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Game description by the publisher (2nd Ed.)
Set in the historic mining areas of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, Silverton is a game of railroading, mining, and commodity market manipulation.
Use your surveyor to plot your railroads and your prospector to find your mines. Operate your empire of mines and railroads to position your gold, silver, and other commodities in the right market and at the right time to reap maximum profit.
Contains a 17x22 mounted mapboard, Each player will have 32 wooden cubes and 8 wooden disks in one of the following colors. White, Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, 13 black 5/16" cubes for the price chart, 208 chips - in various colors, two decks, rules book, box and turn marker.
User review: Players make money by building a network of railroads to deliver freight and passengers. They may also speculate on the price of precious metals by claiming mines and mills.
To play: Each player chooses a color and takes possession of all the surveyors and prospectors of that color. How much money they begin with, in which city the players start, the number of surveyors and prospectors they begin with depends on the turn order and the number of players in the game.
A game turn is divided into seven phases:
First phase - The turn order cards are shuffled and dealt to the players.
Second phase - Players may place prospectors and surveyors on the game board in turn order.
Third phase - Disputes are resolved between players who placed surveyors in the same box on the game board.
Fourth phase - Players pay for construction and claims made by their prospectors in turn order. Players can collect revenue for passenger cards and deliver and sell freight for up to two claims.
Fifth phase - The dice are rolled to determine price changes for each mine.
Sixth phase - Claims and passenger cards taken by the players are replaced.
At the end of the sixth phase, it is determined whether anyone met the victory condition for the scenario chosen.
Availability : The original Two Wolf version is long-since out of print, but the newer-released Mayfair has a wider distribution. The New Mexico expansion is available for the Two Wolf game, but the Mayfair version has the expansion included with the base game.
Expanded by:
Silverton New Mexico Expansion (Two Wolf version only, Mayfair version includes the expansion)
- Engaging theme based on popular books.
- Excellent card play with tough decisions.
- Strategic movement and coordination are key.
- Satisfying cooperative experience with tension.
- Good replayability due to scenarios and objectives.
- Handles multiple characters per player well, avoiding feeling like a general.
- Smart difficulty adjustment system.
- Unique cooperative mechanics that feel fresh.
- Controlling multiple characters in solo/low player counts can be a concern for some, though handled well here.
- Limited availability of source material in English might hinder full appreciation for some players.
- The adventures of five young children known as the Rapid Arrow Gang (or Club) who navigate their district, encountering and dealing with a group of older teenage boys called the Vaunts.
- Prague in the 1930s-1940s, specifically the Severton district.
- Pandemic
- Mage Knight
- Dungeon Pets
- Through the Ages
- Tash-Kalar
- Code Names
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area movement — Characters move between numbered locations on the board, with different card types required for different paths.
- cooperative play — Players work together to achieve common goals, with characters moving around the board and managing threats.
- Dice rolling/randomization — Randomizers are used for quest positions and potentially for Vaunt movements or events.
- hand management — Managing the cards in hand is crucial, as having the right cards for movement, interaction, or objectives is key to success.
- Multi-use cards — Cards can be used for various actions like movement, interacting with enemies, or exploring, forcing players to make difficult choices about their usage.
- Objective Completion — Players work to complete various quests and objectives to advance their progress track and win the game.
- scenario-based play — The game comes with five different scenarios, including an introductory tutorial, offering replayability.
- Splitting up and regrouping — Players must strategically decide when to split up to cover more ground and complete objectives, and when to regroup for safety and combined actions.
- Threat progression track — The Vaunts have their own agenda track, and if they reach the end before the players, the players lose the game.
- Variable player powers — Each character has unique special powers that can influence gameplay.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Vlad Shavado does not miss.
- This game feels like a stealth game, like Metal Gear Solid, but with Goon style kids.
- The reason Pandemic is so great is because you got multi-use cards and I need to use this card to, you know, cure the blue disease, but I also need it so I can jet over to Tokyo and take care of that epidemic that's about to explode.
- Knowing when to split up and knowing when to come together is crucial to winning this game.
- I get both the things of feeling like I'm a general in command of my troops but also like I am somebody on the battlefront itself.
- Severton is absolutely lovely.