Gamehelpofftherails

Objective

In Off the Rails, players race underground to gather Jewels from the board and return them safely to the Surface before the Chasm envelops the play area, burying everything in sight! To do this, players must lay connected routes of Track Tiles in order to run their clan’s minecarts from the Surface to the shiny Jewels and back again. The player with the highest value of Jewels retrieved wins!

Setup (what you need to know)

Mines: There are 4 Mines in the middle of the board. Each Mine has a different colour and Clan icon - Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue - and features a centre square surrounded by 8 Mine squares numbered 1 to 8.

Jewels: There are 24 x Ruby, 15 x Emerald, 10 x Gold, 5 x Diamond Jewels, which are drawn randomly from the supply throughout the game.

Decks and Initial Jewel Placement:

• There are 8 Red, 8 Yellow, 8 Green, and 8 Blue Deposit Cards, each numbered 1 through 8, which are shuffled separately before the game begins.
• 1 card of each colour is removed from the game.
• If playing with 2 or 3 players, an additional card of each colour is removed.
• 1 card of each colour is revealed and jewel deposits are made at the corresponding Mine location (see Deposits Phase).
• 1 card of each colour is placed in the Chasm Deck area.
• A Chasm Token from each colour Mine is placed on top of the Chasm Deck.
• The remaining cards are placed in piles of 4, 1 from each colour, shuffled independently and stacked to create the Deposit Deck.
• The Chasm Deposit Card is shuffled between the 5th and 8th bottom card in the Deposit Deck.

Chasm Tokens:

• There are 5 Red, 5 Yellow, 5 Green, and 5 Blue Chasm Tokens in total.
• One Chasm Token of each colour is placed on the Chasm Deck during setup, the remaining tokens are mixed and placed into a supply to be drawn randomly later.

Player Order

• The first player chooses which side of the board to begin on
• The second player begins on the opposite side from the first player.
• The third player takes one of the remaining sides randomly, with the fourth player opposite them.
• Then each player takes the 2 corresponding mine carts of their colour, placing one white and one black speed die in each, with the '3' face showing.

Missions

• Mission cards are communal objectives that should be shuffled at the start of the game and, depending on the number of players, dealt out face up in reach of everyone: 2 players - 3 cards, 3 players - 4 cards, 4 players - 5 cards.
• When a player completes the criteria on a card, they may claim it immediately and place it next to their stockpile.
• Each card is worth +4 bonus points at the end of the game.
• Players may only claim ONE Mission Card per turn.
• When a player claims a mission card it is no longer available for any other player to claim.

Setup Variants

• Bumper carts: Collisions no longer cause Minecarts to drop Jewels or derail. Head on collisions resolve as normal.
• Chasm die: Instead of the players choosing, an 8-sided die is used to determine where the mine collapses.
• Game length: Additional Deposit Cards can be removed to provide a shorter game - very short (13 Deposit Cards), short (17), medium (21), long (25).

Player's turn

A player's turn consists of 3 phases.

Action Phase

Each turn, a player can perform up to 4 of the following actions:

• Place a Straight or Corner track tile: The active player may place a Straight or Corner Track Tile on an empty square on the board. Any Jewels on that square should be placed on top of the tile. Tiles do not have to connect to existing tiles and can be placed in any orientation. Tracks may not be placed on the centre square of a mine.
• Upgrade a track tile (Straight or Corner to T-Junction, T-Junction to a Cross Junction): The active player may upgrade an unoccupied Straight or Corner Track Tile with a T-Junction Track Tile OR replace an unoccupied T-Junction with a Cross Junction Track Tile. Upgraded Track Tiles must ADD to the Tile’s exits and never remove any.
• Place a new minecart on the board: If you have less than 2 Minecarts on the board, you may place a Minecart of your colour on any unoccupied square of your Surface Layer. All Minecarts are placed with a Speed Die showing the '3' face.
• Increase or decrease a minecart's speed: Choose one of your Minecarts on the board and increase or decrease the Speed by 1 by rotating the Speed Die to that value.

