18CLE 2016

Trolley Car companies of Cleveland, Ohio. This is an 18xx style train game that begins in 1848 and ends in 1980. There are nine public trolley car companies and one government controlled company. The game also includes eight private companies that are auctioned off at the beginning of the game. Players struggle to keep their trolley car companies from falling into the government controlled railroad. The game ends when the $12,000 bank runs out of funds. The player with the most personal money plus stock share value wins the game.

The game has eight phases. The first permanent trolley car is the '8'. Phases 4 and 5 represent the Great Depression and revenue declines during this period of the game in which brown tiles are available. Brown tiles only contain one station space. Upgrading a two station space green tile to a single station space brown tile removes a station marker from the board, which simulates trolley companies shrinking during these two phases.

Another unique feature is that a board of directors (3 players) controls the government railroad, which is determined by the player that controls the priority deal card from the previous stock round. This will change at the end of each stock round assuming a different player holds the priority deal card.