1824: Austria-Hungary

About this board game

1824: Austria-Hungary is a railway-building and share-dealing game for 3–6 players, with a play time of 300 minutes. Based on Francis Tresham’s 1829 and Leonhard Orgler’s 1837, it brings railway business and company control to a historical Austria-Hungary setting.

Historical realities have been taken into account wherever possible, while other parts of the story can be written anew. Players compete to build rail networks, operate trains, and develop railway companies whose fortunes affect their shareholders.

Use yellow, green, brown, and grey tiles to create connections across the map. Train cards make notional journeys from one station to the next, earning money from imaginary passengers. A journey earns more when it reaches a greater number of stations and includes more important stations.

• Up to 6 Mountain Railways
• Up to 4 Coal Railways
• Up to 7 forerunners of the National Railways
• Shares in 3 National Railways and 5 Regional Railways

The Major Companies—National and Regional Railways—belong to their shareholders. The player holding the most shares in a company becomes its Director and decides how that company will act.

At the end of 1824: Austria-Hungary, the winner is the player with the greatest wealth in cash and shares. Its simple mechanisms combine tile-based network building, train operations, share ownership, and company direction into a long-form railway game released in 2005.