Age of Rail: South Africa

The morning sun shines on rail cars full of goods traveling across the vast stretches of land in South Africa. The settlements in the region are growing, giving opportunists a chance to capitalize on the higher demand for goods. More railroads are populating the area and now is your chance to harness your financial expertise to build the most profitable railroad empire. 

Age of Rails is a new game system in the Iron Rail series where you will build the railroads across different regions while also developing cities and locations in those areas. Invest in your railroads wisely and expand your companies to the best locations to ensure your financial success! Expansion maps are available to enhance your Age of Rail strategies.

After an initial auction for the first shares of these companies, players take turns, choosing from one of four different actions: build track, develop settlement, offer stock, and pay dividends. These actions are limited; only one dividend action exists, for example, so when a player chooses this, the action remains blocked until that player's next turn, at which time they must choose a different action. Two "offer stock" actions are available, and three "develop settlement" actions; "build track" is an unlimited action and can be repeated on the next turn.

When players buy stock, the spent funds go into the company's treasury and can be used to build track. By developing settlements, you increase the value of stations, and a railroad's income increases when it links to stations. When dividends are paid, the company's income is divided by five (the number of shares) and paid to the owner of those shares, which might be the company if not all the shares have been offered.

After the sixth dividend, the game ends — but that final divided includes bonuses based on the number of company links and is paid out solely based on the number of shares issued, not all of the shares in existence.

PLAYER COUNT: 3-6

RECOMMENDED AGES: 12+

PLAY TIME: 40-60 mins