18US (2005)

About this game

18US is a "high-end" 18xx game of the entire history of US railroading (well, until the 1950s anyhow) on two map panels: twelve companies, four different categories of trains with either two or three levels of each (a total of eleven train types), and a substantially different set of mechanisms than the "classic" 18xx games. 18US is intended to appeal to those players who enjoy such games as 1837: Rail Building in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and 1844: Schweiz: large games with many subsystems.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 6.
• Rules load. At 4.4/5 this is a heavy game — read the rulebook before people arrive.
• Age. The publisher suggests 14 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.