board and what the heck is going on.
- It's an incredibly dark board. I think they reprinted it with a lighter board, just they already did this. It's like no one can This is very dark. No one can see what's happening.
- I did learn that if you mix red wine and white wine together, that's how you make rosé. That's fact according to Viticulture.
- the main thing that I've learned from games is that little insight into different worlds all around the world and beyond because of board games.
- I've learned that from board games. And while I can't say I've learned a bunch of hard facts, I think board games have kind of opened up the world to me a little bit from my table.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video l7OEGDl_6rY
Top List at 3:32
video_pk 77053 · mention_pk 185579
Click to watch at 3:32 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- build rails, deliver goods, and fulfill rail baron's secretive goals
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Pick-Up and Deliver — Players deliver goods.
- Route Building — Players build rails.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- so we have a list of every single game that was released in 2005 and we're going to go through all of them in a three-hour episode absolutely not
- we have a potential pool of 25 board games but only 10 can be inducted into our newly minted Hall of Fame that's the rules that's the rules only 10 we made them up that's the rules
- you could argue with us in the comments and tell us why we're wrong you could do that always an option
- I'm going to be real honest with everyone that this list of games from 2005 there are a bunch on here I don't know
- that is like the oldest of old school hidden Trader Trad
- it spawned so many other games right we have a ton of games in this Arkham Horror World which is obviously the world of HP Lovecraft
- I think wits and wagers is a is a classic
- it is on my list it's one of the very early like kind of worker placement kind of mean Euro dry Euro kind of game that I played
- this is like a grill game for people
- wow we didn't even rehearse that
- it sounds like if your jam is hidden rolls or social deduction style games and you haven't played Shadow hunters and you see it out in the wild maybe pick KCK it maybe give it a whirl you might like it
- if this isn't a classic game I don't know what it is
- it is ubiquitous when it comes to board games not just the theme but sooner or later if you're talking about board games eventually Arkham Horror is going to hit the table
- many aboard gamer covet this
- people still talk about I mean any game that you're still it's 20 years old and you're like I should play that sometimes
- I may have my Nostalgia goggles on and uh you know be looking at it through those rosecolor glasses
- it's a game 100% you can play with your kids
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video ljNY7rT12u4
Top List at 13:32 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 69412 · mention_pk 165903
Click to watch at 13:32 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Love Russian Railroads
- Could be an epic point scoring bliss if it is the collective version
Cons
- Potentially scammed/never received a pre-order ($100)
- Announced a collective version after purchasing a rare copy
Thematic elements
- Railway
Comparison games
- Russian Railroads
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- economic — Implied by point scoring and Euro game style.
- network building — Implied by the railway theme.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I have too many board games
- Every board game is a promise of a story a game night a group of friends getting together it's a memory of when you did just that
- This list of board games are games that I know and I know well games that I would add to my collection immediately
- I've wanted some of these games for years and with all of that acknowledged I I just I just can't justify getting them
- I'm an irresponsible campaign game owner
- keep dreaming whether it's your career your life the goals you have or the games you want
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video dP2CTbmLgf4
The Dice Tower Discussion at 3:05 sentiment: positive
video_pk 8719 · mention_pk 25715
Click to watch at 3:05 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
none
Cons
none
Thematic elements
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- the first time where I thought of the whole idea of form over function where you could not figure out how to play because they just wanted to look so pretty that they didn't actually put on the board how to play.
- It's you move you you you turn over a piece, something shows up in the grid, you move over. There's multiple game plays. It's just such a satisfying, entertaining game.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video UY9RC0IIVig
Board to Death TV - Board Game Reviews Review at 0:00 sentiment: mixed
video_pk 5015 · mention_pk 14898
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
mixed
Pros
- Expandable elements (Mexico and Eastern USA) add variety
- Fun with more players
- Production quality is nice
- Random goods at start create variability
- Baron cards offer bonus points for completing conditions
- Room for house rules and expansions
Cons
- Rulebook needs major work; more examples and images would help
- City colors do not consistently match the goods cubes; blue and purple are confusing
- End-game pacing can feel abrupt; players may wish for longer play sessions
Thematic elements
- Rail transport logistics, city development, and intercity goods delivery financed via loans
- Two boards representing Mexico and Eastern USA with optional reach to Western USA
- Economic strategy with bidding, expansion, and scoring through connectivity and deliveries
Comparison games
- Railway Tycoon
- Ruin Wars
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Auction/bidding for turn order — Players bid to obtain the first-player marker each round, which influences access to initial funds and actions.
- Deliver goods and score — Deliver goods cubes to cities; points on the score track scale with distance and train level.
- End-game condition — Game ends when all empty city markers are placed; marker counts vary with player count.
- End-of-round income and loan payments — At the end of each round, players receive income based on their score and must pay bond costs.
- Loans/Bonds (unrepaid) — Loans are taken and never repaid; bonds incur payments and impact end-game scoring.
- Operations cards — Draw and play operation cards to affect actions, movement, or scoring conditions.
- Random goods setup — Goods cubes are placed randomly at the start, creating variability and planning considerations.
- Track construction — Players build tracks between cities; costs depend on terrain and location.
- Train upgrades — Upgrading trains extends delivery reach and enables scoring from greater distances.
- Urbanization — Gray cities can be urbanized into colored cities for $10,000, adding new goods and scoring potential.
- Using other players' tracks — You may use routes on others’ tracks, but points accrue to the track owner for those connections.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- The expandable elements are great
- The colors used to print the cities on the board do not match the colored good cubes
- The rule book needs major work and should include more examples and images
- We had fun with it and are giving it a 7 on 10
- you can also use other players tracks but as long as the first connection is from your color
- the production quality is nice
- they need to fix the rule book and reprint the board so that everything matches correctly
- it's the same feeling you get when playing ruin Wars you just wish you had more time
- we like the randomness of the goods at the start of the game and that it leaves a lot of room for house rules and expansions
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–8 of 8