How to Play 1846: The Race for the Midwest

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Determine seating order

Shuffle player cards equal to the number of players and draw for seating order

Assign Priority Deal

Give the Priority Deal card to the first player

Prepare the bank

Return $500 bills to the box based on player count (3 players: return 11, bank = $6,500; 4 players: return 9, bank = $7,500; 5 players: return 6, bank = $9,000)

Distribute starting money

Give each player $400 from the bank

Remove components for player count

Randomly remove Private Companies and corporations based on player count

Mark removed corporations

Place one token face down in each removed corporation's Home City

Set up the board

Place Phase and Round markers, trains on designated spaces, and remove trains as indicated for fewer than 5 players

Prepare game materials

Place track tiles, corporate mats, stocks, tokens, and Independent Railroad trains nearby

Distribute Private Companies

Shuffle Private Company and player cards together; starting with the player to the right of Priority Deal holder and going counter-clockwise, each player draws cards equal to player count plus two, selects one face down, shuffles and returns others to bottom of deck

Handle remaining Private Company

If only one Private Company remains, reveal it and offer at list price; each declining player reduces price by $10 until purchased or taken free at $0

Reveal and pay

All players reveal selected Private Companies and pay for them

Set up Independent Railroads

Give Michigan Southern and Big 4 their initial treasury (equal to list price), train, and token; place tokens in Detroit and Indianapolis respectively

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Sell shares first

You may sell any number of stock shares before buying, receiving current stock price per share

Adjust price for President sales

Shift stock price one column left only if shares were sold by their President

Buy one certificate

After selling, you may buy one stock certificate from Stock Market, corporation treasury, or launch a new corporation

Buy from Stock Market

Pay current stock price to the bank and take the share

Buy from corporation

Pay current stock price to the corporation's treasury and take the share

Launch a corporation

Choose initial stock value ($40-$150), pay twice that amount for President certificate, place token on stock chart and Home City

Illinois Central bonus

When launched, IC receives bonus equal to its initial stock price from the bank

Respect ownership limits

You may never own more than 60% of a corporation's stock

Track sold corporations

You cannot buy shares in a corporation you sold this round

Pass if desired

You may pass without selling or buying

End Stock Round

Round ends when all players pass consecutively; reassign Priority Deal to player left of last buyer/seller

Collect Private Company income

Owners receive income from the bank at round start

Operate Independent Railroads

Michigan Southern then Big 4 operate, splitting revenue evenly between owner and treasury

Operate corporations in order

Each corporation operates in stock price order (first OR only: reverse order)

Issue or redeem shares

Corporation may issue shares to Stock Market (receiving one value less) or redeem shares from Stock Market (paying one value more)

Lay tiles

Lay one yellow tile in empty hex AND either lay second yellow tile OR upgrade one tile; each costs $20 or printed terrain cost (whichever greater)

Connect new track

Some newly placed track must connect to a corporation token

Place one token

Pay $80 to place token in any vacant non-home city spot the corporation connects to

Use reserved city spots

Baltimore & Ohio, Erie, Illinois Central, and Pennsylvania have reserved spots costing $40

Run routes

Run as many routes as trains owned; each route must include at least one city with corporation's token and one other location

Calculate revenue

Route revenue equals total values of cities and off-board areas visited, subject to train size

Apply East-West bonus

Routes from East to West off-board locations earn listed bonuses

Determine payout

Pay full dividends, half dividends (round down retained to nearest $10), or retain all revenue

Adjust stock price

Shift left if payout less than half stock price; no change if at least half but less than stock price; shift right if at least equal to stock price; shift right two if at least double (three if $165+ and triple)

Purchase trains

Buy trains from bank at list price or from other corporations at agreed price (minimum $1)

Maintain train requirement

Corporation must own at least one train; if none after routes, must buy one

Forced train purchase

If corporation cannot afford train, issue shares (adjusting price first), then President pays remainder from personal funds

Buy Private Companies

At any point during operations (phases I-II), purchase Private Companies for $1 to list price

N trains

May visit up to N cities and off-board areas

N/M trains

May count up to N locations toward revenue while visiting up to M locations