Actions can be performed in any order and each as many times as desired.

Move Minecart's Phase

• After a player has completed their Action Phase, they MUST move each of their Minecarts currently on the board a number of connected Track Tiles equal to its individual Speed. This must be in a continuous line along the tracks and begin in the direction the cart is facing. If both of a player’s Minecarts are on the board, their controller can decide which moves first.

Moving Out of the Mine / Moving to the Surface

• Minecarts can be moved out of the mine and to the surface by heading towards the edge of the board. It is not necessary to head back to your own colour, you may exit the mine at any edge. You can exit the mine at any speed, regardless of how much track is left. For instance, if you need to move 4 but there are only 2 tracks left to reach the edge of the board, that is a valid move. Carts moved to the surface in this manner score points for any gems in the Minecart (see Scoring section).
• It is not necessary to have a full cart to exit the Mine, it is sometimes advantageous to leave the Mine without a full Minecart if the alternative is to crash!

Moving Over Jewels

• If the minecart moves through a deposit, that player must pick up one gem from that space and place it in that cart's Hold.
• If the minecart ends its movement on a deposit, they must pick up two gems from that space and place it in that cart's Hold.
• Minecart Holds can carry up to 5 Jewels at any time. If a Minecart lands on or moves over a Jewel with a full Hold, it may not collect any additional Jewels.
• Where there is a choice of Jewels, a player may choose any Jewel of their choice, however Rocks must always be collected first.

Colliding With Another Minecart

• When a minecart would move onto a tile that already contains a minecart it causes a collision. The minecart already on the tile is the Opposing minecart.
• When an active minecart causes a collision it ends its movement immediately.
• The opposing minecart must drop half of their jewels. A minecart carrying only one jewel loses it. The opposing player divides their jewels into 2 piles as evenly as possible and conceals them. The active player then choose one pile to be placed on the tile the opposing player's minecart is on.
• If either minecart has no jewels before the collision then it becomes Derailed (see below)
• The active minecart must now face directly away from the collision. If the collision with the opposing minecart was head-on, the opposing minecart must also be turned to face directly away from the collision.
• A collision with an opposing minecart that is on a track not connected at the point of collision to the track with the active minecart results in no jewels lost from the opposing minecart, and no derailments for either minecart.

Derailment

When a minecart becomes Derailed, all jewels in its Hold are placed back in the supply and the minecart is removed from the gameboard and placed in the player's supply.

Derailment can occur in 3 ways:

• If a minecart cannot move onto a connected track or move into the mine.
• If a minecart enters any square on the surface (no track).
• If a minecart occupies the same square as a chasm token.

Deposits Phase

• At the end of each player turn, a new Jewel Deposit will be generated. A Deposit is defined by a square that contains one or more Jewels.
• The active player reveals the top card from the Deposit Deck. Each card represents one of the 8 squares that surround one of the four Mines on the board.
• When revealed, Jewels are taken from the supply equal to the amount shown and placed in the corresponding square shown on the Deposit Card.

The Chasm Card

When the chasm card is drawn during the Deposit Phase, it signals the beginning of the End Game! Your goblins have disturbed one too many deposits and the mines will begin to collapse into the Chasm!

Every player gets a one more standard turn (including the player that drew the Chasm Card), after this turn play proceeds with The Chasm.

The Chasm

• After the player who revealed the Chasm Card has completed their final standard turn, that player takes the chasm deck to see which mines have collasped.
• The active player reveals each Deposit Card in the Chasm Deck and places a Chasm Token of the appropriate colour on each of the corresponding areas (do not place any further Jewels).
• When a Chasm Token is placed, remove any tiles, jewels or minecarts on that space from the game (do not return them to the supply)
• Players must now attempt to leave the mines without falling into the chasm.
• No player can move onto or place tracks on the chasm spaces, if a minecart is forced to move onto a Chasm Token it is removed from the game (not returned to the supply).

