Sport and Games Atlas

How The Game Is Played
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Game

Railway Rivals

Space and Territory Games

Railway Rivals is a railway-building board game for two to six players, first published by Rostherne Games in 1973. Each player is a railway owner who draws track on a hex-grid map with washable pens, earning money by joining cities and paying rivals to use their lines. When every city is linked, the second stage begins and trains race along the built network between randomly chosen pairs of cities, with prizes for the first two to arrive. David Watts, a geography teacher, designed it to show how competition and terrain shaped real railways, and the finished networks can be compared with history. The German edition Dampfross won the Spiel des Jahres in 1984, and Games Workshop issued a UK edition in 1985. Rights to Rostherne Games passed to Theo Clarke in 1998.

Facts
Origin Year
1973 1
Playing Time Band
30 to 90 Minutes 2
Playing Time
90 2
Skill or Luck
Mixed 2
Age Suitability
Family 2
Designer
David G. Watts 3
Publisher
Rostherne Games 3
Game Category
Racing 3
Game Category
Trains 3
Game Category
Transportation 3
Game Mechanic
Crayon Rail System 3
Game Mechanic
Dice Rolling 3
Minimum Players
2 1
Maximum Players
6 1
Classification
Player Count
Small Group (3-6 Players) 1
Sport
Game Type (category)
Board Game 1
Sources
1. Railway Rivals (Wikipedia)
  • Lead, first publication
    Railway Rivals is a railroad-themed board game that was originally published by Rostherne Games in 1973.
  • Description, minimum players
    Railway Rivals is a boardgame for 2-6 players
  • Description, maximum players
    Railway Rivals is a boardgame for 2-6 players
View the Source
2. Spiel des Jahres: Dampfross (Spiel des Jahres)
Spiel des Jahres
  • Dampfross edition, game details
    Dauer: ca. 90 Minuten
  • Dampfross edition, jury text
    Zudem ist das Spiel durch seine gelungene Mischung aus Planung und Zufallselementen für Jugendliche und Erwachsene gleichermaßen ansprechend und damit gerade auch als Familienspiel hervorragend geeignet.
View the Source
3. Railway Rivals (BoardGameGeek)
  • Designer: David G. Watts
  • Publisher: Rostherne Games
  • Game Category: Racing
  • Game Category: Trains
  • Game Category: Transportation
  • Game Mechanic: Crayon Rail System
  • Game Mechanic: Dice Rolling
View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.

View At A Past Year

Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.