CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

20
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Transcript of CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

Page 1: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 120

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 220

In a kingdom broken under a Necromancerrsquos shadowthe last heroes hatch a plan to save the realm before it is

swallowed into darkness Before the monastery falls its upto you and your party to defeat the Necromancer Can you savethe kingdom from peril

Darkest Night is a fully-cooperative board game for one tofour players Each player takes on the role of one or more ofthe nine available heroes with their unique abilites and fightsoff the evil Necromancer to save the kingdom

09 - 011 $5495

If you like Circus Train you should try

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 320

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Table of Contents

Perform or starve

Components

Game Object

Component Images

Basic Game Set Up

Round Summary

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)

Moving Your Circus Train

PerformHire

Special Hire

Paying Wages

Roustabout Phase

Replenishing Counters

Counter and Card Limits

MonthSeasonal Events 1End of Month Scoring 1

Final Scoring 1

How to Win 1

Advanced Game 1

Solitaire Game 1

Optional Rules 1

Credits 1

Designerrsquos Notes 1

Perform or starve As a ringmaster in charge of a railroad circus in the 1920s and 30s you are competing to be Te GreatestShow on Earth But you are constantly faced with the reality that the show must go on or else you willnot be able to co1048694er your costs

In this game you and your opponents are vying to employ the best talent while putting on the mostmagnificent show each month

ouring the country by train you will have the opportunity to perform while adding talent to your showthrough the hiring of performers stranded in cities by bankrupt circuses Just remember to keep an eye on your wages because your talent definitely will

Victory point scoring takes place between months and the player with the highest victory point score aer6 months is declared to have Te Greatest Show on Earth

Componentsbull 1 22rdquo x 17rdquo Game Board depicting the northeastern portion of the United States

and parts of Canada connected by railroads

bull 45 Action cards in 5 different player colors (9 cards per player)

bull 24 Destination cards

bull 26 Event cards (for optional rules)

bull 5 Player Reference cards

bull 87 Local News counters in 3 different colored circus shaped tents

bull 66 Talent counters depicting the 7 types of talent in the show

bull 60 Treasury counters for tracking the playersrsquo wealth

bull 5 Victory Point markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Best Performance Rating markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Two Week Performance markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Reputation Value markers (for the advanced rules)

bull 5 Circus Train standees to denote the current location of each playerrsquos circus

bull 1 First Player marker

bull 1 Calendar marker

bull 11 Event Card Support markers (for optional rules)

bull 1 Die for hiring (boxed version only)

If any pieces are missing or damaged please email us at infovictorypointgamescom

Game Objecte object of Circus Train is to score the most Victory Points before the circus season ends ese arelargely awarded for putting on performances in cities that demand to see certain types of shows butalso for past performances dominating a particular talent type or visiting cities at key times

e game covers a six month circus season with each month having four or five weeks (Rounds)followed by a scoring round at the end of each month and special scoring at the gamersquos end

Circus Train includes a Basic Game and an Advanced Game We recommend playing at least oneor two Basic Games before trying the Advanced Game Additionally at the end of this booklet aresome Optional Rules which combine with either version of the game to create a more random butimmersive game experience

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 420

2Developed by Josh Neiman

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Component Images

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L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155(Local News counter types bottom row om le to right Bankrupt CircusPerformance and Points)

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8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 520

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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A983139983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

D983141983155983156983145983150983137983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140983155

V983145983139983156983151983154983161 P983151983145983150983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

B983141983155983156 P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 R983137983156983145983150983143 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983159983151 W983141983141983147P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983154983141983137983155983157983154983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

C983137983148983141983150983140983137983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

P983148983137983161983141983154 R983141983142983141983154983141983150983139983141 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140 S983157983152983152983151983154983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

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4Developed by Josh Neiman

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Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

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1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

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9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

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$5 $10 $20

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

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$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

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8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

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Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

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End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

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In a kingdom broken under a Necromancerrsquos shadowthe last heroes hatch a plan to save the realm before it is

swallowed into darkness Before the monastery falls its upto you and your party to defeat the Necromancer Can you savethe kingdom from peril

Darkest Night is a fully-cooperative board game for one tofour players Each player takes on the role of one or more ofthe nine available heroes with their unique abilites and fightsoff the evil Necromancer to save the kingdom

09 - 011 $5495

If you like Circus Train you should try

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 320

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Table of Contents

Perform or starve

Components

Game Object

Component Images

Basic Game Set Up

Round Summary

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)

Moving Your Circus Train

PerformHire

Special Hire

Paying Wages

Roustabout Phase

Replenishing Counters

Counter and Card Limits

MonthSeasonal Events 1End of Month Scoring 1

Final Scoring 1

How to Win 1

Advanced Game 1

Solitaire Game 1

Optional Rules 1

Credits 1

Designerrsquos Notes 1

Perform or starve As a ringmaster in charge of a railroad circus in the 1920s and 30s you are competing to be Te GreatestShow on Earth But you are constantly faced with the reality that the show must go on or else you willnot be able to co1048694er your costs

In this game you and your opponents are vying to employ the best talent while putting on the mostmagnificent show each month

ouring the country by train you will have the opportunity to perform while adding talent to your showthrough the hiring of performers stranded in cities by bankrupt circuses Just remember to keep an eye on your wages because your talent definitely will

Victory point scoring takes place between months and the player with the highest victory point score aer6 months is declared to have Te Greatest Show on Earth

Componentsbull 1 22rdquo x 17rdquo Game Board depicting the northeastern portion of the United States

and parts of Canada connected by railroads

bull 45 Action cards in 5 different player colors (9 cards per player)

bull 24 Destination cards

bull 26 Event cards (for optional rules)

bull 5 Player Reference cards

bull 87 Local News counters in 3 different colored circus shaped tents

bull 66 Talent counters depicting the 7 types of talent in the show

bull 60 Treasury counters for tracking the playersrsquo wealth

bull 5 Victory Point markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Best Performance Rating markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Two Week Performance markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Reputation Value markers (for the advanced rules)

bull 5 Circus Train standees to denote the current location of each playerrsquos circus

bull 1 First Player marker

bull 1 Calendar marker

bull 11 Event Card Support markers (for optional rules)

bull 1 Die for hiring (boxed version only)

If any pieces are missing or damaged please email us at infovictorypointgamescom

Game Objecte object of Circus Train is to score the most Victory Points before the circus season ends ese arelargely awarded for putting on performances in cities that demand to see certain types of shows butalso for past performances dominating a particular talent type or visiting cities at key times

e game covers a six month circus season with each month having four or five weeks (Rounds)followed by a scoring round at the end of each month and special scoring at the gamersquos end

