So sorry... this game is SOLD OUT 😢
$59.00

Tramways by Alban Viard!!! And, the new Paris/New York board!!

Deck building, hand management, and route/network building, and auction/bidding at their finest!!

SO much to tell you!!  Ahhhhhh!!  This is a wonderful game.  A wonderful, brain burning game!!

OK.  Let’s start by talking about The Auction…. The purpose of this action is to determine turn order for each round.  Simple enough, right.  But, this is not your standard auction.  In Tramways, bidding is cumulative!  Bid $4… and your opponent bids $5.  Do you want to outbid them?  Well, you’ll have to bid at least $6.  Doesn’t sound too bad… until you realize that bidding up to $6 is not as simple as adding an additional $2.  You literally bid a new $6 – raising your total bid to $10!  OUCH!  Darn it, Alban! 😉

This is an auction you want to win straight out of the gate – clearly – as bidding back and forth with your competitors will likely end up with you being broke if you win the final bid!  So, let’s say you’ve won the bid.  So what?  Well, in addition to taking your actions first, the primary benefit lies in the selection of face-up auction cards.  In round 1-5 each player will get the chance to acquire a face-up auction card.  And… you guessed it.  This is done in turn order.  So, if you want that SWEET auction card sitting on the table… you’d better get your bid on!  Of note, it turns out that being first is stressful!  Uh no. I mean in the actual game!  haha.  Sacrifice your hard-earned money, win that auction, take first player… and for your trouble you will slide your stress marker one space to the right!  (more on that later)

Also important to note is that cards have multiple uses and one of those uses is to serve as money.  If you bid too heavily to score that first player spot this round, you may not have enough cards left over when it’s time to take actions in the building and administration phases!  Balance, people!  Balance!

Space travel.  Mathematical Proofs.  Quantum Mechanics.  Games designed by Alban Viard.

This is a CRUNCHY game!  And gameplay is TIGHT!

Sure… plenty of games can claim to be mechanically tight.  But Alban Viard is a MASTER of intricate, complex and unforgiving (but elegant) mechanics!  We love you Alban!

Once turn order is determined, and players take their choice of face-up auction cards in turn order, it is time to take actions!  Each player may perform up to 3 actions during this phase of the round.

Remember – each card has multiple uses.  Those uses allow you to build new rails, upgrade existing links, construct a new building, upgrade a building, or move a passenger.  At the end of the day, the entire game hinges on your ability to move passengers around the city, and the other actions help lay the groundwork.  Or, if you prefer, the tramways that passengers will use to move about the city 😉

[Things that are complex and difficult to master; but very rewarding!!]

Stress!

If the stress of deciding how much to auction, which cards to take, and how to best use your existing hand to monopolize the board wasn’t enough……

For each action you take, you choose a card and use one of the action icons on that card.  Simple.  But it is possible to use more than one action icon on a given card!  How, you say?  Well… you probably guessed it.  For each additional action icon that you would like to use your stress meter moves one slot to the right.  Mind you, stress increases on a non-linear scale… with slots labeled 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. End the round with your stress meter at 21 and you lose one Happiness Point!  These are the victory points of the game… So as you might already understand… a little stress can be a good thing.  But a lot of stress… well, that starts to affect your happiness. ;-/

Although I won’t get into the rules in TOO much detail, remember that when you win the auction to take first player your stress meter also moves one space to the right. It is stressful to be the first player! No… really!  It is! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!  (><)

Moving along…

The action phase is split into two parts.  Phase 1 – each player takes one action.  Can’t think of an action to take or simply distracted nursing your headache?  Take no action and receive $2.  In the second part of the action phase each player takes 2 actions.  Forfeit BOTH and again you receive $2.  Not that I’m suggesting you should sit idly by and collect money while your competitors storm the city…

Following the action phase we move to the administration phase.  Here you can pay to discard cards you don’t want (the first one is free) or use remaining cards based on their action icons.  The possible administrative actions (in addition to discarding cards) are: Get money, get 1 rail worker, decrease stress, and add 1 passenger.

Once the administration phase is done, you draw back up to your max hand limit, reduce your score (Happiness points) by 1 if your stress is at level 21, add new passengers to the board per the game’s rules…. And a new round begins!

Tramways PLUS Paris and New York!

If the original game board is a little too mundane for your taste, go ahead and fire up the new Paris/New York board to build rails and move people through one of your favorite cities! If Paris and New York aren’t among your favorites, I guess you’ll have to wait until Alban releases another board 😉 Haha.  Anyway, the Paris/New York board is included with the base game in this package deal!

Well done, Alban Viard!

Sure I’m no designer… but I know a crunchy, well-designed Euro when I see one!  This game is really well done!!

Bid for turn order, take the choicest auction card, set up your rails and buildings, and finally move your passengers!  The path to victory is yours to build in Tramways – another amazing, brain-burner from Alban Viard and the fine folks at the eponymous AVStudioGames!!

 

Ages: 14+
Players: 2 – 5
Play Time: 90-150 minutes
Designer: Alban Viard
Artists:
Tramways:
Paul Laane
Sampo Sikiö
Paris and New York:
Todd Sanders
Publisher: AVStudioGames
SKU: AV STUDIOS 001
MSRP:
$60 together on Geek Store from
separate sellers; some of whom
are located outside the U.S.
Our Price: $57.50
Link to BGG:

 

So sorry... this game is SOLD OUT 😢



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Description

Tramways by Alban Viard!  Complete with the new Paris & New York City Board!

The 1920s: Small City was founded just a few years ago and is still a fledgling town at this stage. Nonetheless, the Town Center is prosperous, and the managers of the weird CliniC have been duly incarcerated for years by this point. Now it is time to reach a new step: Building a new map transit.

Disgraced Clinic Manager Builds Trams

In Tramways, you take the role of one of the managers of the local CliniC who were fired last month when it was discovered that you had acquired wealth on the backs of patients and their poor health. You are now at the head of a team of engineers, ready to build the best and most effective network possible for Small City. Your aim is to find the best places between buildings and citizens so that they can use your networks (and not those of your opponents, who are always ready to buy the most interesting development areas). Be assured that a happy citizen who is able to move where and when he wants will thank the best transport companies. There is nothing that satisfies a chief manager more than seeing citizens happy…

The game is divided into six rounds, each of which is divided into two halves:

  • During the first half of a round, players compete to acquire the best development cards to create their most efficient deck. An original auction phase also determines turn order — and being the first player increases your stress level.
  • During the second half, they play a train game, using their deck to try to build a great network between the different buildings of Small City. They try to move passengers without stressing them during the transit, in the end obtaining happiness points, which is the aim of the game.

The more that players use the symbols on their cards, the more actions they can do, but they also increase their stress level at the same time, which leads to negative victory points…

 

Additional information
Weight 5.2 lbs
Dimensions 12.5 × 9.0 × 3.375 in
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