Empire Builder (board game)

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Empire Builder

Players	2–6
Setup time	5 minutes
Playing time	60–240 minutes
Random chance	Low
Skills required	Resource Allocation

Empire Builder is a railroad board game centered on the construction of railroad track, and then the delivery of goods along those railroad tracks. The original Empire Builder game is set in North America, but the line has expanded to include games set across the world, on the moon and even in a fantasy land. They are collectively called "the Empire Builder series".

The Empire Builder games are sometimes called Crayon Rails games because players mark their tracks on the board with plastic crayons (or sometimes with markers or other items).

1 History
2 Gameplay
3 Strategy
4 Awards
5 External links

[edit] History

Empire Builder was originally released in 1980 by Mayfair Games. It was quite successful, and is now in its fifth edition. In addition, the success of the original has resulted in the release of an entire Empire Builder series of games:

Empire Builder (1980) is the original game set in North America. Originally this contained the United States and a sliver of southern Canada. The fourth edition of the game added Mexico (from North American Rails) and updated the demand cards as well as some of the geography.
British Rails (1984) allows players to build track in England, Scotland, and Wales. It was originally released in a box similar to the original Empire Builder. It was later released as a tube game and has recently been rereleased in a boxed edition with updated demand cards.
Eurorails (1990) is set in Europe. It has one of the largest maps in the series and introduced ferries to the game. Many players consider this the best of the series.
Agent of Change (1991), also known as West Virginia Rails, was published as a limited edition game to accompany the Huntington, WV Museum of Art's exhibition, "Agent of Change: The Railroad in West Virginia". This game has not been available for some time.
Nippon Rails (1992) is set in Japan and to date has only been released in a tube edition. Many players consider this the best game for two-players. For more players, the narrow, constrained, mountainous geography of the islands poses a challenge.
Uncle Happy's Train Game (1993) is a simplified version of Empire Builder for children. Instead of building a rail network, players are now connecting the States. This game is no longer available.
North American Rails (1993?) was released as a tube game and added Mexico to the standard Empire Builder map. In addition, additional space in Canada was included which didn't impact play. This game was absorbed into fourth edition Empire Builder.
Australian Rails (1994) was originally released in a tube edition. It was rereleased in 2005 in a boxed edition with an updated set of demand cards.
Iron Dragon (1996) is another fan favorite of the series. It features a design by Tom Wham in a fantasy world. In addition to having the largest map in the series, several new elements are introduced in this game: foremen, ships, the underground, additional terrain types, and more levels of engine upgrades. In 2004, at the Origins International Game Expo, Tom Wham sold a self-published expansion to this game which updated the ships and trains. In addition, this expansion introduced mercenaries and allowed fighting among players. This game has also been produced as a computer game.
India Rails (1999) introduced pilgrims as a method to obtain extra funds. It is considered by some to have the most balanced map.
Lunar Rails (2003) is set in the future on the moon. The game allows players to build on both sides of the moon using a wrap-around system. The terrain in this game is notoriously difficult due to the large number of mountain mileposts.
Russian Rails (2004) is uniquely set in two eras, before and after the fall of Communism. The rules of the game change when the Fall of Communism card is drawn, reflecting the econmics changes this event brought
China Rails (2006) has been announced by Mayfair Games and is expected in late summer.

Sky Zone is another train game that uses some variant of the Empire Builder system (and is generally not available).

[edit] Gameplay

The gameplay in Empire Builder begins on a blank map of North America. A hexagonal grid of "mileposts" is printed on the map. Most of these points are clear, which are the cheapest to build across. However, mountains and other obstacles such as rivers can increase the cost of building.

Each player draws three demand cards, each of which lists three different commodities desired by three different cities and also lists a value for each. From this initial array of nine different demands a player begins to plot out an initial route which will let him pick up and deliver desired commodities. The game begins with each player spending two turns laying out initial track connecting up cities. He then places his train on one of the cities.

On a typical turn a player will move his train along his track, possibly picking up and delivering goods from cities. When he delivers a good required by a demand card he receives a cash payout and then draws a new demand. (Some of the cards in the draw stack feature events which can cause trouble for players.) After moving his train and possibly making deliveries, the player is able to build new track, up to $20 million worth per turn.

A player eventually wins the game by connecting together five of the six major cities on the map and getting $250 million.

[edit] Strategy

Empire Builder is a game of pure efficiency; however, there is some luck involved depending on the cards that are drawn. Other than connecting up required major cities, any delivery in Empire Builder must follow a certain ruthless logic: do you gain more than you spend in order to make the delivery; or does the amount a delivery costs you (due to building new track) save you enough in other resources (usually time) to be worthwhile?