1870: The Trans-Mississippi

Appendix A: Glossary

All Sold

A company is considered to be 'All Sold' when all of the shares are held by players or companies.

Bank

The Bank holds all of the money at the start of the game. Payments of dividends to players are made from the bank. Payments for new trains and terrain costs are made to the bank. Payment for shares purchased from the initial offering or from the open market, is made to the bank.

Bankruptcy

A player is bankrupt when he cannot raise the money necessary to buy a train for one of his companies. A player may not declare voluntary bankruptcy but he may engineer it.

Broken Bank

The bank is considered broken when it runs out of money. I.e., it has zero dollars or less, or it does not have enough money to make a pay out (see rules section 13.2). Although it is possible for the bank to run out of money and then be refilled by company purchases, It is still considered broken.

Brown Tile

A brown tile contains more complex track than a green tile. A brown tile is placed as an upgrade of a green tile already on the map.

Certificate

A certificate represents either a private company or a share (or two shares if it is the president's certificate) of a public company.

Certificate Limit

The certificate limit is the number of certificates a player may hold. These include company shares and private companies.

City

A large city is represented on the map by a large white circle. Most large cities are named.

Closing Section

The closing section is the grey zone in the lower left corner of the stock market. A company whose share price token enters this zone is closed. See rules section 5.1.1.

Connected

A railway is connected to its destination when it can run a train that it currently owns, from its home token to its destination counting all cities along the route.

Connection Run

When a company can reach its destination with a train it owns, it does a special run called a connection run. Each company is allowed to do (but not required to do) one connection run during the game.

Destination

Each company has a semi-historical destination to reach. This is either a city or an edge area. These were selected to encourage historical track development.

Different Cities

On a yellow tile with two small cities on it (tile numbers 1, 2, 55, 56 and 69), the two cities are different cities for purposes of running a train.

Dividend

A company runs its trains for income and then may pay this money out to shareholders of that company as a dividend.

Dot City

A small city represented by a single small dot. Some hexes have two small city dots in them. Sometimes these cities are named.

Down

A company share price token is moved 'down' on the stock market when a share or shares of it are sold and unprotected by the president. The token is moved down one space for each share sold. See rules section 5.8.1.

Full Dividend

When a company pays a full dividend, it pays out all of the money it collected as income when it ran its trains. See rules section 9.1.1

Game Turn

A game turn is a complete set of a stock round and one or more operating rounds.

Game Phase

A game phase indicates what rules are in effect. The change of phase indicates (roughly) the passage of time.

Grey Tile

Grey tiles are used to upgrade specific brown city tiles.

Green Tile

Green tiles are used to upgrade yellow tiles. Green tiles have more complex track on them than yellow tiles.

Half Dividend

When the company pays a half dividend, it only pays out half of the money it collected when It ran its trains. It retains the rest of the money for itself. See rules section 9.1.2.

Higher Colour

All tiles have a colour. I.e., yellow, green, brown and grey. The lowest colour is yellow. Green is a higher colour than yellow. Similarly brown is higher than green and grey is higher than brown. The next 'higher colour' is the next colour of the progression. E.g., for yellow tiles, green is the next higher colour.

Home Token

This free token is placed on the company starting city.

Initial Offering

All shares of all companies are placed in the initial offering at the start of the game. Shares that are reissued are also placed in the initial offering.

Left

A company share price token is moved left on the stock market if it pays no dividend. If it is at the left edge of the stock market, it is instead moved down one space in the direction of the arrow.

Legal Run

A legal run for a company includes a city with one of its tokens or an edge destination with its connection token and one or more additional cities or edge destinations.

Lower Ledge

The bottom edge of the stock market. Companies whose tokens are on the bottom edge of the stock market cannot have their share price reduced by stock sales.

Open Market

This part of the stock market represents minor non player investors who purchase stocks that players sell.

Operating Round

The part of the game turn where company operations occur. Depending on the game phase, there will be one, two or three operating rounds per game turn.

Operating Company

A company that has six (or more) shares sold from the initial offering. Note that the St.. Louis-San Francisco Railway may operate with less than six shares sold.

Partial Dividend

A half dividend, instead of a full dividend. Synonymous with Half Dividend.

President

The president is the player who conducts the operation of a company and is responsible for any company purchases. This player holds the presidential certificate.

Presidential Certificate, President's Certificate

The 20% share (two shares) certificate of a public company.

Priority

The holder of the priority card, is the player who has the first action in the next stock round. The priority is moved during the stock round by players buying private companies, buying shares, selling shares or doing actions for their companies.

Priority Card

This card shows who has the priority in the next stock round.

Private Company

A company with only one certificate. This company is initially owned by a player. In later phases of the game most private companies may be sold to operating companies. It is called a private company because it can have only one owner.

Public Company

A company with nine share certificates. This game has ten public companies.

Right

A company share price token is moved one space 'right' on the stock market if it declares a full dividend. If it is in a box with an arrow pointing up, it is instead moved up one space.

Route

The path on the track on the tiles laid on the map that a train runs to collect income.

Share Certificate

A piece of cardstock that represents a private company or a share (or shares) in a company.

Share Price Order

When something is done in 'share price order' the order is in order of price from highest to lowest. When several companies have the same price, the one in the right most box is first. When several tokens are in the same share price box, the order is from top to bottom. Share price order is dynamic not fixed. Actions of companies may change the order of the tokens during the operating round.

Share Price Protection

The action of the president to protect his company's share price from the effects of share sales by other players.

Share Reissue

A company reissues redeemed shares to the market to raise money.

Share Redemption

A company purchases a share from the open market or a player.

Stock Round

That part of the game turn devoted to stock actions only.

Stock Market

The display that represents the stock market that railroad shares are traded on. This is a crude representation of a real stock market.

Terrain Costs

Certain hexes on the map contain a '$' followed by an amount. This cost represents difficult terrain in that hex and requires an extra expenditure as indicated to lay the first tile there.

Tile

A coloured (yellow, green, brown, or grey) hexagonal piece of cardstock that companies lay on the map to represent track.

Token

A marker with the railway logo on it that represents a railroad station of that company. On the stock market, it represents the share price of that railway. Square tokens are used to represent the par value of a company.

Track

The black lines on the coloured tiles (yellow, green, brown, and grey) laid on the map represent the railroad track laid by the railways.

Train

This is a certificate that represents a train. The train number represents the number of stops that the train can count for income when it runs.

Up

When a company token is adjusted on the stock market for 'all sold', it is moved up one space. When this token is at the top of the stock market and is required to move up, it instead is moved diagonally down to the right one space.

Upgrade

Replacing a track tile on the map with a tile of the next higher colour.

Upper Ledge

The upper ledge is the heavy dark line on the right hand portion of the stock market separating the upper and lower areas.

West of the Mississippi

This area consists of all hexes west of the Mississippi river. This area does not include hexes that have any part of the Mississippi river in them.

Yellow Tile

A yellow tile is the first type of track tile laid in a clear hex.