Circus Train includes a Basic Game and an Advanced Game We recommend playing at least oneor two Basic Games before trying the Advanced Game Additionally at the end of this booklet aresome Optional Rules which combine with either version of the game to create a more random butimmersive game experience

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2Developed by Josh Neiman

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Component Images

G983137983149983141 B983151983137983154983140

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155(Local News counter types bottom row om le to right Bankrupt CircusPerformance and Points)

T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155 F983145983154983155983156 P983148983137983161983141983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 520

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

A983139983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

D983141983155983156983145983150983137983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140983155

V983145983139983156983151983154983161 P983151983145983150983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

B983141983155983156 P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 R983137983156983145983150983143 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983159983151 W983141983141983147P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983154983141983137983155983157983154983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

C983137983148983141983150983140983137983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

P983148983137983161983141983154 R983141983142983141983154983141983150983139983141 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140 S983157983152983152983151983154983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983156983137983150983140983141983141983155

R983141983152983157983156983137983156983145983151983150 V983137983148983157983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 620

4Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

E983137983139983144 P983148983137983161983141983154

1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

I983150983145983156983145983137983148 C983145983156983161 D983141983149983137983150983140983155 R983141983149983151983158983141

9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 820

6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

T983137983148983141983150983156 S983161983149983138983151983148983155

$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1120

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1220

10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1320

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 3: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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Table of Contents

Perform or starve

Components

Game Object

Component Images

Basic Game Set Up

Round Summary

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)

Moving Your Circus Train

PerformHire

Special Hire

Paying Wages

Roustabout Phase

Replenishing Counters

Counter and Card Limits

MonthSeasonal Events 1End of Month Scoring 1

Final Scoring 1

How to Win 1

Advanced Game 1

Solitaire Game 1

Optional Rules 1

Credits 1

Designerrsquos Notes 1

Perform or starve As a ringmaster in charge of a railroad circus in the 1920s and 30s you are competing to be Te GreatestShow on Earth But you are constantly faced with the reality that the show must go on or else you willnot be able to co1048694er your costs

In this game you and your opponents are vying to employ the best talent while putting on the mostmagnificent show each month

ouring the country by train you will have the opportunity to perform while adding talent to your showthrough the hiring of performers stranded in cities by bankrupt circuses Just remember to keep an eye on your wages because your talent definitely will

Victory point scoring takes place between months and the player with the highest victory point score aer6 months is declared to have Te Greatest Show on Earth

Componentsbull 1 22rdquo x 17rdquo Game Board depicting the northeastern portion of the United States

and parts of Canada connected by railroads

bull 45 Action cards in 5 different player colors (9 cards per player)

bull 24 Destination cards

bull 26 Event cards (for optional rules)

bull 5 Player Reference cards

bull 87 Local News counters in 3 different colored circus shaped tents

bull 66 Talent counters depicting the 7 types of talent in the show

bull 60 Treasury counters for tracking the playersrsquo wealth

bull 5 Victory Point markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Best Performance Rating markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Two Week Performance markers in 5 different player colors

bull 5 Reputation Value markers (for the advanced rules)

bull 5 Circus Train standees to denote the current location of each playerrsquos circus

bull 1 First Player marker

bull 1 Calendar marker

bull 11 Event Card Support markers (for optional rules)

bull 1 Die for hiring (boxed version only)

If any pieces are missing or damaged please email us at infovictorypointgamescom

Game Objecte object of Circus Train is to score the most Victory Points before the circus season ends ese arelargely awarded for putting on performances in cities that demand to see certain types of shows butalso for past performances dominating a particular talent type or visiting cities at key times

e game covers a six month circus season with each month having four or five weeks (Rounds)followed by a scoring round at the end of each month and special scoring at the gamersquos end

Circus Train includes a Basic Game and an Advanced Game We recommend playing at least oneor two Basic Games before trying the Advanced Game Additionally at the end of this booklet aresome Optional Rules which combine with either version of the game to create a more random butimmersive game experience

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2Developed by Josh Neiman

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Component Images

G983137983149983141 B983151983137983154983140

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155(Local News counter types bottom row om le to right Bankrupt CircusPerformance and Points)

T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155 F983145983154983155983156 P983148983137983161983141983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

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A983139983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

D983141983155983156983145983150983137983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140983155

V983145983139983156983151983154983161 P983151983145983150983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

B983141983155983156 P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 R983137983156983145983150983143 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983159983151 W983141983141983147P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983154983141983137983155983157983154983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

C983137983148983141983150983140983137983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

P983148983137983161983141983154 R983141983142983141983154983141983150983139983141 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140 S983157983152983152983151983154983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983156983137983150983140983141983141983155

R983141983152983157983156983137983156983145983151983150 V983137983148983157983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

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4Developed by Josh Neiman

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Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

E983137983139983144 P983148983137983161983141983154

1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

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9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 820

6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

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$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1120

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1220

10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

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E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 4: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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2Developed by Josh Neiman

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Component Images

G983137983149983141 B983151983137983154983140

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155(Local News counter types bottom row om le to right Bankrupt CircusPerformance and Points)

T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155 F983145983154983155983156 P983148983137983161983141983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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A983139983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

D983141983155983156983145983150983137983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140983155

V983145983139983156983151983154983161 P983151983145983150983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

B983141983155983156 P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 R983137983156983145983150983143 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983159983151 W983141983141983147P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983154983141983137983155983157983154983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

C983137983148983141983150983140983137983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

P983148983137983161983141983154 R983141983142983141983154983141983150983139983141 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140 S983157983152983152983151983154983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983156983137983150983140983141983141983155

R983141983152983157983156983137983156983145983151983150 V983137983148983157983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

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4Developed by Josh Neiman

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Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

E983137983139983144 P983148983137983161983141983154

1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

I983150983145983156983145983137983148 C983145983156983161 D983141983149983137983150983140983155 R983141983149983151983158983141

9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

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6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

T983137983148983141983150983156 S983161983149983138983151983148983155

$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1120

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1220

10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1320

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 5: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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A983139983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

D983141983155983156983145983150983137983156983145983151983150 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140983155

V983145983139983156983151983154983161 P983151983145983150983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

B983141983155983156 P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 R983137983156983145983150983143 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983159983151 W983141983141983147P983141983154983142983151983154983149983137983150983139983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

T983154983141983137983155983157983154983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

