Martian Rails cover
2009BGG rank #5,330

Martian Rails

by M. Robert Stribula · Mayfair Games

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Players2–6
Time120–180m
ComplexityMedium
Age12+

About the game

What is Martian Rails?

Martian Rails is a railroad building game set on a fictional planet Mars. Simultaneously, the game allows a world of canals and noble savages, a cold high altitude desert globe, a nearly airless planet, terraforming, nanotech cyberpunk and everything in between from 100+ years of science fiction stories set on Mars. The game further captures the mood of those stories and the feel of the planet. The game uses a further refinement of the wrap-around mechanism used in Lunar Rails to simulate travel across a 3D opposed to a 2D map. Having to think in 3D wraparound mode adds additional "brain-burn" to the Empire Builder franchise... sometimes the shortest distance between two points isn't the obvious straight line. See crayon rail games for more crayon fun.

How it plays

Mechanics

Commodity SpeculationCrayon Rail SystemHexagon GridLine DrawingNetwork and Route BuildingPick-up and Deliver

On the shelf

Categories

EconomicScience FictionTrainsTransportation

Questions players ask

Questions to bring to BoardGameBrain

  • How do setup and the first turn work in Martian Rails?
  • When does scoring happen and what ends the game?
  • How should the table resolve an unusual timing or rules interaction?