Card Rails

About this board game

Card Rails is a 3–5 player cube rails game that plays in about 45 minutes, using a deck of cards as the foundation for a map players create together.

Rather than playing on a predesigned board, participants shape the landscape throughout the game. Every decision can improve your own position, block an opponent, or change the value of the companies competing for attention.

Players discard cards from their hands to perform one of two core actions:

• Take a Share for a company.
• Build Track by using the discarded card to expand the map.

Building track lets players reach different hexes, increasing their companies’ values or swapping cards from their hands. The growing map creates opportunities, but it also makes timing and positioning important as players decide where to extend their rail networks.

Card Rails is driven by a challenging choice between immediate rewards and future financial gain. A card used now may provide a useful action, while a card kept in hand can become a share when the game ends. This gives every card potential value beyond its immediate use.

At the finale, cards remaining in hand count as company shares alongside the shares collected during play. The winner is the player with the most shares in the most valuable companies, rewarding both clever construction and careful hand management.

Part of Kickstarter’s Make 100 Campaign, the physical edition of Card Rails was limited to 100 copies. A print-and-play version is also available.