C983137983148983141983150983140983137983154 M983137983154983147983141983154

P983148983137983161983141983154 R983141983142983141983154983141983150983139983141 C983137983154983140983155

E983158983141983150983156 C983137983154983140 S983157983152983152983151983154983156 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983156983137983150983140983141983141983155

R983141983152983157983156983137983156983145983151983150 V983137983148983157983141 M983137983154983147983141983154983155

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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4Developed by Josh Neiman

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Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

E983137983139983144 P983148983137983161983141983154

1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

I983150983145983156983145983137983148 C983145983156983161 D983141983149983137983150983140983155 R983141983149983151983158983141

9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

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6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

T983137983148983141983150983156 S983161983149983138983151983148983155

$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 6: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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4Developed by Josh Neiman

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Basic Game Set Up1 Place the Game Board in the center of the

gaming table

2 Each player chooses a color and takes theappripriate Circus Train standee placing itin front of them

3 Each player begins the game with oneClown Talent counter A playerrsquos Talentcounters are placed in front of them (ldquointheir Circus Trainrdquo) for all to see

4 Each player then takes their colorrsquos set of9 Action cards removing the ldquoRESTrdquocard (as it is not used in the Basic Game)for a starting Action deck of 8 cards Ina one or two player game remove theldquoOVERNIGHT HIRErdquo card as well

5 Each playerrsquos Victory Point marker is setto 0 on the main scoring track aroundthe Game Board the Best PerformanceRating markers are set to 10 on thescoring track

6 e Two Week Performance markersremain in the playersrsquo areas in front ofthem e Reputation Value markersare not used in the Basic Game

7 Each player takes a Player Referencecard with the Basic Game side showing

8 Place the Calendar marker on thespace for the first week of April at the

bottom of the Game Board9 Separate the Local News counters

(shaped like circus tents) by colorRemove the 6 Special Charactercounters used only with theOptional Rules from the othercounters Place the AprilMaycounters (white and green stripedtents) into an opaque container(hereaer referred to as the ldquodrawbagrdquo) Set the others aside for now

10 Separate the Talent counters into aldquoTalent Bankrdquo

11 Shuffle the Destination cardsand place them facedown inthe appropriate space on theGame Board

12 e player who last saw anelephant goes first taking the

First Player marker

D983154983137983159 B983137983143

B983137983150983147

+2 TalentCounters from

Acrobats Freaksor Horses

E983137983139983144 P983148983137983161983141983154

1

5

8

5

9

1010

17

11

2-4 6 7 13

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

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9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 820

6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

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$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1120

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1220

10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

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1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

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1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 7: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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13 Starting with the First Player and goingin order clockwise players take two Talentcounters from the Horse Freak Show orAcrobat piles of the Talent Bank A playermay take two of the same or two different

types ese are added to that playerrsquosCircus Train

To set up the starting Game Board

14 Draw a card from the Destination carddraw pile Select a random white andgreen striped Local News counter from thedraw bag If the Local News counter is aPerformance place it on the City specifiedby the Destination card otherwise return itto the draw bag and draw again Repeat thisuntil you have placed a Performance counteron a number of Cities equal to the numberof players in the game (eg in a four player game there should be four Performancecounters placed each in a different City)Once the starting Performance counters are placed continue to draw Destination cardsand Local News counters until there are atotal of 8 Cities with Local News counters(these additional Local News counters canbe of any type)

15 If the Local News counter on a City is aBankrupt Circus counter place the Talentcounters pictured on it directly into theCity box e Bankrupt Circus counter isthen removed from play

16 Aer all counters have been placed put the drawn Destination cards inthe Discard space on the Game Boardforming a discard pile

17 Place the Treasury counters into aldquobankrdquo by the side of the Game Board

18 Starting with the First Player and proceeding in clockwise order each player takes their Circus Trainstandee and places it in one of thethree Canadian cities (Winnipegoronto or Montreal)

Players may start in the same city and occupythe same cities throughout the game

Historically many Prohibition-era circustrains began their seasons in Canadawhere they could stock up on alcoholbefore beginning their runs through citiesin the United States

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9831608

9831608

9

9

10

10

101010

14

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6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

T983137983148983141983150983156 S983161983149983138983151983148983155

$5 $10 $20

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8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 8: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 820

6Developed by Josh Neiman

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Round SummaryEach round is as follows

1 Ringmaster Phase

bull Each Player Plays an Action Card

2 Roustabout Phase

a Replenish Counters on Game Boardb Advance the Calendar Markerc Check New MonthSeason Events

Ringmaster Phase (Player Actions)Starting with the First Player and going clockwise each player takes a turn

Each turn you must play one Action card from your hand into a discard pile in front of you and

execute the action on the card Play then passes to the le Aer playing your last Action card from your hand take all your discarded Action cards back into your hand (forming a new hand)

e actions available on the cards are as fol lows

Fast Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 5 city connections You may play thiscard but choose not to move at all

Rapid Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 3 city connections You may playthis card but choose not to move at all

Overnight Transit ndash You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 city connections and thenmay PerformHire You may choose whether or not to move first and then PerformHire aer theoptional move You cannot move aer PerformingHiring

Basic Transit (you have 2 of these cards) ndash You must move your Circus Train standee one cityconnection or PerformHire You cannot do both on the same turn

Hold ndash You may make a PerformHire action or do nothing

Overnight Hire (3 ndash 5 players only) You may move your Circus Train standee up to 2 cityconnections and then may make a ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo action (see below) You may choose whether or notto move first and then ldquoSpecial Hirerdquo aer the optional move You cannot move aer Hiring

Wages amp Transit ndash You may move up to 2 city connections and then must pay the Wages (as shownon the Game Board) for each Talent counter in your Circus Train

Moving Your Circus TrainFor most Action cards movement is optional e only required move comes with the Basic TransitAction card and then only if the player elects to ldquomoverdquo rather than ldquoPerformHirerdquo In that casethat player must move their Circus Train standee exactly one space

Movement takes place along the connections on the Game Board shown by the railroad tracksMovement from one city along a railroad track to the next connected city is considered one move

Players are not required to stop in a city location and may continue moving to the next connectedcity as long as their Action card provides them the movement to do so

Other counters or trains in a city do not inhibit movement More than one Circus Train standeecan occupy the same city

3 or more Players

Some cards require a minimum number of players

to be used in the game these cards are marked inthe lower right-hand corner with a ldquoTrainrdquo symbolas follows

