Gamehelpparisconnection

Paris Connection - Rules summary

There are 6 colors of wooden locomotives, each color representing a different railway company.

Each players is dealt a random supply of 5-10 locomotives, depending on the number of players:

• 3 players: 10 locomotives
• 4 players: 8 locomotives
• 5 players: 6 locomotives
• 6 players: 5 locomotives

These locomotives represent the player's stock portfolio and are hidden behind their player screen.

The rest of the locomotives are placed on the storing boards of respective colors.

Player turn

The active player conducts 1 of 2 possible actions (they may not pass):

• 1. Build Track

OR

• 2. Trade

Action #1: Build Track

The active player takes 1 to 5 locomotives from any one locomotive storing board, and places them on the map.

Rules for building track:

• A new locomotive must be placed adjacent to an already placed locomotive of the same color
• Hexes separated by red/white checkered lines on the board are not considered adjacent and cannot be crossed
• Two locomotives of the same color cannot share the same hex
• A rural hex may contain 2 locomotives of different colors, whilst city hexes may ony contain a single locomotive
• The Eiffel tower hex cannot be occupied
• A locomotive cannot be placed in such a way that it would completely "cut off" another color, unless that color has already reached at least one city

Scoring

Each placed locomotive may be worth points:

• 0 pts : Rural hex
• 1 pts : Beige city
• 2 pts : Purple city
• 3 pts : Red city
• 4 pts : Blue city (Marseille)

The value of each company is immediately updated with these points when a train is placed.

Action #2: Trade

The active player returns 1 locomotive of one company to a storing board, then receives 1 or 2 locomotives of an another company to put behind their player screen. The returned locomotive(s) must be from a different storing board (company).

Locomotives taken and placed behind a player screen represent shares in a company.

Depending on the number of players, a player may only have a certain maximum of locomotives. A player is not prevented from taking more, but this will result in a scoring penalty at the end of the game (see End Game Scoring).

Maximum of locomotives:

• 3 players: 20 locomotives
• 4 players: 15 locomotives
• 5 players: 12 locomotives
• 6 players: 10 locomotives

End of Game

The game ends immediately when:

• There are locomotives on only one of the storing boards

OR

• A locomotive has been placed in Marseille

End Game Scoring

Players score Victory Points by multiplying their shares in a company by the value of the company. This is done for each railway company (color), and these are then totalled together.

Any player with more than the maximum number of locomotives also subtracts 20 VP for each extra locomotive above this limit.

The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, there are several winners.