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Robber Barons was the only full game from the 2005 Winsome Games set (it also included some Age of Steam maps). It is the 4th game designed by Dieter Danziger and published by Winsome, after Transsib, Union vs Central and Lokomotive Werks.
The game is played in segments with 3 rounds per segment. At the beginning of each segment, 1 route card per player is turned face up. During each round players may either take one route card or place two cubes. Turn order is reset for each round, with the player with fewest VPs going first. Players accumulate VPs according to the size of their railroad network(s) and by playing their route cards.
The game ends at the end of a segment where one of the players has accumulated at least 100 VPs.
Robber Barons has some luck, with timing of route card plays being the most important factor, followed closely by strategic railroad building. The game includes two maps and route card decks, allowing the game to be played on US or a German setting.
- Solid design
- It is a fun one
- Cull
- Too many abstract games already owned
- Least unique game
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Majority — Players get majorities in rows and columns by placing tiles with different values.
- Set Collection — Players try to get pieces they want and avoid pieces they don't want.
- Tile Placement — Players place tiles with different values.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Keep or Cull, where we play all the games and decide if we want to keep them or cull them.
- We have I think 11 more games today, which means we play them and now we're going to think, are these games going to stay in the collection because as you know, we have too many games and we are trying to get rid of some of the games because we can't own them all.
- It's a cull for me, keep for you.
- It's a keep for me, a cull for you.
- It's a double keep.
- It's a double cow.
- It's a double count.
- It's a double kill.
- It's a double cull.