In the 19th century, shortly after the industrial revolution, railways quickly spread over the world. Japan, importing Western culture and eager to become one of the Grand Nations, saw the birth of many private railway companies and entered the Golden Age of railways. Eventually, as a result of the actions of powerful people and capitalists, many of these smaller companies gradually merged into larger ones.
In Trains, the players are such capitalists, managing private railways companies and striving to become bigger and better than the competition. The game takes place during the 19th and 20th century in the 2012 OKAZU Brand edition, whereas the 2013 AEG/Pegasus edition is set in modern times, with bullet trains, freight trains and more. You will start with a small set of cards, but by building a more effective deck throughout the game, you will be able to place stations and lay rails over the maps of Osaka, Tokyo or other locations. The trick is to purchase the cards you want to use, then use them as effectively as possible. Gain enough points from your railways and you will ultimately manage the most powerful railroads in modern Japan!
Trains is the first title in AEG's Destination Fun series! Continue your travels in the acclaimed Planes and Automobiles board games.
Integrates with Trains: Rising Sun
- Excellent deck builder mechanics
- Thematic integration of trains
- Good solo play
- Engaging multiplayer experience
- Map-based gameplay
- Trash mechanic adds depth
- Plays better with multiple players
- Difficult to obtain
- Japanese bullet trains
- Railway stations
- Network building in Japan
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- most of what i look for in a train game is about emergent alliances
- the more people you get in there the more entangled it gets and that's what's really exciting for me about train games
- definitions are useful when they highlight affinities and they cease to be useful when they're used to exclude
- i will call it a train game because it will piss off how to train gamers
- this is the game that invented everything i rip off in my games
- it feels very much like a train game that would have been designed like in 2010
- the rules are really very simple they're just they just take a long time to play
- soft spot for games that are designed just for me as a solo player
- i really enjoy automated opponents and seeing what they're capable of