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18GB
Andy Pymont edited this page Nov 29, 2022
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- Designed by Dave Berry
- Published by Golden Spike Games
- Rules
- Map
- Tiles
- Market
- BoardGameGeek
- Differences from 1830
18GB is a very different game to 1889/18Chesapeake/1830.
The game is especially notable for its use of Insolvency & Receivership and Restrictive Tile Laying. These features are covered below along with a summary of the other differences.
- The corporations and private companies used depend on the player count
- Held by players for the whole game - not sold to corporations
- Do not count towards the certificate limit
- Begin the game open: pay revenue to the owner at the start of every OR, block a hex on the board, but their other abilities may not be used
- May be voluntarily closed by the owner any time after SR1: pay revenue one last time and then stop paying revenue for the rest of the game, however the other abilities become available to use
- Abilities may be used by any corporation controlled by the private company's owner
- From Blue Phase (4+2 train), corporations may ignore private company tile reservations and build in the hex, forcing the company to close
- Minimum bid is the price of the private company
- Players may only pass if they have a winning bid or if all items have a bid
- When all players pass, items are sold to the highest bidder and any items without bids become £10 cheaper
- Player order for SR1 determined by least cash remaining
- Corporations begin the game with five shares and 5x initial share price
- In SR1, only the first tier (half of the corporations) are available to start
- May convert to ten shares during subsequent SRs or emergency money raising
- Conversion drops the share price 2 steps and gives 5x new price in cash; director may buy one share during conversion
- Ten-share corporations get extra station tokens
- Non-started corporations have 10 shares from the start of the Brown Phase
- Corporations float once 40% (Yellow Phase) or 60% (Green, Blue, & Brown Phases) sold
- Non-started corporations are removed in the Grey Phase; each removes a grey train
- Corporations lay home token when they float; corporations in an OO or XX city must start in a disconnected city if possible
- Sell then buy (or, instead, convert to 10-share, as above, optionally including a buy)
- Players may only buy 60% of a corporation from the IPO; unlimited from the open market
- No limit on shares in the open market, including that president's shares may be sold
- If a share price is in the green area of the market, the president may buy two shares per stock round turn
- Shares in corporations with no train sell for half price (rounded down)
- Player order determined by order of passing
- Down 1 space per share sold (yellow/blue/green/brown phases: by any player, grey phase: only for president selling)
- No end-of-SR increase for sold-out corporations (or decrease for shares in market etc.)
- Right 1 space for dividend > £0 and < 2x current share price
- Right 2/3/4 spaces if dividend is at least 2x/3x/4x current share price
- Left 1 space for no dividend
- Track laying is restrictive: a corporation must be able to use some of the new track on the tile, even when upgrading a city tile
- 2 tile actions per turn: either or both may be upgrades, but only one action may be in a city hex
- Many of the corporations which start in single-city hexes have the ability to lay a green tile there, even if the hex is empty and even before the green tiles are normally available. This is shown on the corporation charter
- Hill borders cost £50 for each track laid pointing at them (i.e. completing the hill connection will ultimately cost £100)
- Blue estuary tiles are available in blue phase (4+2 train) at a cost of £50 (as shown on the map)
- Home station markers are placed during game setup and block routes, track-laying and station marker placement even if the corporation has not yet floated
- Home station markers remain even if a corporation is removed from the game by phase changes
- Placing each subsequent station marker costs £50 (except the CR's first non-home station token)
- Corporations receive additional tokens on converting to 10-share
- End-game restrictions: No new station markers may be placed once an operating round ends with 2 or fewer unsold trains remaining
- M+N trains run M+N total stops, of which at most M may be cities and offboard locations
- nX trains ignore all towns, count n cities and offboards, add a distance bonus of £10 per hex of distance traveled (as the crow flies) on the route
- E-W and N-S bonuses may be connected by multiple trains
- Crossing the tunnel (white track) on the S and FT estuary tiles will grant bonus revenue as shown; this is not a stop and the route must continue to a revenue location beyond the tunnel
- Full pay or withhold
- Shares in the IPO pay dividends to the corporation
- Corporations may not sell their last train, unless the buyer has no train
- Trains may be sold for between £1 and double their face value
- Players may not contribute funds for train purchases
- A 5-share corporation may emergency convert to 10-share if it has no train; the price drops 3 spaces (instead of the usual 2 and in addition to the space already dropped for paying no dividends) and the corporation receives 5x the new price in additional capital
- 5X trains available after the first 4X train; 6X trains available after the first 5X train
- One train removed at the end of each OR if no new trains were bought during the OR
- Trains discarded due to the train limit are removed from the game
- A corporation is only forced to buy a train if it cannot afford the most expensive train currently available
- Corporations without a train become Insolvent at the end of their operating turn (or, if no president, at the start of their turn)
- Insolvent corporations may not lay track or station tokens
- Insolvent corporations lease the cheapest train available in the bank (and run it normally), withholding income
- Insolvency ends when the corporation owns a train
- Corporations with no director are in Receivership
- Do not place track or tokens
- Always withhold
- If trainless, declare Insolvency at the start of their operating turn (and therefore can lease a train immediately)
- If trainless, will buy the most expensive train they can afford
- If trainless and 5-share, will emergency convert to 10-share
- 2 ORs between SRs
- Game ends at the end of the OR where either a corporation's share price reaches £350 or more (blue area in market), or all trains have been sold or removed
- The bank has unlimited cash
- There are no tight curve yellow tiles for OO and XX cities; plan routes accordingly
None at present
- This version implements the 2nd Edition rules: see this BGG thread for details of changes if you are more familiar with 1st Edition
- The president's option to buy a share in a corporation that converts in emergency money raising is presented after the corporation finishes its train buying step
- Because 18GB allows for trains to be chained together to satisfy the EW and NS bonuses, if multiple trains belonging to a corporation intersect to form a single network then you may see the NS and/or EW bonus reflected in the interface on a different train to the one that you expect.
- In the three player game, the implementation randomly selects which of the GSWR, GWR or MSLR to include.