Steel Driver

Bid cubes for railway companies, let them lay track across North America and collect the profit as score.

Designer: Martin Wallace
Published by: Pegasus Spiele
Editions by: Treefrog Games, Warfrog Games

Steel Driver is a Treefrog extra from Essen 2008: a train game set in North America, simple on the surface and built around shares and track. You bid with investment cubes to take control of one of six companies, and each takeover gives you one share, so only one share can be bought per turn. The cubes you bid then go into the company and let it build track. Every location has a value that sets the profit for connecting it. Once the companies have built all they can, shareholders get paid, profits reset and everyone gets new cubes to bid with. Cash is really victory points, so it cannot be spent. Three to six players, ninety minutes.

Six railway companies to bid forBid cubes become the company's track budgetCash from shares is score, not spending money

Who it's for

You like train games with shares and bidding but want something simpler than a full 18xx.

Not for you if…

You want a heavy stock-manipulation game with spending money and cutthroat rules. This one is deliberately simpler.

Vibe's take

A clean, thoughtful railroad game. Each bid is both a purchase and a track-building budget, so you are always weighing control against what you give away.