Trains

In 1871, with Canada only four years old, the Prime Minister calls for a massive undertaking: a transcontinental railway to link the established eastern provinces with the newly-added western province. Between them lay the vast, undeveloped interior. It would be a nation-defining project, opening up the resource-rich Canadian shield, the fertile prairies, and the breathtaking Rocky Mountain Cordillera, shaping not only the economy of the young country but its identity as well.

The Transcontinental is a medium-weight Eurogame with worker-placement and pick-up and deliver mechanisms about the development of the Canadian transcontinental railway.

Players are contractors who work to complete the railway. They send out telegrams along a linear worker-placement track — reserving those action spaces for themselves — then take turns in telegram order, loading and unloading to a shared train that travels across the country. Players can use these resources to complete developments ranging from lumber mills and farms to cities and national parks, or they can use the resources to bid to extend the railway. Powerful one-time-use ally cards, themed around a rich and inclusive cast of Canadian historical figures, allow players to make powerful combined actions.

—description from the publisher

Ticket to Ride: Ghost Train takes the gameplay of the Ticket to Ride series and scales it down for a younger audience.

In general, players collect parade float cards, claim routes on the map, and try to connect locations such as the Mad Scientist's Lab, the Gingerbread House, and the Lonely Barn that are shown on their tickets. In more detail, the game board shows a map of a city with certain locations being connected by colored paths. Each player starts with four colored parade float cards in hand and two tickets; each ticket shows two locations, and you're trying to connect those two locations with a contiguous path of your trains in order to complete the ticket.

On a turn, you either draw two parade float cards from the deck or discard parade float cards to claim a route between two locations by placing your ghost trains on it; for this latter option, you must discard cards matching the color and number of spaces on that route (e.g., two yellow cards for a yellow route that's two spaces long). If you connect the two locations shown on a ticket with a path of your trains, reveal the ticket, place it face up in front of you, then draw a new ticket. (If you can't connect locations on either ticket because the paths are blocked, you can take your entire turn to discard those tickets and draw two new ones.)

If you create a route all the way from the Dark Forest region to the Seashore region, you collect the "trick or treat" bonus.

Colt Super Express has the spirit of the original, award-wining Colt Express in the form of a fast-paced, survive-to-win format that players can take anywhere.

Players compete to be the last Colt Express rider standing because there can only be one when this train stops. Each round, players will place one of their five action cards face down in a pile to determine what they'll do when they are revealed, including moving, shooting, and more. At the end of the round, the last train car is removed...and so is anyone in it! If more than one player is alive in the final car, the entire train explodes, taking them with it.

Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam features the familiar gameplay from the Ticket to Ride game series — collect cards, claim routes, draw tickets — but on a map of 17th century Amsterdam that allows you to complete a game in no more than 15 minutes.

You are in the middle of the Gouden Eeuw, the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam is the beating heart of global trade and the wealthiest city on Earth. Goods from around the world are piling up on the docks, in ship holds, in warehouses, and on the banks of its countless canals. You mean to profit from this!

Each player starts with a supply of 16 carts, two transportation cards in hand, and one or two trade contract tickets that show locations in the Amsterdam market. On a turn, you either draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (or you take one face-up wild card, which counts as all six colors in the game); or you claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed (with any set of cards allowing you to claim a gray route); or you draw two trade contract tickets and keep at least one of them.

Whenever you complete a route that has carts depicted on it, with these primarily being on the perimeter of the city, you claim a merchandise bonus card.

Players take turns until someone has no more than two carts in their supply, then each player takes one final turn, including the player who triggered the end of the game. Players then sum their points, scoring points for the routes that they've claimed during the game, the trade contract tickets that they've completed (by connecting the two locations on a ticket by a continuous line of their carts), and their standing among those who hold merchandise bonus cards. Whoever holds the most cards collects 8 points, with other players collecting fewer points. You lose points for any uncompleted contract tickets, then whoever has the high score wins!

Darjeeling is a town and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the Lesser Himalayas and is noted for its tea industry, the spectacular views of Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Tea planting in Darjeeling began in 1841 using seeds of the Chinese tea plant (Camellia sinensis); the British government also established tea nurseries, during the period, and the Alubari tea garden was opened by the Kurseong and Darjeeling Tea company in 1856 to be quickly followed by more than 80 Tea Estates.

In A Nice Cup of Tea, players compete to cultivate and harvest their own Tea Estates and assist in the building of the Darjeeling and Himalayan Railway, from Siliguri Town to ‘the summit’ at Ghum. Guided by the placement actions of their laborers, players can also use their harvested tea leaves to make Chai for their thirsty workforce to boost their actions even more! When the railway is completed, the player who has contributed the most to the railway, the building of the towns along the way and the most auspicious Tea gardens will be declared the winner.

A Nice Cup of Tea is a new game in the Snowdonia family.