1846: The Race for the Midwest: setup guide

Setup 01

Separate personal and corporate money

For this four-player setup, prepare a $7,500 bank and give each player $400. Keep private-company cards, railroad charters, share certificates and company cash areas distinct. Money paid to a railroad stays with that company until a rule sends it elsewhere.

Setup 02

Apply the four-player removals

Remove two orange-group privates, two blue-group privates and one green-group railroad. Six public corporations remain and each player has a 12-certificate limit. The interactive setup shows the actual removals in this recording; choosing different removals changes the opening.

Setup 03

Read the map and train supply

Find home cities, station spaces, terrain costs and the off-board destinations before putting out tokens. Sort track by colour and prepare trains in their phase order. The printed map is already present: the following tour identifies regions rather than placing the board again.

Setup 04

Draft before investing

Follow the private draft in reverse player order. Each drafter views up to six cards, keeps one face down and shuffles the rest underneath. A pass card ends that player’s draft. Payments are made at the end; the final lone private becomes cheaper after refusals.

Setup 05

Check the first investment position

After paying for privates, compare each player’s remaining cash with the shares they can afford. The saved route names the investors Ada, Ben, Clara and Daniel. Use its opening stock round to see the consequences of the draft; it does not demonstrate every possible opening or emergency funding.

Before your first move

After the private-company draft, stock rounds alternate with sets of operating rounds. Investors buy and sell shares; presidents then run the railroads in share-price order. A railroad builds track, places stations, runs trains, decides how to distribute revenue and buys trains. New trains change the phase and can make older trains obsolete.

This is a setup companion for the scenarios below, not a replacement for the publisher’s complete setup diagrams. Open the guided table to inspect the exact locations and the recorded deal.