Part of the joys of game design is tryingn out different perspectives on the same design. This time around, I changed the layout of the cards so that they were more like train tickets instead of map oriented. I think the game looks better like that and it made some sense thematically to go down the card instead of east to west which runs counter to reading. I also went ahead and moved to a dividend chart and scrapped the poker chips. I found it easier to keep track of most things that way, but I can see how some people would prefer the larger charters. The share/hand player mats were too small with the smaller cards which is a shame because I really liked how they turned out. However, I will probably leave those large and do 4 x 5 mats for each player and maybe throwing a turn order reminder in the background or leave them as separate cards. I also took the time to chipboard some chits for the dividend mat and these had enough heft to be useful. They are ugly as all sin, but, that's what you get sometimes. Functionally, the slightly different shades worked out well with lighter shades used for earlier railroads and then working up to darker colors for later stages. I think I prefer this version to my first prototype.
The final task this weekend will be to make a more compelling solitaire version of the game. I am picturing yet more cards or even making the existing cards multi-purpose. I imagine I will just create separate solitaire cards and round out the player aid cards. At present there are 21 railroad cards and 4 player aid cards. I also have 2 resource cards and a discard card which brings up my total to 28. I will probably eliminate the discard card to bring things back to 27 so I can do an even half-deck on Artscow. This would let me do 27 solitaire cards and allow me to recombine full decks.
The game itself was a runaway for player #2 even though player #1 had some opportunities to change portfolios more favorably. This was the first game that was lopsided and I had time to try a few different strategies. Lumber didn't come into play and coal was heavy. Iron also entered with cattle on the board and the AT&SF was the powerhouse at the end of the game. Best color this game was arguably blue which player #1 let run away with the game. Red ended up being dead and that's not usually the case. Yellow was also relatively dormant most of the game.
All in all, most enjoyable. I'm thinking I will definitely publish this game within the next few months if not sooner.
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