30 Rails

About this board game

30 Rails is a pencil-and-paper railway network game for 1–8 players, playable in about 30 minutes. Designed for the 2016 One Page PNP Contest, it challenges players to build connections across a compact 6×6 grid.

Before the game begins, each player draws mountains, a mine, and four stations on their sheet. The rest of the grid is completed over thirty turns, with every turn adding another piece of track to the developing network.

Two dice guide each round. One die determines which track type must be placed, while the other imposes constraints on where that track can go. Players must work within these changing conditions as they extend their railway and seek useful connections.

• Play on a 6×6 grid
• Complete thirty track-building turns
• Use dice to determine track type and placement constraints
• Connect stations to one another and to the mine

Victory goes to the player who can connect the most stations to each other and to the mine. The result is a compact network-building puzzle in which every roll influences the routes still available.

The advanced game adds shares to the railway-building challenge. Players must buy shares in a particular line to score for it, while choosing the right moment to invest provides flexibility in track placement. This additional rule introduces another consideration without changing the core dice-driven construction system.

Whether played solo or with others, 30 Rails offers a focused drawing and route-building experience in a small playing area, with each sheet developing into a distinct railway network over the course of the game.