Martian Rails

Published 2009

Martian Rails is a railroad building game set on a fictional planet Mars. Simultaneously, the game allows a world of canals and noble savages, a cold high altitude desert globe, a nearly airless planet, terraforming, nanotech cyberpunk and everything in between from 100+ years of science fiction stories set on Mars. The game further captures the mood of those stories and the feel of the planet. The game uses a further refinement of the wrap-around mechanism used in Lunar Rails to simulate travel across a 3D opposed to a 2D map. Having to think in 3D wraparound mode adds additional "brain-burn" to the Empire Builder franchise... sometimes the shortest distance between two points isn't the obvious straight line. See crayon rail games for more crayon fun.

Mechanics

Commodity Speculation Crayon Rail System Line Drawing Network and Route Building Pick-up and Deliver Route/Network Building

Categories

Economic Science Fiction Trains Transportation

Designers

M. Robert Stribula

Publishers

Mayfair Games
Martian Rails

Game Info

Players
2-6 Players
Time
2-3 hours
Weight
Medium — 3.2/5
Year
2009
BGG Rating
7.18
BGG Rank
#5262
Min Age
12+

Frequently Asked Questions

Martian Rails supports 2 to 6 players.
A game of Martian Rails takes between 120 and 180 minutes, depending on player count and experience.
Martian Rails has a complexity rating of 3.20/5.00 on BoardGameGeek, placing it in the 'Medium' category. It offers a good balance of depth and accessibility.
The recommended minimum age for Martian Rails is 12+.
Martian Rails has a rating of 7.18/10 on BoardGameGeek, based on 446 ratings. It is ranked #5262 overall.
Martian Rails was designed by M. Robert Stribula. It was published in 2009.