Davidk42: A 2–4 player 18xx railroad-and-stock game where investors bankroll competing Colorado railroads racing to control the Royal Gorge, with gold mining and steel supply woven into the economy.

2026-08-23T20:41:47Z

A 2–4 player 18xx railroad-and-stock game where investors bankroll competing Colorado railroads racing to control the Royal Gorge, with gold mining and steel supply woven into the economy.

New page

== Overview ==

Colorado, the 1870s: the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe are locked in a real historical standoff — the "Royal
Gorge War" — over the only practical rail route through a narrow
canyon on the Arkansas River. 18RoyalGorge drops players into that
moment as financiers rather than railroad men: you buy private
assets, found and capitalize railroad companies, lay track across
the map, and run trains for revenue, while the stock market rewards
well-run companies and punishes neglected ones. Two side industries —
Colorado Fuel & Iron (steel) and Victor Gold (gold mining) — feed
income back into the whole table. Highest personal net worth when the
game ends wins.

18RoyalGorge is a fan-made, from-the-ground-up design built for the
Colorado market and railroad history, playable standalone without
owning any other 18xx title.

* '''Designer/Publisher theme:''' Colorado railroads, 1870s–1880s
* '''Players:''' 2–4
* '''Playing time:''' ≈ 90 minutes
* '''Complexity:''' Moderate–heavy (18xx family); best for players comfortable with stock-and-route economic games
* '''BGA status:''' Alpha

== How you win ==

At game end, each player totals:

* Cash on hand
* Market value of every share held
* Value of privates still personally owned

Highest total wins; ties are settled by most cash on hand.

== The game loop ==

Private Asset Auction (once, at game start)
↓
Stock Round <---------------------+
↓ |
Operating Round 1 |
↓ |
Operating Round 2 |
↓ |
End-of-Round Upkeep --------------+
(repeats until a game-end trigger fires)

One Stock Round is always followed by '''two''' Operating Rounds before
the upkeep step runs and the cycle repeats.

== Private asset auction ==

The game opens with a one-time auction of five private assets — two
yellow, two green, one brown tier — sold left to right in ascending
$5 bids. Winning a private grants its owner a small ongoing income
and, later, a special ability once the private is sold into a
railroad company. Whoever finishes the auction with the most cash
gets first priority in the opening Stock Round.

== Stock Round ==

Players buy and sell railroad shares. Selling shares moves a
company's stock price down; a company whose shares are entirely held
by players (none left in the bank pool) sees its price tick up at
round's end. Buying a company's president's certificate is how new
railroads get founded — the buyer sets a starting share price, pays
double into the company treasury, and places its home station on the
map. Whoever holds the most shares in a company is its president and
runs it during Operating Rounds.

== Operating Round ==

Each company, richest stock price first, takes a turn to:

# '''Lay track''' — extend or upgrade tiles across the map
# '''Build a station''' — plant a token to claim a city for its routes
# '''Run trains''' — choose the best-paying route(s) for each train
# '''Pay or withhold''' — send revenue to shareholders (raises share price) or keep it in the treasury (drops share price)
# '''Buy trains''' — from the bank or another company, to keep pace as the available train fleet advances through phases
# '''Buy a private''' (optional) — absorb a private asset's income and ability directly into the company

As the newest trains are bought, the game phases forward
(yellow → green → brown → silver), unlocking new tile colors, letting
more companies start, and eventually rusting out the oldest trains.

== Colorado-specific flavor ==

* '''Colorado Fuel & Iron (steel)''' — every tile laid consumes steel from a shared market; money spent on steel accumulates and is paid out as a dividend to CF&I shareholders.
* '''Victor Gold & gold mining''' — companies can ship gold cubes from gold-mine hexes for bonus revenue; that income likewise builds toward a dividend for Victor Gold shareholders.
* '''The Royal Gorge itself''' — a contested set of hexes with reserved station space; the historic '''Treaty of Boston''' event auto-resolves the standoff mid-game, handing Rio Grande extra station tokens and saddling both feuding railroads with debt they must pay down before the game ends.

== Game end ==

Play continues until a game-end trigger fires (bank runs low, or a
specific end condition described in the rulebook), after which the
current set of Operating Rounds finishes before final scoring.

== Full rules & in-game reference ==

* The complete rulebook PDF is linked from the BGA game page.
* For a dense mid-play lookup (turn-by-turn rules, tables of costs and thresholds), see the in-game '''"How to play?"''' tab, sourced from <nowiki>Gamehelpeighteenroyalgorgerailsoffremont.md</nowiki> in this same directory.

Gamehelpeighteenroyalgorgerailsoffremont - Revision history

Davidk42: A 2–4 player 18xx railroad-and-stock game where investors bankroll competing Colorado railroads racing to control the Royal Gorge, with gold mining and steel supply woven into the economy.