2 or more Players

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

T983137983148983141983150983156 S983161983149983138983151983148983155

$5 $10 $20

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1020

8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1120

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

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1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

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1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 9: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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PerformHireYou use these actions to put on performances or Hire Talent

Performing To put on a performance you must currently be located in a city where there is aPerformance Demand counter and use the PerformHire action from an Action card To determine your Performance Rating begin with the Base Points value listed on the Performance Demandcounter (the number with the ldquo+rdquo aer it) and add that value to any listed points for which you havethe matching Talent counter ese points are shown inside the shapes on the counter that match theshapes of the actual Talent counters If a shape has an ldquoxrdquo in it and is slightly faded the people are notdemanding that type of Talent from this performance and it gives you no additional points

Famous Talent If you have three or more of one type of Talent counter you are considered to befamous for that type of Talent If the Performance Demand counter asks for that kind of Talent the player earns twice as many points as listed for that type of Talent

Aer determining your score for this Performance (Base Points + Talent bonus) add the Base Pointsfrom all of your past performances if any representing your circusrsquo overall fame For this reason it

is important that you keep all Performance Demand counters in front of you aer you score themthese counters remain in your play area for the rest of the game and continue to score points for you

You then compare this final Performance Rating to your current Best Performance Rating marker andif the new performance rates higher move your Best Performance Rating marker to the new result

Earning Money Upon completion of any performance you receive $5 for green and white stripedPerformance Demand counters $10 for yellow and brown striped Performance Demand counters and$20 for red and white striped ones regardless of the actual month in which they are performed If your BestPerformance Rating marker is moved forward due to this Performance take an additional $10 in earningsTake the appropriate Treasury counters from the bank for money earned

Two Week Shows In AugustSeptember some Performance Demand counters are noted at the top asldquo2 weeksrdquo To earn performance points for these counters you must use a PerformHire action as normalHowever instead of scoring the points immediately attach your Two Week Performance marker to the topof your Train standee and end your turn On your next turn you must play another PerformHire action tocomplete the performance You may choose to abandon the performance and score nothing (if for example you do not have another PerformHire action)

Hiring Hiring requires the play of a PerformHire action from an Action card at a location where

Talent counters have been placed

When a player uses a PerformHire action on a city location where there are Talent counters the playerchooses one or more of the Talent counters and rolls one die for each counter with the following results

1 through 4 e player may take that Talent counter and place it in their Circus Train

5 or 6 e attempt has failed that Talent counter does not join the new circus and remains inthe city Immediately aer a failure the player may choose to pay $10 to buy that Talent counteroutright is purchase may only be done aer a failed dice roll If not purchased in this way the player may roll again for that Talent counter on a future turn Aer a failed Hiring attempt the playermay continue to roll for any remaining Talent counter or counters in that city

Example Richmond has a PerformanceDemand counter which gives 2 Base Points plus5 for Acrobats and 3 for Human CannonballsDana has one Acrobats counter but no HumanCannonballs so she only receives an extra 5 points as a Talent Bonus bringing her currenttotal to 7 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats)Had she both types of Talent counters thenshe would have received a total of 10 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 3 for HumanCannonballs) Dana has one previousPerformance that was worth 2 Base Pointsso her final Performance Rating is 9 points(2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 2 for previousPerformances)

From the example above If Dana isFamous for Human Cannonballs (3 HumanCannonball counters) and has one Acrobatscounter her final Performance Rating wouldbe 15 points (2 Base + 5 for Acrobats + 6for Famous Human Cannonballs +2 for previous Performances)

2 week show Counter

Base Points Value

Two weekbanner

Clowns

AcrobatsHuman

Cannonballs Big Cats

Freaks Horses Elephant

Talent Bonuses

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$5 $10 $20

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 10: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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8Developed by Josh Neiman

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Special HireA player may choose to perform a Special Hire aer (optionally) moving per the Overnight Hirecard Depending on where the playerrsquos train ends its turn up to three choices are available for aSpecial Hire Only one of the following choices can be selected

1 If there are Talent counters on the city where the train ends its turn the Special Hire may beused as a normal Hire as above

2 If there is an opponentrsquos train (one or more) the player may choose to Steal one or two Talentcounters from one opponentrsquos Circus Train (see Stealing Talent below)

3 A player may pay to buy any one counter from the Talent Bank e amount paid depends onthe month (see le)

Special character counters om the Optional Rules can be purchased in this way but only in the monthsof August and September and only if they are not in another playerrsquos Circus rain

Stealing Talent If a player ends their turn in a city with another Circus Train standee aer playingthe Overnight Hire Action card they may choose up to two Talent counters (andor Special

Characters from the Optional Rules) from one opponentrsquos train in that same city e player selectsthe counters and then rolls for each of them individually A roll of 1 through 4 is successful whilea roll of 5 or 6 is not If at least one Talent counter is stolen in this manner and the player who lostthe Talent still has their Overnight Hire card in their hand they must immediately put it into theirdiscard pile

Paying WagesAnyone playing a Wages amp Transit card must pay for each Talent counter in their circus or ldquoreleaserdquothe Talent counters that they cannot afford If you do not have the cash to pay the Wages you musteliminate Talent counters until you have enough cash to pay the costs You may not voluntarilyeliminate Talent counters to save money You must pay for them if you can Each released Talentcounter immediately joins any Talent counter(s) on the map If there is more than one city with a

set of Talent counters on the map the player to the right of the player releasing this Talent chooses where they go ey must all be placed together as a group on the same city If there are no Talentcounters on the Game Board then the released Talent is simply returned to the Talent Bank

W983137983143983141 C983151983155983156983155 (Double for Solitaire Play)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 H983145983154983141 T983137983148983141983150983156 C983151983155983156

$5 in April amp May

$10 in June amp July

$20 in August amp September

$1(2) $6(12)

$3(6)

$6(12)

$6(12)

$12(24

$12(24)

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

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1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

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1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 11: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Roustabout PhaseAer each player has had a turn the RoundWeek ends Upon completion of a RoundWeek checkthe Game Board to see how many cities have Performance Demands Points or Talent counters if thetotal is less than the requirement (see right) a new City card and Local News counters are drawn onthe Game Board per the Replenishing Counters rules below until the required number of cities withLocal News Points or Talent counters is met

Aer this is done the Calendar marker is moved forward to the next Week

Aer moving the Calendar marker check for New MonthSeason Events If this ends the Month thenfollow the End of Month sequence (see below) If it is also the end of a Season (May into June or July intoAugust) follow the End of Season sequence (see below) aer completing the End of Month sequence Ifthis ends September (the final month) then the game is over and Final Scoring occurs as well

