Dragon's Hobbies

Saturday evening, I convinced Beth to play Railroad Tycoon with me again. (I tried to get my son to play also, but he had just returned from a long day out and said that it would be too long of a game for him.) Beth started off saying the thing that she usually does before she stomps me in a game - "You're going to win anyway. I don't ever win this game." Our records show that her statement is not factual. The phrase that more accurately means I will win is, "I don't like that game." Those games we never play again.

Although the I have the original Railroad Tycoon: The Boardgame from Eagle Games, we play a hybrid of the updated rules from Railways Of The World (ROTW), so in addition to the 3 original setup cards, Railroad Era Begins, New Train, and Speed Record, I set out all the Major Line cards, and 4 random Service Bounties. Each player is also dealt 2 random Tycoon cards to choose from. I removed 2 random cards from the Railroad Operations deck before revealing 2 per player to complete the modified setup. We also use the waterway path on the northeast side of New York, which allows a second connection to New Haven, and the waterway path on the northwest side of New Orleans, to match the 10th Anniversary Edition of ROTW.

This time, our starting Service Bounties were for Mobile, Louisville, Raleigh, and Jacksonville. Our starting Railroad Operations included 3 hotels. I was randomly selected to go first rather than doing any bidding. (Actually, I had forgotten about bidding at that point along with a few other rules, such as paying for Stock Certificates, which we missed the first couple turns.)

Even though I took two hotels in the first round, and Beth got the Railroad Era Begins bonus, we kept our scores pretty close for a while. Beth connected the first Major Line, getting the Boston to Washington, D.C. connection. I put some track in the northeast, but then went the southern route and connected Raleigh to Atlanta, hoping to capitalize on the Atlanta hotel that I'd picked up.

Beth went to the west from Washington, D.C. and I tried to refocus on the western expansion by building from Chicago. I felt forced to make the Western Connection at Kansas City to have a shot at the most valuable Major Line, but my Chicago tracks only caused Beth to turn further south before she was able to connect with Kansas City via Duluth. Soon after, Beth had the NY-KC-WL line and jumped into a commanding lead on the point track.

I struggled to recover. Eventually I got the New Orleans-Minneapolis line, but Beth had a stronger rail line and was able to make use of having a stronger train. Beth was at Level 7 while I had only Level 4, and she had the only continuous route between New York and Chicago. My control of the south was no match. Even though I eventually got a Level 7 train, while she upgrade to Level 8, I wasn't able to pull in as many points as she had been able to in all the time that she had the strength advantage. Often times, the deliveries that gave me the most points also gave her points.

In the end, Beth had collected 218 points, compared to my measly 145. She also completed her Tycoon goal, while I failed mine. I really lost my hat on that one.