Trainmaker

About this board game

Trainmaker is a fast-paced press-your-luck dice game for 1–6 players that takes about 15 minutes to play. Step into the role of an aspiring railroad magnate and build an empire by creating trains, matching city cards, and making careful decisions with every roll.

On your turn, roll the custom railroad dice and use the results to assemble a train from a locomotive, rolling stock, and a caboose. Once you have a possible train, you can choose to push your luck by rerolling dice in pursuit of a better result. The challenge is knowing when to stop, because a risky reroll could derail your plans.

Your completed train determines which city cards you can score. If your rolls and train-building choices line up, you may be able to score all three city cards on a single turn. This creates a quick, tense race in which every roll can improve your position—or put your progress at risk.

• Roll custom railroad dice to develop your train.
• Combine locomotive, rolling stock, and caboose results.
• Reroll dice to push your luck without derailing.
• Score city cards that match the train you create.
• Use a switch track token to manipulate a dice result, but only once.

The switch track token gives you a valuable way to manipulate one dice result. However, once it is used, it is gone, so choosing the right moment matters. Saving it for a crucial turn or spending it to secure an important match can shape your route to victory.

In Trainmaker, the first player to score one of each type of city card wins. Alternatively, completing your hidden contract card can deliver victory first, giving players another path to success in this compact 2012 dice game.