A Railway Auction Game Made by a Dream Team of Game Creators!

Players: 2~4 Playtime: 60~120 min Age: 14+

Game Overview

In the late 19th century, during the early Meiji era, Japan opened its first railway line between Shimbashi and Yokohama. This new mode of transportation sparked a railway boom across the country.
As players, you will take on the roles of these powerful tycoons, building and managing your own railway empires.
Manage your resources – Money, Materials, Technology, and Coal – to see which tycoon will gain the most renown.
Railway Boom is played over the course of four rounds, and the player with the most VP (Victory Points) at the end of the game wins.
Each round is comprised of 6 phases, 4 of which also feature an auction step.
Each auction step, players bid their resources against each other for turn priority.

Game Setup

General Setup: Place the game board on the table and 4 Objective Cards and 4 Route Cards on the left and right sides respectfully. Divide and shuffle each other type of card and place their deck in the indicated location.
Player Setup: Pick a player color and take the player cubes, player board and starting locomotive card of that color. Place your player cubes in the appropriate locations on both the game board and your player board.
This concludes the setup for the game.

How to Play

For each phase with an Auction Step, the turn order to take actions that phase is decided depending on how many resources each player bids.
Starting with the player farthest to the left on the bidding track, players bid their resources until all players lock in their position.

Once all players are locked in, pay resources in turn order according to the amount that was bid.

Game Flow

Ⅰ. Train Phase
In this phase, players will take turns purchasing Locomotive and Carriage cards. It is very important to optimize buying the best cards based on the cost in coal to activate them and how many resources they can produce during the Operation Phase.

Ⅱ. Expansion Phase
In this phase, players will decide which city to place their station and build out their railway. The potential length of the railway you can build will depend on the city you choose and which terrain you build through. The best places to build will be those in a good location for gaining resources and that allow for building far-reaching railways. If you end up being last in turn order, you risk the prime locations getting snatche up by other players.

Ⅲ. Development Phase
In this phase, players will purchase Development Cards which can offer a variety of effects such as increasing resource production, extending railways, or giving special abilities. These cards come in both one-time instant effect and constant automatic effect varieties, adding a layer of strategy to the choices you have to make.

Ⅳ. Income Phase
In this phase, players earn an amount of each resource according to their current Income Levels.

Ⅴ. Operation Phase
In this phase, Players will load up their locomotives with resource tokens and spend the necessary coal resource to leave the station. Optimize the carriages connected to the locomotive to create the most synergy with the cargo, producing g a huge amount of resources if you can find the right combination!

Ⅵ. Objective Phase
In this phase, players take turns placing their player cubes on the available spaces on the Objective Cards. Making the right decisions here are a vital part of earning major points at the end of the game.

End of the Game

After playing a full four rounds, proceed to final scoring. Calculate end-of-game victory points by resolving each Objective Card, counting unused resources, and measuring the length of your railway. The player with the most VP is the winner!

Game Features

The locations and cards made available via auction all have inherent strengths and weaknesses, and being able to pick first can give you a huge advantage. However, the inherent value of each choice changes depending on the strategy you employ, and being able to judge how to make the best decision is a true test of skill. If you want to come out on top, you will have to know when to invest your resources for the turn advantage and when to hold back. The results of this sweat inducing competition can make or break your chances of winning the game, but no matter the result you won’t be able to put the blame on being unlucky.
A major difference from the original indie version of the game, auctions are now open and done in turn order to escalate the tension to new heights!

While the spaces you expand your railway through and how far you advance your resource income level plays a part in how many victory points you earn, one of the biggest factors will be the Objective Cards which can give you a huge boost at the end of the game. However, while the details of the Objective Cards are shown from the start of the game, you have to wait until the end of each round to know which point multiplier will apply to you. Taking a look at the big picture will let you make the enthralling choice between taking the actions you need now in the short-term, or playing the long game and setting yourself to earn some major points at the very end.

Original game design is the work of Hisashi Hayashi, the first Japanese game designer to win the SDJ Award for the breakout hit Bomb Busters! The game also received additional development from the renowned Simone Luciani. If that wasn’t enough, Ian O’Toole of Kaban EV fame brings his beautiful art to complete the picture.

Product Details

Price：8,800円（10% Consumer Tax Included）
Publisher：Arclight Games Co., Ltd.
Box Size：220 x 310 x 50 mm
© 2025 OKAZUBrand / Arclight, Inc.

Components

・Game Board：1
・Player Boards：4
△Starting Locomotive Cards：4
△Locomotive Cards：22
△Carriage Cards：30
△Development Cards：74
☆Station Cards：36
☆Objective Cards：18
☆Route Cards：7
・Resource Tiles：100
・2-3 Player Bid Tile：1
・Location Variety Tiles：50
・Railway Tokens：120
・Station Tokens：16
・Player Cubes：92
・Bidding Discs：4
・VP Tracker Tokens：4
・Indicator Tokens：4
・Rulebooks: 2 (1 in English, 1 in Japanese)
[Card Size：△44×63mm、☆63×88mm］

※This product can be played in both English and Japanese.

(Domestic Japanese Release: November 7th, 2025)