Great Western Trail: Second Edition

Setup and turns: Each player starts with the same 14 cattle cards and one starting objective. On the first turn, discard down to four cards and start at any neutral building. Thereafter move, use the destination, then refill to the hand limit. Shuffle the discard pile only when a card must be drawn from an empty draw pile. Newly acquired cattle and objectives go to the discard pile.

Movement and actions: Follow arrows for at least one location up to your movement limit; empty spaces do not count and Kansas City forces a stop. At neutral or your own buildings, perform each local action once in any order, or forgo all of them for one single auxiliary action. Opponents’ buildings, hazards and outlaws allow only one single auxiliary action. Pay hand-symbol fees when passing or stopping; pay what you can if short, continue, and owe nothing later.

Workers and buildings: Hire only workers above the job-market token’s row, paying the row price with the action’s modifier. Place each in its type’s leftmost empty slot and optionally use its immediate action. Cowboys improve buying options and engineers determine the corresponding train action’s distance. Construction requires enough builders and payment; upgrading your own building uses the difference in builder requirements and removes the old tile.

Kansas City: Add one tile from each of the three foresight pairs, then reveal your hand and count each different cattle breed’s breeding value once. You may spend temporary certificates and add permanent certificates. Take that much income and discard your entire hand. This total sets your delivery destination limit; your engine’s position does not.

Delivery and rail: Move an eligible disc from your board to a city, observing corner restrictions and unlocking its ability. Except Kansas City and New York, you cannot deliver again to a city you already marked. If your engine is behind the destination, pay one dollar per intervening railroad cross. Stop at a station turnout to pay for an upgrade; taking its station-master tile requires exchanging a rightmost hired worker at that moment.

Objectives and exchange: Play objectives before phase A or before or after actions in phase B for their immediate effects, never during an action or after starting the refill. Played objectives must score at the end; unplayed ones may be scored or removed. Meet each objective’s requirements separately rather than reusing the same achievement. Spend an exchange token at any time to draw up to two cards, then discard the same number.

Ending: Placing a worker in the final job-market space during Kansas City moves the token out and triggers the end. Finish that turn; everyone else gets one final turn, and no further worker foresight tiles may be selected. Score all 11 categories, including buildings, cities, stations, cattle, hazards, objectives and station masters; every five dollars scores one point and the job-market token scores two. Highest score wins; ties share victory.