- BGG rating
- 7.3
Railroad Rivals: Robber Baron Expansion
- 2–6 players
- 60–90 min
- Complexity 2.0/5
- 2019
- BGG rank
- BGG #6,355
- BGG rating
- 6.4
Railroad Rivals
2018
Rules assistance for Railroad Rivals
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–5 players
- 30–60 min
- 8+
- Complexity 2.1/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for Railroad Rivals
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Railroad Rivals is a board game released in 2018 for 1–5 players, 30–60 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Glenn Drover and its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Tile Placement, and Open Drafting.
Expansions
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About the game
While playing Railroad Rivals, you connect cities via one of the twelve great railroads that stretched across the United States, while simultaneously building your stock portfolio. You then use those railroads to make deliveries that drive up the price of your stocks. At the end of the game, the player who has run the most profitable railroad while also owning the most valuable stocks becomes the greatest of all of the railroad rivals! In more detail, Railroad Rivals is a tile-drafting and -laying game in which you build a railroad empire that stretches across America…and across your table. Each turn you draft one new city tile and one new railroad stock tile. You then lay one of your city tiles next to a city tile that is already on the table to create a link between the two cities. The matching edges must both have the same railroad on them. Each newly laid city gets one or more randomly drawn colored cubes placed on it that represent the goods that can be delivered from that city. After all players have laid their city tile, you deliver one goods cube using one of that city's railroad links. This gives you points and raises the value of that railroad stock. At the end of the game, your score is the total of all of the points that you received from deliveries, from other players using your railroad links, and from the value of all of your railroad stock tiles.
Categories
Designers
Publishers
- Mr. B Games
- Forbidden Games
Questions and answers
Railroad Rivals supports 1–5 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 Railroad Rivals is 30–60 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 Railroad Rivals for ages 8 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.
Railroad Rivals has a complexity rating of 2.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-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.
Railroad Rivals belongs to these categories: Trains. Its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding, Tile Placement, and Open Drafting. 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 Railroad Rivals are: Glenn Drover. 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 Railroad Rivals 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.