18DO: Dortmund

About this board game

18DO: Dortmund is a strategic economy game for 2–5 players, with a playing time of about 360 minutes. Set in 19th-century Dortmund, it reflects the city’s development through beer brewing, coal mining, steel production, population growth, and railway expansion.

Each player begins with a private brewery and may also found a railway corporation. All breweries are located in the “Dortmund City” hex, where they produce and supply beer while improving their equipment to meet the increasing requirements of a separate beer market.

Railway corporations begin at the edge of the map and lay track toward coal mines and steel mills. Their trains run routes virtually, generating income from the value of the hexes included in those routes. Although the mines and mills have a passive role, connecting them to the railway network increases beer demand by supporting greater industrial capacity and workforce growth.

• Invest in private breweries and railway corporations.
• Build rail connections to coal mines and steel mills.
• Develop brewery equipment to handle the changing beer market.
• Use railway transport capacity to ship beer to distant destinations.

Later in the game, breweries can ship beer using railway corporations whose trains run from “Dortmund City” to a red off-board destination hex. Private breweries may also be converted into brewery corporations, with special function tokens giving each brewery specific advantages and providing its owner or director with additional decisions.

When corporations pay dividends, shareholders receive payments from the bank and the corporation’s stock value increases. At the end of 18DO: Dortmund, each player adds private cash to the value of their share portfolio; the player with the greatest total wealth wins.