Replenishing Counters When replenishing the Game Board draw a Local News counter from the draw bag and a Citycard from the City card draw pile to see where to place the Local News counter If the City card isfor a city that already has an existing Performance Demand Points or Talent counter(s) then thenew Local News counter drawn replaces the existing counter(s) which are discarded (or in the caseof Talent counter(s) returned to the Talent Bank) the required number of cities with Local Newscounters must always be met when replenishing so replacing the counter(s) on a city will result indrawing another Local News counter and City card potentially multiple times in a row If a player is performing a two week performance that is replaced during this phase that player removes their two week marker from their train and receives no points for the half-performance already completed

ere are three types of Local News counters that may be attached to a city in the game e first is thePerformance Demand the second is the Bankrupt Circus and the third is simply an attached Points value

Performance Demand counters represent cities where a player may put on a circus performancethrough play of a PerformHire action When drawn these counters are placed directly onto the

Game Board at the city shown on the City card drawn

Bankrupt Circus counters represent other circus trains that went out of business When a BankruptCircus counter is drawn place the Talent counters shown on it onto the city on the Game Boardshown on the City card players may Hire Talent counters from these locations with a PerformHireaction Aer placing the Talent counters remove the Bankrupt Circus counter from the game

Points counters represent different fortunate events and human or material acquisitions that benefita circus Like Performance Demand counters these are placed directly onto the Game Board at thecorresponding city Players ending their movement in a city with one of these counters immediatelyscore that many Victory Points moving their Victory Point marker on the Game Board upaccordingly e Points counter is then removed from the game

Counter and Card LimitsTalent counter limits Talent counters are limited to the number included in the game If a player eliminatesa Talent counter it is put back into the Talent Bank If a Bankrupt Circus shows a type of Talent which has noavailable counters only the available counters are placed If all of the Talent on the Bankrupt Circus counter isunavailable the counter is removed from play and another Local News counter is drawn for that same city

Local News counter and City card limits Local News counters are limited If the Local News counterbag becomes empty then no more are drawn until replaced (see End of Months below) or the end of thegame If the City card draw pile becomes empty the discards are shuffled into a new draw pile Notethat if a City card is drawn already containing another counter or counters then all of the old countersare removed and replaced as mentioned in the Replenishing Counters section above

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 R983141983153983157983145983154983141983149983141983150983156983155

8 in April amp May 10 in June amp July

12 in August amp September

L983151983139983137983148 N983141983159983155 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

Performance Demand Counter

Bankrupt Circus Counter

Points Counter

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

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10Developed by Josh Neiman

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MonthSeasonal EventsEnd of Months

At the end of each month two things happen

1 Scoring occurs (see End of Month Scoring below)

2 e First Player marker moves clockwise resulting in the player who previously went secondnow going first in each round

Additional End of Long Month Action

At the end of the 5-Week months only (May July and August) the player with the fewest Victory Pointsaer End of Month scoring may steal one Talent counter of any type from any opponent and add it totheir own circus If there is a tie for fewest Victory Points this step is skipped entirely for the month

End of Seasons

Each Season is two months in length e First Season (April-May) is green the Second Season( June-July) is yellow and the ird Season (August-September) is red

At the end of May the First Season Local News counters (white and green striped circus tents) areremoved from the draw bag and replaced with the Second Season Local News counters (yellow andbrown striped circus tents) Immediately two are drawn along with Destination cards and placed inthe corresponding cities increasing the number of cities with Local News to 10 total Likewise at theend of July the Second Season Local News counters are removed and replaced with the ird SeasonLocal News counters (red and white striped circus tents) As above two more are immediately drawnand placed increasing the number of cities with Local News to 12 total Note that as describedabove this means that during AprilMay there should always be 8 cities with counters on them 10during JuneJuly and 12 during AugustSeptember Per the ldquoRoustabout Phaserdquo rules above thenumber of cities with Local News counters on them (or bankrupt circus Talent counters) will remainconstant for each Season if ever a player notices these numbers were not correct at the beginning ofthe Round immediately draw a City card and Local News counter so that these numbers are upheld

End of September

At the end of September the End of Month scoring occurs and then a Final Scoring round takes place as described below

R e m

o v e

R e m

o v e

A d d

A d d

E983150983140 983151983142 S983141983137983155983151983150 E983158983141983150983156

End of First Season (End of May)

End of Second Season (End of July)

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

en draw 2 counters andadd to Game Board

Draw Bag

Draw Bag

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

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12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

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14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

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16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 13: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1320

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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End of Month ScoringPlayers earn Victory Points at the end of each month as follows

Most Talent ese points are awarded for each of the 7 types of Talent every month If there is a tiefor most counters of a Talent type then no points are awarded for it Players must have a minimumof two Talent counters of that type to qualify

Victory Points = of counters of that Talent type in the playerrsquos Circus Train

Best Performance Players compare their Best Performance and score points according to thefollowing chart

Highest Best Performance = 7 VPs

Second Highest Best Performance = 4 VPs

ird Highest Best Performance = 2 VPs

In the case of ties points for the appropriate rankings are added together and divided evenly amongthe tied players rounding fractional points down Example if two players tie for Highest they would

add the Highest and Second Highest VPs together (11 VPs) then divide by two (55 VPs) and rounddown so each player receives 5 VPrsquos e next highest player would receive the ird Highest VP (2)All tied players for ird Highest receive 1 VP each

Note In a 2-player game the highest Performance Ratings 4 VPrsquos and the other player receives no VPrsquos

Special April Performance Scoring (3 to 5 players only)

When playing with 3 or more players instead of receiving VPs for overall Best Performance all players who have performed at least once in April (as noted by held Performance Demand counters)receive 5 Victory Points Score the Most Talent counters VPs as listed above

Final ScoringPerform the following score checks in order

1 Taxes (2-player game only ) Any player with an unplayed Wages card still in their hand loses3 VPs and they must immediately pay twice their Wages costs for their Talent (is is paidBEFORE scoring for Most Money see below) Players using their last Action card(s) during thefinal week are not considered to have their Wages card in their hands for the purposes of Taxes

2 Most Clown Counters gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie among two ormore players)

3 No Clown Counters loses 3 VPs

4 No Animals (Horses Big Cats or Elephants) loses 5 VPs

5 Most Money gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

6 Most Performances (by counting Performance Demand counters in a playerrsquos play area) gains 5 VPs (or 2 VPs for each tied player if there is a tie for most)

