Teach the Game

A script to teach 18 India at the table — how you win, the map and market boards, the Stock Round / Operating Round rhythm, why trains never rust, the end, every way to make money and what each piece is for.

How you win

“India, the railway boom of the 1800s. We are investors: we buy shares in railway Companies, and whoever owns the most of a Company runs it — builds track and stations, buys trains and decides whether to pay dividends. About three hours. At the end, the richest player — cash plus the value of their shares — wins.”

You need money and valuable shares. You get them by:

• owning shares in Companies that pay dividends (each pay-out also raises the share price);
• running Companies well so their price climbs — and buying their shares cheaply first;
• Private Company and Royal Bond income.

The loop: one Stock Round (sell once, then buy in turn) followed by two Operating Rounds (every floated Company lays track, places a station, runs its trains and pays or withholds), again and again until the bank runs out or a share reaches ₹400.

What makes 18 India different from other 18xx games: you draft secret stock options at the start, shares are bought from your hand, from three IPO rows or the Open Market, trains never rust, and all tile colours are available from the start.

The boards

The map

1. Initial Public Offering — three rows of certificates, bought from the top only.
2. Setup reminders — deal, keep and draft numbers per player count.
3. Pre-printed gray hexes — fixed track; never upgraded.
4. Red off-board cities — Lahore, Karachi, Nepal, China and others: high revenue, some variable.
5. Gauge change lines — dashed red lines; crossing them adds a ₹0 stop.
6. OO city (Delhi) — two separate stations in one hex.
7. Commodity sources — Opium, Ore, Tea…; deliver them for a concession bonus.
8. Round tracker — SR, OR1, OR2.
9. Home locations — each Company’s logo marks its home city.
10. Commodity concessions — the markers and their bonuses.
11. Payout chart — how far a dividend moves the share price.
12. Mumbai — two stations, but one stop for a train.
13. Certificate limits — by player count and closed Companies.
14. Connections — route bonuses between two named cities.
15. Stock Market — one row of share prices, ₹56 to ₹460; operating order.
16. Turn order / pass order — first to pass acts first next Stock Round.
17. Closed — a Company whose price drops here closes.

The market board

1. 2-trains — Phase I.
2. 3-trains — the first one starts Phase II.
3. 4 / 4E-trains — Phase III.
4. Open Market — sold shares, trains and Private Companies.
5. Reminders — train order and the one-Phase-IV-train limit.
6. Phase IV trains — 3×2, 3×3, 4×2/4E×2, 4×3/4E×3, all at once.
7. Private Company discards.
8. Royal Bonds — sold bonds come back here.
9. Guaranty discards — warrants expire at Phase IV.

A round

The full rules are in Sequence and Phases.

1. Stock Round — in pass order, each player gets one selling turn (the only chance to sell this round). Then, in turn order, each turn: one purchase — any number of matching certificates from your hand, the top 1–2 of one IPO row (from the second Stock Round), one Open Market share, one Royal Bond, or (Phase IV) a bond conversion — or pass. Ends when all pass.
2. Operating Round ×2 — Private and Bond income; then each Company, highest share price first:
   1. lay up to 4 yellow tiles in a line, or 1 upgrade;
   2. place a station;
   3. run trains;
   4. pay dividends or withhold — the price moves;
   5. buy and sell trains;
   6. sell shares, buy one certificate.

How the game ends

At the end of the Operating Round in which a share price reaches ₹400, or at the end of the set of Operating Rounds in which the bank (₹9,000) breaks. Each Company’s final share value is its market price plus 10% of its assets (trains, cash, shares, bonds, privates). Richest player wins (details).

Ways to score

What each resource is for

Teaching tips

• Rehearse the operation in order: trains run before new trains are bought, using only Company money (rehearsal).

• Start with the certificate draft — it is the most unusual part, and the decisions there shape the whole game: aim for about 4 options in one Company.

• Say clearly: players never put their own money into a Company, and trains never rust — there is no forced train purchase.

• Explain Managed Companies: three 10% shares in play float a Company even without its Director.

• Teach the payout chart on the map: it saves all the arithmetic of price movement.