Trick of the Rails

Trick of the Rails is a nice trick-taking game with a very clear little-train flavour. It has that simple, immediate charm of the genre, but also the expected package: some randomness, some unpredictable developments, and the feeling that you do not control everything as much as you might like.

At its core, we play tricks, with the trains being what gives the game its character. The flow is simple enough in principle, but it was not immediately clear to me what I should be aiming for from hand to hand, or how my choices connected to what the trains were doing.

The main issue is reading the final scoring. It took me two or three hands to understand how the whole thing worked and what was actually worth pursuing, while everyone else seemed to be playing normally and I was in the classic “different game™.” Once it starts to click, it is still a game where the genre’s unpredictable side can take you somewhere other than where you planned to go.

Overall, I find it interesting, but not enough that I would give it a second look without the train theme. If trains appeal to you and you want a trick-taking game with this particular flavour, it has a reason to exist; otherwise, it probably would not hold me for long.