Powerrails 1999

Powerrails is an 18xx game which uses no regional setting like other games of the series, but eleven small (A4-sized) mapboards with only a handful of hexes and a small set of special rules for each of them.

The players are seeking to make the most money by buying and selling stock certificates of up to eight railroad companies (depending on the scenario played). The player with the most stock of a particular company in his possession acts as the president of this company and is responsible for track laying, the placement of railheads (which are necessary for train runs), route selection and train acquisition. Running trains earns money and this money is either divided by the shareholders or kept in the company's treasure for further investments (like buying better trains or constructing track). This decision influences the value of the company's shares - and not the player with the most stock or the most beautiful constructed track wins the game, but the player with the most riches in terms of cash and shares.

The subtitle on the box is "Quickies for 1830 players". It uses mostly elements from 1830 and 1835, but introduces two new features: There is a ‘purple phase’ after the ‘grey phase’, and the ‘grey phase’ introduces city tiles with only one token space (tokens from the replaced brown tiles are all returned to their respective owning companies for future use).

All maps are playable in 2 to 4 hours, and most of them are especially tested for a 2-player game (in case of a 2-player game, the usual 60% holding limit in a company is lifted, if you buy additional shares from the bank pool).