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18Tokaido
- Designed by Douglas Triggs
- Unpublished
- Rules (not available yet, but see notes below)
- Map
- Tiles
- Market
Main differences from a "standard" 18xx game:
- Starts with snake draft instead of waterfall; any remaining private companies are discarded if all players pass (it might take two passes for some players to give every player a chance to do so).
- There are seven railroad corporations are in the game, but in a two or three player game, one of them is removed. The Tokyo-Yokohama Railway is always in the game.
- First stock round is in reverse order of draft; subsequent stock rounds are in reverse cash order.
- Trains export after every set of ORs including first D train if one has not yet been purchased by a corporation.
- Game ends either in bankruptcy or 3 ORs after first D train comes out. If the D train is exported, game ends after next set of ORs. If the D train is purchased by a corporation, a stock round will happen first, then one last set of ORs.
The advanced variant leaves all seven starting railroad corporations in the game; this is meant for more experienced players as it changes one of the key design goals of the game.
Primarily designed to be used for 3-player teaches on 18xx.games, but supports 2 or 4 players. Mostly a straightforward game in the 1830 tree with a few ideas from 18Chesapeake and other places, but meant to be lighter and faster than 18Chesapeake so more fit for teaching at three players. Overriding design goals are a game that's (1) straightforward, (2) small, and (3) fast. "Gentle," however, is not one of the design goals; if anything the game might be a bit on the mean side.
- Snake draft because it's (1) fast, (2) easy to understand, and (3) I like snake drafts.
- Sell-then-buy only, no yellow zone, and a flat-ish market limit stock shenanigans to the most essential ones.
- Fairly simple privates with easy-to-grasp implications, six railroads for ideal two-railroads-per-player at a 3-person player count for exposure to essential train shenanigans.
- Export plus ending on the D train ensures a train rush which is an essential part of the vast majority of 18xx games, and moves things along for beginners. Low train count to ensure that the game goes fairly quickly.
- Relatively small map and low token count, but lots of interesting geographical constraints that make tokening important. Terrain is relatively cheap, though, and payouts are relatively good in the urban clusters, so money isn't too hard to come by. D trains are limited by the choke points, but lots of towns and careful tokening can still make them pay very well.
- Tiles are limited but not punishingly so. Might have to replace a tile to free something up, but not a big part of the game.
- Reverse cash stock round order and cheaper D trains make the game a little more forgiving.
- No special two player rules; if meant for teaching, stick with the same rules so they learn the standard game, even at the expense of balance.
- In the end, mostly a standard 18xx game: standard stock movement, full cap at 60% float, mostly standard trains (but cheaper D trains like 18Chesapeake), standard phases, mostly standard train limits, standard 1-tile lay, mostly standard tiles, etc., etc.
Theme is Japan because I like it (and because I lived there; I've ridden trains around most of the map). Tokaido is because that's the busiest and most important line in Japan (and possibly the world) with deep historical roots, and so the map is centered on the Tokaido Line (it's not all of Japan, it's not even all of Honshu, it's also bigger than just Kansai or Kanto or Chubu). Unfortunately, other than the map there's not a lot of theme specific to the setting, which is a shame. And yes, of course, Tama is rather tongue-in-cheek (I called it Shinjuku Station or Station Subsidy for a while, but that had unfortunate abbreviations); the rest is probably pretty reasonably historic for a game that's too small to have a lot of historic flavor.
Still a prototype, playtesting will almost certainly lead to changes. Feedback appreciated.
At this point considering a couple changes (changing stock round order and reducing maximum purchase price for privates by corporations). Also thinking of changing the Toyoko (Tokyo-Yokohama Railway, which didn't actually exist) to the Yokohama-Shinbashi Line (which did, was the first railroad in Japan, although it was not private. It's what the TYR is meant to represent; on reflection I think I should just name it what it was). Also changing the D trains to E trains... Diesels were never a thing in Japan (except in the remoter parts of Hokkaidou).
(Other?) known bugs (none of which actually affect play, will fix in next release, didn't bother filing issues):
- There are two brown O and T tiles (obviously there's no way to play both).
- Game sometime reports wrong last OR (pretty sure it happens when both the 5 and D get broken in the same set of ORs).
- Game reports full set of ORs (i.e., "of 3") when it should not after D is broken (next round is actually an SR).
- Kyoto Railway Co. has wrong hex in description.