How to Play

First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

2-4 players 40-80 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

Players compete as railroad barons in early 1900s luxury rail travel, building opulent train networks to serve wealthy passengers. Using limited action cards each round, you'll add cars, upgrade services, extend routes toward Constantinople, and fulfill passenger needs. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most fame points through strategic empire building.

Published 2016

First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!

Get Ready

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

Prepare action card decks

Start with base cards marked "X" and add cards from 2 chosen letter modules, then shuffle and sort into piles by color (green, blue, red)

Set up railroad car stacks

Place the 3 stacks of Railroad Car cards on the table in order [0/1, 2/4, 7/12]

Arrange locomotive tiles

Sort Locomotive Tiles in ascending order with 5 on top and 15 on bottom, place face-up on table with Constantinople tile nearby

Distribute player components

Each player receives a player board, 1 coin, 3 conductors, 1 locomotive, 6 scoring marker cubes, 4 mail car cards in their chosen color, plus 2 zero-value railroad car cards

Select start player

Pick a start player and award them the start player marker

Place scoring conductor

Each player places 1 conductor on the 0/50 space of the main scoreboard with scoring markers nearby

Draft game end cards

Shuffle Game End cards face-down; player to the right of start player draws cards equal to number of players plus 1, keeps 1, passes counterclockwise; leftover card shuffles back into pile

Reveal public game end cards

Draw 4 more Game End cards and lay face-up on table

Deal initial action cards

Deal 3 rows of 6 green Action cards face-up and place the Start Player tile to the left of the first card in the top row

Set up player boards

Place your locomotive at top of player board, 1 conductor on each brass space on right, 2 zero-value rail car cards in each train slot on right, and coin on bottom left coin space

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Select one action card

Choose 1 Action card from the face-up cards and execute the action, or forego the action to increase value of 1 railcar instead

Commit before bonuses

You may partially execute actions but must commit before claiming any bonuses or moving to the next action

Store completed cards

After taking action, place the chosen card face-down into space at bottom left of player board

Follow card color schedule

Use green cards in rounds 1 and 2, blue cards in rounds 3 and 4, and red cards in rounds 5 and 6

Remove depleted rows

As soon as number of cards taken equals number of players in a row, remove the entire remaining row to box; Start player tile moves down if top row is removed

Complete the round

Play continues clockwise until all players have taken 3 cards, clearing the last row of Action cards

Add railcars

Take a zero-value railcar and add it to the right end of 1 of your 2 trains; if none available, use the rightmost zero-value railcar and replace when available

Upgrade railcars

Upgrade 1 railcar to the next value shown; a railcar can never be higher value than the car on its left but can be equal; upgrade same-value railcars from left to right

Move conductors

Move your conductors to the right a number of spaces equal to arrows shown; with a single conductor symbol, split movement between your 2 conductors as desired

Move locomotive

Move your locomotive to the left a number of spaces equal to arrows shown; immediately gain VP when passing points stations; bonus actions trigger during scoring phases

Add route cards

Add new Route cards to the left end of your route

Fulfill contracts

Put contracts face-up next to player board; fulfill before or after your action on your turn, or during scoring phase; place fulfilled contracts face-down with completed Action cards

Take start player tile

Take this instead of an Action card to become new start player; receive 2 coins, 2nd player gets nothing, 3rd player gets zero-value railcar, 4th player gets zero-value railcar or can upgrade one; remove leftmost Action card from top row

Purchase game end cards

Pay 4 coins on your turn to take 1 Game End card from face-up row; take the 1x bonus on card and place face-down; refill the card space at end of turn

Add mail cars

As soon as you add the 5th railcar to either train, immediately add 1 mail car as the 6th car and take the bonus action; mail cars cannot be upgraded

Add locomotive car

As soon as you add the 9th railcar to either train, immediately add 1 locomotive as the 10th and final car; apply the bonus upgrade to either train

Spend coins for actions

Pay from any column for the action shown below: Column 1 for zero-value railcar, Column 2 for 1 conductor space or 1 locomotive space, Column 3 for 1 railcar upgrade, or pay 1 coin for 1 VP

Winning

How to claim victory.

Conduct scoring phases

At end of rounds 2, 4, and 6, beginning with start player, each player receives bonus actions for each bonus space reached, then scores railcar VP for cars conductors have moved onto or past

Score Constantinople

Once any conductor reaches a locomotive tile, place 1 scoring marker on the highest empty points spot of the Constantinople card

Add coin points

Gain 1 VP for every coin remaining on your player board

Score game end cards

Gain VP for Game End cards based on your "X" Action cards of matching type

Determine winner

Most VP wins; ties have no tiebreaker