How to Wine player with the most Victory Points is declared the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with the Best Performance Rating is the winner e next tiebreaker is most money followed byoverall number of performances

Victory Points will oen total less than 50 while Best Performances frequently exceed 100 points onthe scoring chart

M983151983155983156 T983137983148983141983150983156 S983139983151983154983145983150983143 E983160983137983149983152983148983141

Barbararsquos Circus Train

Frankrsquos Circus Train

Johnrsquos Circus Train

4 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

2 983152983156983155

0 983152983156983155

0 983152983156

3 983152983156

0 983152983156

Barbara Frank and John reach the end of amonth and start scoring for most Talent

Barbara has the most Elephants and score points She gets no points for her Acrobabecause she ties with John in numbers anties donrsquot score any points She also doesnscore for Clowns because she doesnrsquot hathe most

Frank has the most Big Cats and Clowns anscores a total of 5 points (2 for his Big Cats 3 for his Clowns His Elephants score no pobecause Barbara has more than he does)

John unfortunately scores no points at alHe has the most Freaks but in order toscore points he has to have a minimum ocounters of a Talent type to earn points ahe only has 1 Freaks counter

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

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Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

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When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

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Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

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+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 14: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1420

12Developed by Josh Neiman

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Advanced GamePlayers in the Advanced Game will need to be mindful of their circusrsquo reputation and will have moreopportunities to make strategic use of their Action cards

Reputation In the Advanced Game players use the Reputation Track on the advanced side of theirPlayer Reference cards and begin the game with their Reputation Value markers set at the 5 spaceA playerrsquos Reputation Value impacts Hiring Stealing and earning Victory Points at the end of thegame Reputation cannot go above or below the maximum or minimum shown on the Track

Sequence of Play ere are more options available to players each turn a player takes exactly ONEof three types of action

bull Action Cards Players may play one Action card from their hand (Same as Basic Game)

bull Replay Discarded Action Cards During the first two seasons (April through July) to playa discarded Action card the player must first lose two levels of Reputation Value on theirReputation Track A player may not use this option if their Reputation Value would fallbelow the bottom space on the Reputation Track During the months of AugustSeptember

players must lose four Victory Points instead of Reputation Value to play discarded cardse played card remains in the discard pile aer it is used

bull Pocketing Wages ( April through July only not allowed in Solitaire Game) When collectingmoney the player does not play a card but instead takes Treasury counters in $5 incrementsFor each $5 taken players must reduce their Reputation Value down one level on theReputation Track If a player is already at the lowest space of the Reputation Track thisoption may not be chosen Players may not choose this option in August or September

Te Pocketing Wages option represents not paying the alent Instead the ringmaster keepstheir money (hence the ldquocollectionrdquo of money) Naturally this upsets the alent and harms thereputation of that circus

e Rest Card e Rest card is added to each playerrsquos deck of Action cards When playing the Restcard the player takes no action this turn and the card is discarded as normal Note that there is abenefit to resting in Canada A player who rests in Canada may take a free Clown or Acrobats Talent

counter OR move their Reputation Value marker up ONE space on the Reputation TrackNote that players may NOT choose to REST in Canada on the first Round of the game

Te era of this game is during Prohibition in the United States Visiting Canada allowed the performers and workers to stock up on alcohol making a visit to Canada very popular

Wages In the Advanced Game when ldquoreleasingrdquo Talent due to insufficient money to pay Wagesthe Talent counters are simply returned to the Talent Bank Players may also voluntarily eliminate(called ldquored-lightingldquo) Talent counters by not paying their costs and discarding them back into theTalent Bank In April through July each Talent counter removed for any reason during a Wagesaction moves a playerrsquos Reputation Value marker down one level on the Reputation Track A playerat the lowest level remains at the lowest level even if further counters must be removed In Augustand September each Talent counter removed during aWages action reduces the playerrsquos VictoryPoint total by three (3) points instead Note that Victory Points can never go below 0 and willremain at 0 if anything requires them to be reduced further

Circus Parade Players may play their Basic Move card to perform a Circus Parade at their currentlocation to either increase their Reputation Value by one space or gain 2 Victory Points To performthe parade the player must pay $10 along with the Action card

Hiring When Hiring players in the Advanced Game roll against their Reputation Value score on theirPlayer Reference cards Roll one die for each unit as in the Basic Game However the target range to

claim the Talent counter is where the Reputation Value marker is located on the Reputation Track Asin the Basic Game a Talent counter may be purchased for $10 if the roll fails

Cropped Basic Mo1048694e Card

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1520

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

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Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 15: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1520

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Special Hire (Stealing Talent) You must now roll against your Reputation Value to Steal Talent If your opponentrsquos reputation is higher than yours add one to each die roll

Additional Rule for Stealing Talent at the End of Long Months At the end of 5-week months the

player with the fewest Victory Points can ONLY steal from players with a Reputation Value equal toor lower than their own

Additional End of Game Scoring Rules

bull Highest Reputation Value = 5 Victory Points (2 Victory Points for each tied player)

bull Most Money now requires players to have their Reputation Value at the 5 level or higher tobe eligible

Solitaire Game When playing solitaire use the same rules for setup and play with the following changes

1 Do not use the Victory Point or Best Performance Rating markers You will be playing for

Money only and using the Treasury counters to track your success If playing the AdvancedGame you still track your Reputation with the Reputation Track marker

2 Money is earned at the rate of $1 per performance point earned

3 Double the Wages costs (as shown on the Wages Chart)

4 For Local News counters and other game options that award Victory Points take $5 per pointFor game options that require spending Victory Points spend $5 per point

5 You are never allowed to take the Pocketing Wages option in the Advanced Game

6 When Replaying Discarded Action Cards in the Advanced Game reduce your Reputation Value down two levels during ALL months You may not choose this option if yourReputation Value would fall below the bottom space

End of Game Wages At the end of the game you must first pay your complete Wages costs one lasttime You are not allowed to voluntarily ldquored-lightrdquo any Talent counters at this time In other wordsif you can pay for them you must

Solitaire Success Chart Calculate your success using this chart

Less than $100 Defeat Your circus does not survive the winter and is soon raided for partsfrom other more successful circus trains You beg to be hired as a laborer

$100 - $140 Minor Defeat You have failed to create a successful circus and within the year you are forced into bankruptcy Your circus train venture is over but perhaps you will havesuccess in another field of business

$141 - $180 Draw Itrsquos been a struggle but yoursquove managed to survive the circus season wheremany others have failed What does the future hold for you Nobody can be certain

