1860

Table of Contents

General Information
Rules Highlights
Rules Clarifications
Variants and Optional Rules
Implementation Notes
Known Problems

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General Information

• Designed by Mike Hutton
• 2-4 Players
• Location: Isle of Wight
• Described as a "knife fight in a phone booth"
• Rules
• BoardGameGeek

Rules Highlights

Compare 1860 to another 18xx game.

You will find 1860 to be fairly different from many other 18xx games. This is only a very brief and partial summary. For details please refer to the rulebook.

• Personal money and assets are never contributed towards the purchase of trains. Consequently, there is no emergency train buying and, even more importantly, there is no personal bankruptcy.
• The initial stock round consists of an auction for the right to purchase one of four starting private companies or IPO one of two corporations. The auction winner chooses what to buy only after winning the auction.
• The four starting private companies can be traded for a share of stock in a corresponding corporation.
• The fifth private company is available for purchase (in a Stock Round) after the first 6+3 train is purchased. When purchased, it closes the starting four private companies.
• Starting with the second stock round, private companies may be sold to the bank (minus a £30 commission), or bought from the bank for face value.
• Corporations are available for IPO in layers. Only two are available at the start of the game. Once all the stock for one of those two corporations has been bought, or when one of those corporations runs, the two corporation in the next layer become available. Each layer has a unique set of available par prices.
• Corporations may lay two yellow tiles without a city, one yellow tile with a city, or upgrade one tile each round.
• In order to upgrade a tile, the corporation must own a train that can "reach" that tile from one of it's tokens. A consequence is that trainless companies may never upgrade a tile.
• Trains have reach M+N, where M is the number of cities and offboards and N is the number of towns and halts. Any unused M allowance may also be used for towns and halts.
• Towns and halts may be skipped, but not cities.
• Routes must not begin or end on a halt.
• Halts don't contribute to the revenue of a run, but instead pay a subsidy to the corporation.
• If running multiple trains, each route must overlap with another route at a city or town.
• At least one route must include the home token.
• Once a route exits a hex, it may not renter that hex.
• The stock market is essentially linear. Selling stock generally moves it to the left one space. Zero dividends move it to the left two spaces. Positive dividends move it to the right from zero to eight spaces.
• When a corporation's stock price drops to zero, it becomes bankrupt. All stock certificates for that corporation is returned to the IPO. All other assets are retained by that corporation, and it becomes available for a new IPO with a wider range of possible par prices.
• When a corporation's stock price reaches the rightmost space, the game will end a the end of the current operating round.
• It is possible to sell the president's certificate to the bank pool. In this case, the corporation goes into Receivership. It can no longer lay track or tokens. All player's determine the route to be run and it must withhold. This continues until either it goes Bankrupt, or a player owns a second share.
• Corporations must own a train if they have a legal route and enough money. If a corporation ends an operating round without a train, it becomes Insolvent. Insolvent corporations cannot spend money to place tiles nor place tokens. They are "leased" the next train that is available for purchase with a special formula used to determine leasing revenue. They must buy a train when they are able to. Receivership corporations are declared Insolvent at the "run trains" phase instead of waiting until the end of the round.
• Player money is separate from corporate money
• Game ends when bank breaks before Nationalization, or the right space of stock market is occupied, or Nationalization finishes.
• Southern Railway is formed when first 9+5 train is bought. This will trigger the end of the game via Nationalization. At the end of every round (stock or operating) after the Southern forms, Nationalization will begin if all non-Receivership companies have a train.
• In Receivership:
  • Bank breaking will not end the game
  • No more stock rounds
  • Only the M in an M+N train is used
  • Must run for maximum revenue and must pay out
  • Can only buy trains from the bank
  • At the end of each operating round, the two companies with the least revenue are closed (they stop operating)
• If a stock round occurs after the Southern forms, but before Nationalization begins, from that point forward:
  • No track or token laying
  • Halts are ignored

Rules Clarifications

Variants and Optional Rules

Implementation Notes

Known Problems