Reiner Knizia is a very prolific boardgame designer. I read in the spielfrieks mailing list that he works, at any point, in 30 boardgame prototypes. Thirty! He obviously is some kind of superman to be able to work with so many prototypes at the same time.

 So it´s obvious that with so many released boardgames there has to be some real gems amongst his work. For many, Euphrat&Tigris is his best work ever. I disagree. I think Stephenson´s Rocket is his best boardgame up to date.

This is a surprising thematic boardgame, considering it comes from Mr. Knizia. You can actually imagine the companies building railroads and stations all across England.

The purpose of the game is to have the most money at the end of the game. To earn money you have to have the most tokens, the most connected stations and the most shares of the railroad companies. The scoring is a bit convulted, certainly it is more complex than your average German-style boardgame. But once you understand how the scoring works, then scoring becomes smooth and easy to perform.

During the game you can make two actions each turn, out of three possible actions. You either take a city token, place or replace a station or extend a railway line. You can only extend one railway line of one company each turn and sometimes, when two railway lines meet, there is a merger. The railway line that was moved is dissolved and absorbed by the other railway line. Thus, railway lines become bigger and bigger as the game moves on, and it´s crucial to have as many shares of the surviving companies as possible. The actions are simple enough, even when mergers occur, and the turns pass quickly. Although there may be analysis paralysis, especially later in the game, the flow of the game is quick enough to conclude a game in less than 60 minutes. The game is simple and easy to teach, except the scoring part which may take some turns to understand. It´s very tactical, but has some strategic depth as well.

 I must say that this game is one of the rare games that has no luck whatsoever. None at all. That is one of the reasons why I love this game so much. Although a bit of luck can always spice things up, it´s refreshing to see a boardgame that uses no luck and the final outcome of the game is totally dependent of the player´s actions.

 I simply love this game. I find it Knizia´s finest hour. For me it´s a brilliant piece of German boardgame designing. It may not be for the liking of some, and it may discourage others to play it, mainly because of the scoring, but for me, this is without a doubt Knizia´s best and although it´s out of print, I urge everyone to try and get one copy of this game. It´s really worth it.

 10/10

 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewitem.php3?gameid=20