Chasm Phase

• The Deposit Phase is now replaced by the Chasm Phase, in which the active player draws and places a random Chasm Token instead of revealing a Deposit Card.
• Chasm Tokens may be placed in any orthogonal (not diagonal) space next to an existing Chasm Token of the same colour/icon of the active player's choice.
• If a chasm token is placed on a minecart, the minecart and the gems in it are removed from the game (not returned to the supply).
• Players with no minecarts left on the board still place a Chasm Token at the end of their turn.

End of Game

• The game is over when all minecarts have left the board or all Chasm Tokens have been placed.
• Any minecarts still on the board after the final Chasm Token is placed are derailed.
• Players now add up the value of all their jewels and the player with the highest score wins!

Scoring

• Each rock is worth 0 points, ruby 1, emerald 2, gold 3 and diamonds are 4.
• The player with the most rubies gain 5 points. If multiple players are tied, each player receives the bonus points.
• Each minecart in a player's supply is worth 3 points.
• Every claimed mission card is worth 4 points.
• The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most gems is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the fewest rocks wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.

Solo Rules

The Goblin Clans have arrived too late and the rumblings of the Chasm have already begun! If they want to retrieve any Jewels from the imminent Chasm, the Clan’s will have to work together. Can you retrieve at least one of each type of Precious Jewel and return it to the surface before the ground gives way and the gaping maw of the Chasm swallows the riches forever?

The aim of the game is to deliver at least one precious Jewel of each type to its matching colour Surface Layer (edge) before the Chasm buries them all!

Setup

• Every mine square begins with a single random gem from the supply - 5 x Diamonds (blue), 8 x Gold (yellow), 9 x Emeralds (green) and 10 x Rubies (red).
• All 33 Deposit Cards, including the Chasm Card, are shuffled together to make the Deposit Deck.
• You begin with one minecart of each colour in your supply.

How To Play

The game plays in the same way as the regular game once the Chasm Phase is active.

• You have 4 actions per turn and all minecarts will move during the Movement Phase.
• Jewels are picked up in accordance with the standard rules.
• Minecarts may only be placed on their matching colour Surface Layer (edge).
• If a minecart is derailed, remove it from the game.

Replacement Deposit Phase

• During the first Deposit Phase reveal the top four Deposit Cards from Chasm Deck and place a Chasm Token on each of those squares.
• During every subsequent Deposits Phase, draw a single Deposit Card and place a Chasm Token on the corresponding square.
• If during the Deposits Phase the Chasm Card is revealed, do not place a Chasm Token this turn. Shuffle it back into the Chasm Deck.

Winning

There are multiple degrees of winning or losing the solo game.

• A victory is achieved if 1 of each type of jewel is delivered to the matching Surface Level.
• A major victory is achieved if 2 or more jewels of each type are delivered to the matching Surface Level.
• A partial victory is acheived if one of each type of jewel is delivered to the wrong Surface Levels.
• A loss occurs when all the minecarts are derailed or all Chasm Tokens are on the board.
• In addition you can compete for a high score by calculating how many jewels you escape with: 1 point per jewel, 10 points per set of wrongly delivered jewels, and 100 points per set of correctly delivered jewels.

Mission Cards

Here are a list of the 11 mission cards. In each game number of players+1 mission cards are drawn. Each of them scores 4 points at the end of the game.

• Behind Enemy's Lines: Stockpile at least 1 jewel by leaving from an opponent's surface.
• Bumper Carts: Derail an opponent's minecart in a collision.
• Diamonds aren't Forever: Stockpile 1 diamond in a turn from a single minecart.
• Dirty Goblins: Given to the player with the most rocks in their stockpile.
• Gem Collector: Fill a minecart with 5 precious jewels.
• Green Fingers: Stockpile 2 emeralds in a turn from a single minecart.
• Head to Head: Cause a head-on collision.
• Jewel Heist: Cause an opponent's minecart to drop at least 1 jewel.
• Red Leader: Stockpile 4 rubies in a turn from a single minecart.
• The Spice of Life: Have at least 1 gem of each type in your stockpile.
• There's Gold in them their Hills: Stockpile 2 gold in a turn from a single minecart.