Railroad Ink
Review

Railroad Ink (2018) is a roll-and-write game where you create a map of transport connections. You play by rolling dice to provide the road and track you need to draw efficient routes on your map. It is a game of making better use of shared resources than your opponents, forward planning and strategy are key as you never know which road and track shapes you'll have next.

You are a city planner competing to make the best road and rail network for your city. Each turn you roll four shared Route dice and then try to draw the best route on your wipe-clean Map board grid. Three of these Route dice contain different shapes of road and rail connection and one contains overpasses and stations that can connect between routes. Because you all use the same dice creative placement and careful planning are key to success.

As you play, you use the dice rolled to extend your routes and connect more of the exits from your city together. You score points for your longest route, for the exits you join together and for using the nine central spaces of your board. So on each turn, you must decide where best to place all of the symbols from the dice in order to complete your goals.

This is a calming puzzle game where although you are competing with other players, you rarely tend to notice. You get so stuck into crafting your own city connections that you begin to visualise your city as a real place and when you manage to join a long route together. It is such a pleasing feeling that you might be forgiven for quitting your job and taking up a course in city planning.

Our examiner, Rob Prior, first checked Railroad Ink 16 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 9 months ago.