Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Silverton is a game focusing primarily on the business aspects of railroading in the 1800s. The game components themselves are of varying quality. Along with the hundreds of plastic chips (to which stickers need to be applied) representing the various commodities, I also got a bag of wooden pieces. These include small discs representing surveyors and prospectors (and more stickers to apply!), small cubes to designate rail line ownership and commodity prices, a pair of dice, and a turn marker. Different cards represent commodity claims, passenger routes, and engines.
The board is made of pressed cardboard, and is probably adequate for the relatively light use the it will see. The four interlocking pieces cover most of Colorado and New Mexico, plus a small portion of Utah and a tiny corner of Texas and Wyoming.
The rulebook is well organized and clearly written. The Basic Game rules cover the first half of the book; Advanced and Optional rules and scenarios for one to five players fill the remaining pages.
Play itself is a recreation of the late 1800s railroading and mining boom in the Rocky Mountains. Depending on the scenario and number playing, players begin in one or more cities. The order in which players take their turns each round is determined by a random deal of cards. Surveyors must then be placed before a track segment can be purchased; if two players want to survey the same segment, the dice are rolled and, with small modifications, the high roll wins. Prospectors are then used to establish mining (or lumber) claims or to establish passenger routes. Players have the choice of choosing, but possibly fighting over, one of eight face-up claims or passenger routes, or drawing a claim card to which they will have exclusive rights. Provided any disputes are settled, players then pay to purchase their surveyed rail lines and prospected claims. Claims are operated by paying an operations fee to the bank and rolling the dice to determine how much of the claim's commodity is produced. Revenue from any passenger routes is collected, and then players deliver their freight, which is then sold based on its market value.
As far as game play goes, that's pretty much it. The winner is the player with the most cash, or the first to go over a predetermined limit. There are rules designed to add a little color, such as prospectors and/or surveyors being arrested, but these have a minimal effect on game play. The Basic Rules are fairly simple to pick up, but handle a couple of things very abstractly. The Advanced Rules don't really complicate the game; after getting the hang of the Basic Rules players will probably want the added challenges the Advanced Rules present. Silverton also plays well as a solitaire game, so if you don't have any opponents available, you can still break it out.Silverton is an intermediate-level game in complexity and realism. Players have plenty of choices to make during play, but the rules are simple enough for children who understand Monopoloy.
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SilvertonSet in the historic mining areas of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, Silverton is a game of railroading, mining, and commodity market manipulation. Use your surveyor to plot your railroads and your prospector to find your mines. Operate your empire of mines and railroads to position your gold, silver, and other commodities in the right market and at the right time to reap maximum profit. Contains a 17x22 mounted mapboard, Each player will have 32 wooden cubes and 8 wooden disks in one of the following colors. White, Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple, 13 black 5/16" cubes for the price chart, 208 chips - in various colors, two decks, rules book, box and turn marker. For 1-6 players ages 12 and up. It plays in under an hour. Measures 2"L x 11.625"W x 2"H.
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