A 7-Player Variant for 1830
by Bill Salvatore
from: FAST TRAX, #4, pp 1-2

1) All the components from both the original game and the Reading variant are used, plus forty pennies, twenty-four nickels, and a supply of dimes. (The Reading variant was published in The General, volume 23, number 6, page 12.)

2) The rules of the original game are used, except where superseded by these rules. Rules 1, 2 and 3 of the Reading variant are used, and supersede any conflicting rules of the original game.

3) Two twenty-dollar bills are removed from the treasury. Twenty-four nickels and forty pennies are added to the treasury, representing respectively 500 dollar bills and one-dollar bills.

4) Each player starts with $343, and may hold up to 11 certificates. One of the blank spare share cards can be used to represent the #7 position during the draw for playing order.

5) The "Optional" 6 train runs as an 8 and costs $840. It can be bought as soon as the first 6 train has been bought. Trade-in credit of a 4, 5, or 6 train on the 8 train is $200. Trade-in credit of the 8 train on a D train is $300.

6) Gold-level upgrades are available once a D train has been bought. Performing a gold-level upgrade consumes a tile-playing opportunity.

7) The green-level upgrade for the "B" hexes is the #53 from the original set. This #53 tile can be upgraded to the brown level either by a #61 from the original set or by a #53R green "B" from the Reading set, worth $60 in revenue. The gold-level upgrade for the "B" hexes is the #61R brown tile from the Reading set, worth $80 in revenue, and available only if a brown-level tile is already in the hex.

8) Dimes can be used to signify the achievement of the gold-level upgrades of the red areas, as follows: Chicago - $90; Gulf - $80; Canadian West - $60; Deep South - $50; Maritimes -$40.

9) The gold-level upgrade of the NY hex may need to be marked by a dime. The gold-level revenues are $90 for North NY, $100 for South NY. The upgrade can be performed in any one of the three following ways:
     a) at one of its tile-laying opportunities, a railroad which has a route to SNY but does not have a token there can place a dime south of and adjacent to the SNY double circle. This dime counts as an open SNY circle for all purposes; as a result, SNY can accommodate three tokens.
     b) at one of its tile-laying opportunities, a railroad which has a route to NNY but does not have a token there can remove the NYNH&H token there, replacing it onto the NYNH&H charter in the rightmost open token space.
     c) at one of its tile-laying opportunities, NYNH can remove its token from NNY, replacing it on its charter to the right of the $40 token space. This token is immediately available to be placed at a cost of $100.

10) A pre-marked home circle, once occupied, is considered a station for the pre-marked railroad for the rest of the game, even if occupied by a token of another railroad. Once the original token has been removed from a pre-marked home circle, that circle, until re-occupied, is open for the placement of a token in the usual way by any railroad with a route to it. If a pre-marked circle is re-occupied by a token of the home railroad, then a dime can be placed beneath the token as a reminder of the upgrade and the new revenue.

11) Once a "D" train has been bought, the Montreal, Cleveland, Altoona, Reading, and Albany hexes are eligible to be upgraded to the gold level if the home circle is still occupied by the original token of the corresponding railroad. (Albany cannot be upgraded to the gold level unless it is already at the brown level.) The upgrade increases the revenue value of that station by $10 and is performed as follows: at one of its tile-laying opportunities, a railroad which has a route to the station in question removes the original home-city token from the home circle and replaces it onto the charter of the railroad which owns it (to the right of the highest-cost token circle if the railroad operating owns the token, otherwise in the rightmost open token circle). If the Altoona or Reading home circle is occupied by a token of another railroad, then that railroad as well as the pre-marked railroad can count that station as an intermediary stop.

12) A token replaced onto a charter to the right of the highest-cost circle is available to be played at a cost of $100 at any token-placing opportunity of the owning railroad, under the usual conditions and in the usual way, except that such a token owned by the C&O cannot be laid except in Washington, Richmond, or Cleveland.

13) As a gold-level upgrade, a single-whistlestop yellow tile may be replaced by a double-whistlestop yellow tile which maintains the original track.

14) As a gold-level upgrade, a dime may be placed on a double-whistlestop yellow tile. The dime signifies that the two whistlestops have grown together into a single city worth $20 in revenue. The dime is considered an open circle for all purposes. All four entering tracks meet and connect at the city dime.

15) One of the #14 Green tiles is to be used upside down. It is designated #14 P (the "peace-symbol” tile and is considered a green tile. The design on it is a $20 single-city with track exiting on the 1, 3, 4, and 5 edges (the 1 edge is the one closest to the tile designator number).

16) A double-whistlestop yellow tile with a dime on it can be upgraded to a #15 (“K" tile), a #14 (“X" tile), or the #14 P tile, if the replacement tile maintains the four existing exits.

17) A #53 green "B" tile from the Reading variant can be used as a brown-level upgrade, worth $40 in revenue, for the #14 P tile, but only if not possibly needed for either Boston or Baltimore. The #61R brown tile can be laid only in Boston or Baltimore.

18) Add the following private company:
     name: Pennsylvania Optional Investment Trust
     base price: $50
     revenue: none
     special powers:
          a) the successful bidder for this company receives a free share of either the PRR, the Reading, or the Erie (purchaser's choice)-- if the purchaser chooses the PRR, then a share of the Reading is substituted for the share of the PRR usually associated with the C&A;
          b) under conditions analogous to those enabling the owner of the M&H to trade it for a share of NYC, the player owning POIT is entitled to close it (turn it in) and immediately purchase one certificate of either PRR, Reading, or Erie, from either the bank pool or the initial offering, at either the par price or the current stock market price (purchaser's choice)-- if the certificate so purchased is a President's certificate, the player closing POIT must set the par price.

19) Watering the Stock -- the Daniel Drew Memorial Rule. Once during the game for each railroad, at any time that the stock price of that railroad, although otherwise entitled to rise after the end of a Stock Market round, is prevented from rising by the fact that the price marker is already on the top row, the President of that company can "water the stock" by placing the blank, "spare" certificate of that stock into the Bank Pool, moving the price marker down one space, and collecting 20% (rounded down to the nearest dollar) of the new price of that stock, per share owned, from each other holder of that stock. (A player who has insufficient cash to meet this levy, pays only the amount of cash then held.) The new certificate is treated as an ordinary 10% certificate for the rest of the game. Stock cannot be watered after the third 4 train has been bought; by about 1900, the SEC was starting to repress such chicanery. The back of the B&O private company certificate can be used to represent the eleventh share of the Reading Railroad.

Dick Martin opines: I particularly like the last rule, though it may be a little bit harsh to be actually playable. Maybe 10% would be more reasonable?

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