$181 - $220 Victory You have managed to start a successful business with your circus train With continued hard work your circus becomes a popular and welcome sight throughout thetowns of America and children eagerly await the day your train pulls into town

More than $220 Major Victory You have created the Greatest Show on Earth and go downin history as one of Americarsquos great entrepreneurs Congratulations

Example Landing on a space with a3-point counter would earn $15

S983151983148983145983156983137983145983154983141 G983137983149983141

= $15

Reputation Track shows what you have to roll inorder to Hire or StealTalent e space with thdark colored dice is theReputation start space

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 16: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1620

14Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Optional RulesPlayers must agree before starting play whether they will use any or all of the following optional rules

e Special CharactersBrakeman Bill Ringmaster Ronald Smuggler Sam and Engineer Eddie are added to the AprilMayLocal News counters in the draw bag and may be acquired when counters are drawn during April andMay (only) Big Bertha and Trainer Ted are added to the JuneJuly Local News counters

When drawn a Special Character is placed in the city indicated on the City card city and another counteris immediately selected from the draw bag and also placed in that city (they are ldquostackedrdquo together there)Exception If the second counter drawn is also a Special Character it is placed back into the draw bag insteadand no further draw is made If a Special Character is alone in a city aer a playerrsquos turn it is removed and placed in the Special Character Bank on the Game Board(see illustration) Special Characters appear in thegame through Local News draws but once they are on the Game Board or in a Circus Train they behave likeTalent counters for all considerations including Event cards

Obtaining the Special Characters To claim a Special Character you must end your Circus Train standeersquosmovement in the City where the Special Character is located Before doing anything else in that City you

may roll against your Reputation Value (or 1 - 4 if using Basic Rules) to try to recruit that Special CharacterIf successful you take that Special Character Unlike Talent counters recruiting a Special Character does notrequire a Hire action nor can it be ldquoboughtrdquo Special Characters do not receive Wages either

Losing Special Characters A Special Character can be stolen at the end of long months through use of aSpecial Hire action or from an Event card ese are the only ways a Special Character may change hands

Brakeman Bill A player with Brakeman Bill can move one extra space when performing any move action

Ringmaster Ronald A player with Ringmaster Ronald may when scoring a performance declare either the Clowns or Acrobats in that circus as famouseven if that player does not have the requisite Talent counters for such fame

(provided that circus has at least one of that Talent type)

Smuggler Sam Smuggler Sam can be used once to receive a Talent counterautomatically during a Hire action instead of rolling In the Advanced Game the

owning player may choose to use Smuggler Sam to increase their Reputation byone (+1) level or to avoid rolling as above Aer he is used for either of these

purposes he is moved to the Special Character Bank (where he may beHired again in AugustSeptember with an Overnight Hire card)

Engineer Eddie Engineer Eddie allows the owning player to play a card from theirdiscard pile for no cost is applies to the Basic and Advanced Game Rules Aerhe is used in this way he is returned to the Special Talent Bank (where he may be

hired again in August September with an Over-Night Hire card)

Big Bertha Big Bertha increases the Performance Rating for all performances by the owning player by 10 points

A983140983140 983156983151 A983152983154983145983148M983137983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

A983140983140 983156983151 J983157983150983141J983157983148983161 C983151983157983150983156983141983154983155

When Special Characters are removedthey are placed in the Special CharacterBank for future Hiring inAugustSeptember

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 17: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1720

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Trainer Ted Trainer Ted reduces the Wages cost for all Elephants to $1 per

Elephant counter for the owning player

Event Cards

At the beginning of the game shuffle the 26 Event cards and deal out the top 5 into a facedown pile the others are not used during the game At the end of each month aer transferring the First Player counter draw the top Event card from that stack and follow its instructions Note that its effects mayremain in play until the following month when it is discarded from play and a new card takes effect

Easier Game Variant

Players wishing to play a game with less accounting can remove the Wages card and play withoutit Do not use Victory Points End of Month Scoring or Event cards simply play for the BestPerformance during the game At the end of the last month the player who has put on the highestscoring (ie Best) Performance wins

CreditsGame Design Tom Decker

Game Development Josh Neiman

Additional DevelopmentSupport Chris Taylor

Art Vinh Ha

Graphic Design Barry Pike III

Playtesting Paul Aceto Ian amp Natalie Barrett James Campanella Douglas Catchpole HaydenDecker Vince DeNardo David Ells Mike Galandiuk Joshua Gottesman Nathan Hansen JoeHeaney Timothy Hing Matt King Roger Mason Russell Martin Joe Miranda Neil Morgan

Stephanie Newland Carl Paradis Steve Pozun Blaise amp Taria Sciurba Joe Saul-Sehy Ken Stojevich

Proofreading Simon King Ian Wakeham

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 18: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1820

16Developed by Josh Neiman

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Designerrsquos Notes

OriginsCircus Train began with Sara Gruenrsquos novel Water for Elephants Like many of my game designs thereis an inspirational source which sets me off on the path of a game design and this book is what got mestarted on Circus Train It wasnrsquot just trying to re-create the story which is fantastic but that the storyis set in such an interesting time period and deals with the hard-edged business of running a massiveentertainment production that travels from place to place which I find very interesting e book deals with the Depression with Prohibition with trains in the Golden Age of railroading and with animalrights issues Circus Train the game was never intended to be ldquobased onrdquo the book but it definitely wasldquoinspired byrdquo it In other words it launched me in the direction of making the game and then a lot ofother factors and research were molded together to make the finished product

Other games inspired me too Although many mechanics came together to make Circus Trainthe single game that most inspired the design of Circus Train was Colosseum from Wolfgang

Kramer and Markus Luumlbke Colosseum is a game ultimately about coordinating special events emechanics used to hire talent and put on shows in Colosseum inspired me to put them to work in anentirely different setting Water for Elephants gave me the perfect stage for a game about organizingand putting on spectacular events

