Even in this age of air travel, railroads hold a certain magical appeal. These games, several of which focus on the business aspect of railroads, are my picks for the best train games.
1. Ticket to Ride
Image courtesy of Days of Wonder
Ticket to Ride is an absolutely top-notch game with broad appeal, playing in less than an hour and providing a lot of depth without being complicated. Players compete to build railroad lines across the United States, trying to connect specific cities while preventing other players from reaching their goals. Winning requires a variety of smart strategic and tactical choices, giving Ticket to Ride considerable replay value.
2. Union Pacific
A remake of Alan R. Moon's earlier game Airlines, Union Pacific puts players in the role of railroad tycoons as they try to acquire stock in the best railroad companies. Players chose between expanding the companies or playing stock from their hand. But you must remember that when scoring takes place, only played stock counts.3. Stephenson's Rocket
Many railroad board games are set in America; this one, designed by Reiner Knizia, is set in England. The game starts with seven companies and inevitably ends with just one. The winner is the player who earned the most money through the shrewd buying and selling of stock.4. TransAmerica
Unlike most railroad games, TransAmerica is light and quick to play. Each player must connect five U.S. cities with railroad tracks, placing one or two rails each turn (depending on the terrain). There's some debate about how much strategy is involved in TransAmerica, but it's fun enough to have won the 2002 Spiel des Jahres, Germany's award for Family Game of the Year.
5. Volldampf
In this railroad board game, players are challenged to build their own railroad lines -- but doing so, of course, costs a lot of money. So intelligent borrowing is one of the keys to victory.6. Freight Train
Make sure you have a large table before starting this game; the trains tend to get pretty long. You earn points for building trains with the same cars, or for a train with every car being different. At the beginning of the game, having cars in your holding yard is good; by the end of the game, it's bad.