Review
Trick of the Rails
An interesting trick-taking game with a railway coat of paint, though it takes a little patience before its priorities come into focus. The trains are why I sat down with it; they are not quite why I would return.
- Published
- 2011
- Designer
- Hisashi Hayashi
- Publisher
- Grok Games, Japon Brand, Mauá
- Players
- 3–5
- Playing time
- 20 min
Trick of the Rails is a pleasant trick-taker with a proper little railway flavour, and that flavour does more work than it probably ought to. Each hand feels as though it is laying out a small rail story on the table, even if I took a while to work out where mine was supposed to be heading.
At heart, it is a trick-taking game, with the usual luggage: some luck, some unruly hands, and a game state that will not always honour the plan you brought with you. That is not inherently a flaw, but it does ask you to adjust rather than execute something immaculate.
For two or three hands I was playing my own “different game”, while everyone else had already found the route and carried on without me.
TheCuttlefish
My problem was seeing, at first, exactly what I ought to be pursuing, and how the final scoring makes the trains matter. The rulebook gets a B- for pointing you at the right target. For two or three hands I was playing my own “different game”, while everyone else had already found the route and carried on without me. Not a disaster, but enough to make the game feel less than immediately welcoming.
Overall, it is interesting, and the trains give it its identity; they are also its strongest card. Without that railway flavour, I doubt I would have given it a second look.
Without that railway flavour, I doubt I would have given it a second look.
TheCuttlefish
Source: BoardGameGeek
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