Many people relate circuses to families and children and so there has been a small misconceptionthat Circus Train is a childrenrsquos game But to those familiar with Water for Elephants it is not achildrenrsquos story Circus Train was never intended to be a childrenrsquos game either but a strategy gamefocused on the hiring and firing of talent moving around the country putting on circus shows andmanaging money resources and renown It also has a competitive edge of reaching a city first to puton a show where there is demand hiring talent away before your opponent has a chance or evenstealing talent directly from an opponentrsquos circus

e Mechanics

e first mechanic for Circus Train was the concept of the ldquo performance demand rdquo In Circus Train

locations randomly show up on the game map demanding performances made up of various talenttypes Just like with Colosseumrsquos shows each demand requires a certain group of entertainers and if you canrsquot meet all of them you earn fewer points Some have said that Circus Train is a pick up anddeliver game I can see where that comes from now but that was actually not the original conceptIt was more of a ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that was the original goal So the very first parts of the gamethat I conceptualized were the various types of talent that would be available in the game and thencreating the values for each type

e second mechanic that came into play was ldquohow to mo1048694e the train around rdquo I know I wentaround and around debating several mechanics for possible use but ultimately I settled on a handmanagement technique of playing a set of cards that would be exhausted before you could use themagain is also forces the player to pay the talent (and feed the animals) is is a mechanic thatrsquosbeen used in a lot of places but I suppose early games that inspired it for me were Sunken City (from

Kramer Kiesling ) and Reiner Kniziarsquos Lord of the Rings Te Conontation

So putting these two mechanics together gave me my ldquotraveling colosseumrdquo that makes up the largest partof the game I wonrsquot go through all the remaining mechanics in the game in detail but I had to come up with a way to hire the talent (which became hiring it from bankrupt circuses around the area) measure your reputation and deal with tracking and scoring issues (which I will discuss a little bit below)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 19: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 1920

copy2013 Tom Decker and Victory Point Games

C983145983154983139983157983155 T983154983137983145983150 S983141983139983151983150983140 E983140983145983156983145983151983150 R983157983148983141983155 98315810

Tracking

I started to blend in elements from the book here Money was critical You needed it to pay for yourcurrent talent and employees and you needed it to buy food for your animals ldquo Perform or starverdquo was a

concept I adopted very early as something I wanted players to feel So I went a little ldquo Railroad ycoonrdquohere and rather than start players out with a scant amount of money I started players out with nothingldquoTatrsquoll get them performing even in non-optimal locationsrdquo was the thought I had ldquoSure you canmaneuver your train all the way down to Richmond where they want to see a show exactly matching yourtalent or you can just play in Duluth where all they really like is clowns but heck itrsquos a paycheck rdquo (atrsquos just as an example of how things might play out I hoped) So players would have to track(1) MONEY

But how you perform needed to be important too You should get an advantage beyond just moneyfor putting on a great performance So in that example above if you do get down to Richmond and puton the show of a lifetime yoursquoll be remembered and yoursquoll build your renown Tracking a combinednumber of total Performance Ratings might have been interesting but it would have probably madenumbers go through the roof so I decided to just track (2) BEST PERFORMANCES In this way I was also borrowing a bit from another popularWolfgang Kramer mechanic from Princes of Florence Inthat game it was a ldquo Best Workrdquo and then a total score Here I use a ldquo Best Performancerdquo and then a total

score ere have been other games that have used this dual scoring concept as wellAnd finally I needed to track (3) SCORES But what would scores consist of Certainly BestPerformances would play a big role But the game needed some things beyond just that BetterPerformance Ratings generally go to circuses that diversify talent but going with ldquo famousrdquo talent canhelp a lot too But this led to runaway leader problems where a person who built up an early lead withtalent could coast to victory So the first ldquocatch uprdquo mechanic was to add points for having the most ofa single type of talent Now like in Ra from Reiner Knizia for example you are scoring for both thelength and width of your collection is actually serves as a completely alternate strategy in the gamenow And finally by putting on requirements at the end of the game you can steal away clowns andanimals from leading circuses giving them negative scores in the end In other words there are severaldifferent approaches to strategy in the game now and many ways to catch the leader But with a lot of variable points coming at the end itrsquos oen difficult to even know who really is in the lead

is type of scoring also keeps the numbers down so games are tighter oen decided within 10 pointsfor all players Every point is very important in the game so even grabbing those Points counters when playing which oen seems like a waste of a move can be the difference between first and second place

erersquos some Ameritrash in my Euro

When Victory Point Games first showed interest in Circus Train a lot of changes needed to be madeto fit the game back down into their component limitations at the time e game was cut back fromfour players to two and the solitaire version came into being We then added an expansion taking itall the way up to five players With all of these changes and through lots of playtesting the rules weremodified some elements became simplified and some became more complex

Because I wanted the theme to shine through this entire process there were always lots of exceptionsto rules lots of special cases and several elements that are very random Games with these sorts ofmechanics are oen labeled as Ameritrash But the core mechanics were built from games that havean elegance of style solid math and universal rules ese games are oen labeled as Euro games

So Circus Train ended up as a blend of both for better or worse While I also searched for ways tosimplify the rules and make the game more streamlined with less math and fewer exceptions at eachturn I was faced with the decision of removing some of the theme More oen I chose theme overease of rules and thatrsquos the game you have today

is Deluxe version is certainly a very different product than the one that I first showed up with at Victory Point Games But I think the game has greatly improved with all the changes each iterationbringing something new and improved to the table I hope you enjoy it

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)

Page 20: CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

8122019 CircusTrain Rules v0-16 (WEBSITE)

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullcircustrain-rules-v0-16-website 2020

+10 to Performances

Make Clowns or Acrobats Famous

Elephantrsquos Wages reduced to $1

Receive a Talent counter with Hire action without rolling or Increase Reputation byone (+1) level (One time use)

Play 1 Discard for Free(One time use)

+1 Movement

E983150983140 983151983142 983156983144983141 M983151983150983156983144 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Talent (Each of the 7 types Minimum 2)

VP = of Talent counters

2 Best Performance(3-5 Players 5983158983152s in April for all who perform)

1st 7 983158983152s 2nd 4 983158983152s 3rd 2983158983152s

(2 Players 4983158983152s for Highest only)

S983152983141983139983145983137983148 T983137983148983141983150983156 A983138983145983148983145983156983145983141983155

E983150983140 983151983142 G983137983149983141 S983139983151983154983145983150983143

1 Most Clowns 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

2 No Clowns -3 983158983152s3 No Animals -5 983158983152s

4 Taxes (2-player game only) An unplayed Wages card in hand loses 3 983158983152s and paytwice their Wages costs for their Talent

5 Most Money 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)(w Starting Reputation or higher)

6 Most Performances 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

7 Highest Reputation 5 983158983152s (2 983158983152s if ied)

Most 983158983152s is the winner If there is a tie then the tied player with theBest Performance Rating is the winner Te next tiebreaker is mostmoney followed by overall number of performances held ( Red ext = Advanced game only)