A Company has to build the most profitable route it can, This involves constructing routes to towns. In an Operating Round, the director of a company (The person with most shares in it) operates that company.
First, a Survey Party(SP) is sent out from the companys base. These SP only move in straight lines. A tile can only be placed on the board after a hex has been surveyed, so use of the SP is crucial to route building. They can also have an offensive use by blocking another company from building in a certain hex.
Tiles are available in four colours. Initially, only yellow tiles are available, but as faster trains become available, the green, russet and grey tiles become available which are used to upgrade previously laid tiles.
Once a tile is laid, trains can be run. The number on the train indicates how many stations it can visit along a route. The value of the stations is the revenue that the train earns for that route.
Revenue earned can be paid out as dividends at 10% a share, in which cast the company share price is moved up, or can be kept by the company in company credits, in which case, the share price moves down. Company Credits are used by a company to build over rivers and hills and to buy trains.
The last thing a company does in the OR is to buy more trains.

From here the game progresses through a series of SBRs and ORs with company shares being bought, routes being surveyed and laid, revenue being earned, until the bank is exhausted. The richest player wins.

SUMMARY:

As can be seen, no luck is involved. This is a game of pure skill and is a joy to play. The game concept has spawned a whole series of 18xx games. To find out more, I reccomend you visit Blackwater Station where Chris Lawson is webmaster of an excellent site dedicated to the 18xx series of games.

Review by Brian