Silverton! I like it! From: mallory@ee.rochester.edu (Derek Mallory) Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1992 22:27:05 +0000 I just got in my copy of Silverton this weekend and we played a few games of it. Most of all I am quite pleased with the game and just wanted to thank whoever it was the posted info on the game two weeks ago. It is the "game of Colorado Rail Building" for those not familiar with what I'm talking about. The players compete to see who can be the first to make $50K buy building tracks during the 1800's gold rush in Colorado. There are 4 different commodities being coal, lumber, silver, and gold. And 4 main markets that fluctuate on a psuedo supply and demand scheme depending on how much of each commodity was delivered on the previous turn. The main markets are Denver, Pueblo, Sante Fe and Salt Lake City...which also defines the size of the map. There are also passenger routes that give a fixed income for delivery. Each player has a surveyor and a prospector, and each turn the surveyor can lay down a track and the prospector can grab a claim or a passanger route. If another player also tries for the same claim or track then a dispute occurs with the high roll winning. If either player rolls snake eyes they end up in jail (which means you gotta pay bail if you want the services of your prospector or surveyor for the next turn.). The claims are also interestingly done in the fact that everyturn you pay to operate them there is a chance to deplete them or get production out of them. In the three games that I played this weekend my gaming group very much enjoyed the game. Playing time was about 3 hours for 4 players (on avg.) and there were several stages in the game where it was quite close. The winner in each game however did it by selling massive amounts of coal and lumber early to finance their track building and waited till the market was maxed in either gold or silver to make the big delivery from Silverton and win the game. Half the strategy is in trying to make sure one player doesn't end up with the only track to one of the markets...since they will tend to not deliver any goods until the prices max out and then make a killing! The board quality is excellent, however the claim cards are of the papaer type and I'm gonna bust out my laminator to make sure they will survive a few nights of heavy game play (Thus my only complaint). Just my opinion, if any one else has comments or strategy hints they want to discuss drop me a line. What I found works is connecting between Denver and either SF or SLC as fast as you can... Derek Mallory mallory@nebula.ee.rochester.edu . Referenced By Up