Solitaire Rules (Conrail Variant)

Background

Conrail has stepped in and consolidated several continental railroads. You are forced to take advantage of companies that are still publicly traded. Sometimes companies consumed by the government are reformed and come out of solvency. It is up to your investment prowess to turn a profit.

Special Rules

1. Setup: Remove the UP shares as they are not used in this game. Deal yourself 4 track cards and place the remaining stacks of track cards into 4 stacks of 9 cards each. Place a dividend card on the bottom of each stack and restack the dividend cards. Deal 40 share cards upside down to the government. Deal yourself 4 share cards.

2. Game Play: You may have only 4 track cards at the end of your turn and you can only lay track for companies that you have shares down for. All other rules apply.k. 

3. Dividends: If a dividend card is exposed, resolve the turn as normal.  Reveal 10 government share cards.  At the end of the turn, determine dividends. Only receive dividends that you are the sole majority owner of.

4. Game End: The game ends when the track cards are exhausted. Score the final dividend. If you have more than $50 cash, you have won the game with a bronze medal. If you have more than $75 cash, you have won with a silver medal. Earning more than $100 cash against the government earns you a gold medal.

Notes

This game places a premium on following share counts and trying to earn small advantages throughout the game as the government can and will outscore you on several companies. There is a fair amount of luck in this variant as you are heavily dependent on both favorable track and share cards to come up. Even so, there is a fair amount of push-your-luck in determining shares to pick up and some calculated risks that may be worth pursuing, particularly in the smaller companies although in the most recent game I played, I had majority in Red after contesting (and losing) Green most of the game. There are also a fair number of cards left over where no shares are picked up by the government or you, so there is a fair amount of replayability available. Play time for me took approximately 30-45 minutes.

I need to conclude a few more plays before signing off on this variant, but it shows promise. If others could try it out, let me know.