Northern Pacific

About this board game

Northern Pacific is a luck-free railroad-building game for 2–6 players, listed with a 60-minute play time; its official description says a game lasts about twenty minutes.

The map covers the United States from Minnesota to Washington, with play beginning in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the railroad ultimately heading toward Seattle. Each player starts with one large investment cube and three small investment cubes, choosing when to place them and when to extend the growing line.

• Invest: Place one cube in a city that the train has not yet reached, excluding Seattle.
• Build: Choose an available railroad line leaving the train’s current city and place a locomotive to mark the new endpoint.
• Follow the route: Directional arrows prevent the line from moving backward or returning to a city it has already visited.

When the railroad reaches a city containing your investment cubes, you retrieve them and gain more cubes from the supply. A recovered small cube provides one additional cube, while a recovered large cube provides two, rewarding investments that the railway actually reaches.

As soon as Seattle is reached, the round ends. Players count the cubes in hand and record that total as good investments, while cubes still on the board count toward bad investments. The board is then reset for the next round.

After three rounds, the player with the most good investments wins. Ties go to the tied player with fewer bad investments. You can also play a single round, or play unrecorded rounds with victory going to the first player to win two rounds. Northern Pacific was published in versions for 2–6 players and 3–6 players, depending on the edition.