This game is about navigating around the rail network building up a long chain of stations, whilst stopping other players from reaching the end of any lines.
How to play
Bonus points are added to the tally for a 'long wait' if there are less than three trains a day that make your journey (2 points), or if a move is deemed to made by a 'parliamentary' service (5 points).
Points are deducted from the leg if a deadlock is reached before the penultimate move of a leg - if no-one posts this move within 3 hours then 20 points are deducted, and a further 20 are taken 3 hours after that. (This rule will not be enforced in the early morning from midnight to 9am, and a leg will never score negative points.)
Notes
If we are at East Grinstead, there are valid moves to Dormans, and also to Oxted. Only one train a day makes this latter move (the 2254 in the current timetable), so this move accrues 2 bonus points to the leg tally.
Invalid moves and legibility
The game depends heavily on the order of moves being correct. Occasionally invalid posts are made, for instance when lots of posts are made in quick succession. To avoid problems arising from this:
If you are caught breaking the rules about editing, the adjudicators can dock 25 points from the leg. If someone has started a new leg after incorrectly deciding they have won the previous leg then the adjudicators award them no points for that leg, so be careful!
By convention the full English names of stations are used - the name as given by National Rail Enquires is considered to be definitive. It is requested that moves are made using bold text.
How to play
- A 'leg' starts when the winner of the previous leg posts a station. (This shouldn't be the station that ended the previous leg, or a terminal station with fewer than two routes out).
- Players now take turns to move to other stations, so that:
- Each station can be reached by a direct train (see Notes) from the previous station posted, with no intermediate stops.
- No station may be repeated on a leg.
- A leg ends when no more valid moves are possible. The player who made the last valid move wins the leg, and is awarded points based on a tally of the length of the leg. They then start the next leg, and so on.
Bonus points are added to the tally for a 'long wait' if there are less than three trains a day that make your journey (2 points), or if a move is deemed to made by a 'parliamentary' service (5 points).
Points are deducted from the leg if a deadlock is reached before the penultimate move of a leg - if no-one posts this move within 3 hours then 20 points are deducted, and a further 20 are taken 3 hours after that. (This rule will not be enforced in the early morning from midnight to 9am, and a leg will never score negative points.)
Notes
- Only stations on the National Rail network are allowed
- A direct train is a passenger service run by a National Rail TOC. The current timetable is used, and amendments for things like Engineering Work are ignored unless they are noted in the "Red List" of amendments in the next post, usually reserved for changes lasting longer than a month. You can ignore any pick up/set down only restrictions.
- You cannot use any freight lines, but you can use any line that has a passenger service at least weekly (not every 3rd Monday etc).
- Moves must continue from the station last posted - you can't "walk" between adjacent stations, e.g. from West Hampstead to West Hampstead Thameslink.
If we are at East Grinstead, there are valid moves to Dormans, and also to Oxted. Only one train a day makes this latter move (the 2254 in the current timetable), so this move accrues 2 bonus points to the leg tally.
Invalid moves and legibility
The game depends heavily on the order of moves being correct. Occasionally invalid posts are made, for instance when lots of posts are made in quick succession. To avoid problems arising from this:
- You may never edit a move, other than to strike it out using [s][/s] tags if it is invalid.
- If you then need to make a new move, do so by posting again and not by editing.
If you are caught breaking the rules about editing, the adjudicators can dock 25 points from the leg. If someone has started a new leg after incorrectly deciding they have won the previous leg then the adjudicators award them no points for that leg, so be careful!
By convention the full English names of stations are used - the name as given by National Rail Enquires is considered to be definitive. It is requested that moves are made using bold text.
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