Railroad Ink Challenge: Lush Green Edition

To set up Railroad Ink Challenge, each player receives a game board and a marker. Three basic objective cards are shuffled and placed face-up in the middle of the table, with their letter codes noted on each player's score sheet. The remaining basic objective cards are not used. Four white route dice are placed in the center of the table. If playing with expansions (Lush Green or Blazing Red), two dice and corresponding objective cards from the chosen expansion are added, replacing one basic objective card with a random expansion objective card. The codes for these new objectives are also noted on the score sheets. Players are now ready to begin.

The primary objective in Railroad Ink Challenge is to build the largest possible network of roads and railways on your game board. Players aim to connect as many exits on their board as possible, as well as activate special buildings and complete various objectives (challenges) for additional points. The player with the most points after seven rounds wins the game. The game can be played solo or with up to four players, or up to eight players by combining both the Lush Green and Blazing Red versions.

Each round begins with one player rolling all the route dice. All players then simultaneously draw the routes indicated on the rolled dice onto their individual game boards. Routes must always connect to an existing exit or a previously drawn route. Roads can only connect to roads, and railways to railways, unless a station is used to connect them. Routes can be rotated or mirrored as desired. Once per round, players may also use one of the special routes printed on their score board, which offer more complex connections not found on the dice. These special routes can only be used three times per game and must be marked off after use. Additionally, players can activate special buildings by drawing a route in their square: factories grant an immediate extra route from the current round's dice, villages provide bonus points at the end of the game, and universities allow an extra special route to be used once all three university squares are marked off.

At the end of each round, after all players have drawn their routes, they check if they have completed any of the active objective cards. The player who completes an objective first receives more points than subsequent players. Players mark off the corresponding point value on their score sheet. At the end of the game, points are calculated for each connected network (based on the number of connected exits), the longest road, and the longest railway (one point per square). Points from activated villages and completed objectives are added. Points gained from expansions are also added. Finally, one minus point is deducted for each open route end on the board. All points are tallied to determine the final score.

The game concludes after seven rounds. Once the seventh round is finished, players proceed to the final scoring phase. Each player calculates their total score by summing points from several categories: connected exits (points based on the number of exits in each network), the longest road, the longest railway (one point per segment), activated villages (highest marked value), and completed objectives (points noted during the game). Any points from expansions are also added. Finally, one point is subtracted for each open route end on the player's board. The player with the highest total score is declared the winner.