If you ask the average board gamer about 18XX games, you’ll probably get one of two reactions.
Either they have never heard of them.
Or their eyes light up and they immediately start telling you about a six-hour game involving train companies, hostile takeovers, and a bankruptcy that happened fifteen years ago.
18XX is one of the most fascinating niches in modern board gaming.
The genre started in 1974 with the publication of 1829, the game that established the template for railway stock-market games. More than fifty years later, the family has grown to hundreds of titles covering every corner of the globe—and occasionally Ancient Greece, outer space, and even irrigation systems.
The undisputed king of the genre remains 1830: Railways & Robber Barons. First published in 1986, it became the blueprint for countless designs that followed and is still considered by many players the benchmark against which all other 18XX games are measured.
As for me, I own around forty different 18XX titles. I’ve managed to play about half of them so far, which in the world of 18XX probably qualifies me as an enthusiastic amateur rather than an expert.
Looking from the outside, the genre shouldn’t work.
The games are medium-to-heavy in complexity. Most take four hours or more. They are often unforgiving. A newcomer sitting down with experienced players can be crushed long before they fully understand what happened.
And yet the genre has not merely survived—it has flourished.
So what makes 18XX games so cool?
Trains. Lots of Trains.
Let’s start with the obvious answer.
More people love trains than they are willing to admit.
There is something deeply satisfying about building railway networks, connecting cities, placing stations, and watching trains run across a map.
In an 18XX game you are usually the president—or at least a major shareholder—of a railway company. You lay track, buy trains, expand your network, and compete against rival companies for the best routes and the most profitable cities.
Part of the appeal is probably nostalgia. Trains evoke childhood memories for many of us. Toy railways, station platforms, route maps, and giant steam locomotives occupy a special place in our collective imagination.
18XX captures all of that while transforming it into meaningful decisions and fierce competition.
It’s About Making Money
Despite the trains, 18XX is fundamentally an economic game.
The objective is not to build the prettiest railway network.
It is not to run the most trains.
It is not even to own the most companies.
The goal is simple:
Be the wealthiest player when the game ends.
There is something enormously satisfying about stepping into the shoes of a nineteenth-century robber baron and trying to accumulate more wealth than everyone else around the table.
The winner is usually the player with the most money. But emotionally, the game is about proving that you understand how money works better than everyone else at the table.
Can you identify the most promising railway?
Can you time your investments better than everyone else?
Can you extract value from a company before it declines?
Can you create opportunities that other players fail to see?
Every decision ultimately comes back to money. Every route, every share purchase, every train acquisition becomes part of a larger economic puzzle.
And unlike many modern economic games, there is very little hiding behind the curtain. The mechanisms are exposed. The incentives are clear. Success comes from understanding the system better than your opponents.
No Luck. No Excuses.
One of the defining characteristics of 18XX games is that they are almost entirely deterministic.
There are no combat dice.
There are no random events.
There are no hidden cards suddenly changing the game state.
Instead, the game operates within a strict framework of rules.
You can only buy the next available train.
You can only purchase one share at a time.
You cannot exceed ownership limits.
Companies operate according to clearly defined procedures.
Because of this structure, skilled players gain the ability to anticipate future developments and plan accordingly.
Strategies emerge.
Counter-strategies emerge.
Players manoeuvre around one another, attempting to predict not just what will happen, but what their opponents intend to make happen.
The result is a game that rewards planning, observation, and long-term thinking.
When you win, you usually know why.
When you lose, you usually know why as well.
There are no excuses.
Only lessons.
The Constant Tension
If 18XX games were only about economics, they might feel dry.
Fortunately, they are packed with tension.
Nothing illustrates this better than trains.
In most 18XX games, trains eventually become obsolete. One moment a company appears healthy and prosperous. The next moment a new train is purchased somewhere on the map and half the industry’s rolling stock suddenly rusts.
A company that looked secure can instantly find itself without a train.
And if a company cannot afford a replacement, its president must often reach into their own personal wallet and save it.
This creates extraordinary tension.
Bankruptcy is never far away.
Even if you are running your companies efficiently, you must constantly monitor the intentions of other players.
Will someone buy that train?
Will they wait?
Are they bluffing?
Can they afford it?
Should you act first?
And then there is the darker side of the genre.
Experienced players are perfectly capable of selling a struggling company and leaving another player holding the presidency at precisely the wrong moment. Sometimes you are not trying to build your own empire. Sometimes you are trying to ensure someone else’s empire collapses first.
At times, an 18XX game feels less like a railway simulation and more like a poker match.
You find yourself looking across the table and wondering:
“Can I trust this person?”
Usually, the answer is no.
History Comes Alive
Finally—and perhaps most importantly—18XX games connect us with history.
There have been a few unusual entries in the genre. Poseidon moved the concept to Ancient Greece. 2038 explored asteroid mining and the colonisation of space. 1830BC replaced railways with irrigation systems.
But fundamentally, 18XX is about railways.
And railways changed the world.
Railway development was closely linked to the Industrial Revolution. Rail networks connected cities, accelerated trade, created fortunes, encouraged migration, and helped shape modern nations.
The railway age followed the great political transformations of Europe and carried ideas of movement, opportunity, commerce, and social change across entire continents.
Few game genres allow you to watch industrialisation happen before your eyes.
When we play an 18XX game, we are not merely pushing trains around a map.
We are retracing the development of regions, cities, and nations.
We watch industrial centres emerge.
We see ports become commercial hubs.
We witness the rise of financial markets.
We experience, in miniature, some of the forces that shaped the lives of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.
That historical connection gives the genre a depth that few board games can match.
Give It a Try
18XX games are not for everyone.
They are long.
They are demanding.
They can be ruthless.
But they are also some of the most rewarding board games ever designed.
They combine trains, economics, strategy, psychology, and history into a uniquely compelling experience.
And perhaps that is the secret of their longevity.
An 18XX game is never just about trains.
It is about ambition.
It is about competition.
It is about understanding systems.
It is about making difficult decisions under pressure.
And occasionally, it is about convincing another player to make a terrible mistake.
If you have never tried an 18XX game, I encourage you to do so.
In my next article, I’ll discuss which titles make the best entry points into the genre, how difficult they really are to learn, and how you can start playing 18XX online without spending a fortune on physical games.
If you’d like me to write more articles about 18XX games, leave a comment below. I’d love to hear what first attracted you to the genre—or what has kept you away from it so far.
