- BGG rank
- BGG #6,686
- BGG rating
- 7.4
Rolling Stock Stars
- 2–6 players
- 120–240 min
- Complexity 4.1/5
- 2020
- BGG rank
- BGG #6,679
- BGG rating
- 7.3
Rolling Stock
2011
Rules assistance for Rolling Stock
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 3–5 players
- 240 min
- Complexity 3.9/5
For 3 players
Rules assistant for Rolling Stock
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Rolling Stock is a board game released in 2011 for 3–5 players and 240 minutes per game. It was designed by Björn Rabenstein and its main mechanics are Trading, Auction / Bidding, and Stock Holding.
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About the game
Rolling Stock is a card game about stock and company trading. Players are investors buying private companies in auctions, which they may later use for an IPO (to turn them into corporations) or sell to already existing corporations (to turn them into subsidiaries of that corporation). The majority share holder of a corporation controls its actions: issuing new shares, paying dividends, and buying more subsidiaries from other corporations, players, or an ominous foreign investor. The companies are transportation themed, starting with the early Prussian railroad. As more companies are bought, the scope of the game expands to Germany, later Europe, and ultimately even space. With expanding scope, older companies become less and less profitable until they have to be written off eventually, severely hitting the book value of their owner. As a pure card game, Rolling Stock has no game board to simulate actual transportation. Instead, networking effects are modeled by synergies between geographically adjacent companies that are subsidiaries of the same corporation. This simplistic model merely sets the stage for the trading of stocks and companies, which is the heart and soul of the game. Rolling Stock is vaguely inspired by the 18xx series of games but it is clearly not a part of it. Obviously, track building is missing entirely, but even the stock market with all its superficial similarities turns out to be fundamentally different. Compared to the 18xx series, Rolling Stock has extremely simple rules. Strategically, however, it is comparably deep and complex.
Designers
Publishers
- (Web published)
- All-Aboard Games
Questions and answers
Rolling Stock supports 3–5 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 Rolling Stock is 240 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.
Rolling Stock has a complexity rating of 3.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a heavy 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.
Rolling Stock belongs to these categories: Card Game, Economic, and Print & Play. Its main mechanics are Trading, Auction / Bidding, and Stock Holding. 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 Rolling Stock are: Björn Rabenstein. 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 Rolling Stock 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.