- BGG rating
- 5.2
Northern Pacific: Southern Pacific
- 3–6 players
- 60 min
- 2023
- BGG rank
- BGG #3,016
- BGG rating
- 7.0
Northern Pacific
2013
Rules assistance for Northern Pacific
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 60 min
- 7+
- Complexity 1.4/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Northern Pacific
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Northern Pacific is a board game released in 2013 for 2–6 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 7 and up. It was designed by Amabel Holland and its main mechanics are Network and Route Building, Commodity Speculation, and Score-and-Reset Game.
Expansions
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About the game
Northern Pacific is a luck-free railroad-building game that lasts about twenty minutes. This game is in the genre of Iron Road / TransAmerica and SNCF / Paris Connection. Players start the game with one large investment cube and three small investment cubes in hand. The game board shows the United States from Minnesota to Washington; game play starts in Minneapolis/St. Paul. On a turn, a player either places one of their cubes in a city (other than Seattle) that hasn't yet been reached by the train or builds track. If they build track, they choose one of the railroad lines exiting the city where the train is currently located and place a locomotive on it to show the current endpoint of the railroad line. Track has directional arrows on it, and a new train line can never move against the arrows or back to a city that the railroad has already visited. When the railroad visits a city where players have placed investment cubes, they retrieve those cubes and take additional cubes from the supply: one new cube if they had a small cube in the city and two new cubes if they had a large cube. When the railroad reaches Seattle, the round ends. Players tally the number of cubes in hand and records this number on the "good investments" track; they record the number of their cubes still on the game board on the "bad investments" track. They then reset the board as at the start of the game, then begin a new round. After three rounds, whoever has made the most good investments wins; if players are tied, then the tied player who has made the fewest bad investments wins. You can play a single round of the game to determine a winner, if desired, or you can play new rounds with no recorded score, with a player winning the game if they win two rounds. Note that the Winsome version of Northern Pacific is for 3-6 players, whereas the Rio Grande Games version is for 2-6 players.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Rio Grande Games
- Winsome Games
Questions and answers
Northern Pacific supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Northern Pacific is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Northern Pacific for ages 7 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Northern Pacific has a complexity rating of 1.4 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Northern Pacific belongs to these categories: Trains. Its main mechanics are Network and Route Building, Commodity Speculation, and Score-and-Reset Game. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Northern Pacific are: Amabel Holland. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Northern Pacific as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.