Designers:  Hjalmar Hach (Dragon Castle, Photosynthesis, Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition, Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition), Lorenzo Silva (Dragon Castle, Dungeon Fighter, Potion Explosion, Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition, Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition, Steam Park)

Artist:  Marta Tranquilli (Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition, Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition)

Publisher:  Horrible Guild (Dragon Castle, Dungeon Fighter, Potion Explosion, Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition, Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition, Steam Park)

Genre/Mechanisms:  dice rolling, line drawing, network and route building, paper-and-pencil, roll-and-write, solo/solitaire game

Funding Status:  At the time of this posting, Railroad Ink Challenge is already fully-funded. In fact, pledges currently total more than 20x the initial funding goal with 4 days left to go on the campaign!

Player Count:  1-4

Solo Mode:  yes

Complexity:  light

Risk:  medium-high

What It’s About:  These two new editions in the Railroad Ink series are “quick-playing roll-and-write games featuring an all-new focus on player interaction thanks to in-game goals. Each edition of Railroad Ink Challenge includes one expansion with an additional dice set that adds new special rules.”

How It Works:  There are a ton of mini-expansions in the Railroad Ink series, many of which are offered here through this Kickstarter, either as stretch goals or as add-ons. Each of these will change and alter gameplay, adding a lot of variability and keeping the Railroad Ink experience fresh. However, the general rules are as follows.

“At the beginning of each round, the Route dice are rolled once. The results of the roll will determine which Routes all players must draw that round. After the roll, all players play simultaneously, drawing the Routes rolled on their own boards. There are a few drawing rules to follow: 1. Each Route you draw must be connected by at least one side to either one of the Exits or a preexisting Route. If you can’t connect a Route, you can’t draw it. 2. You must draw all 4 Routes shown on the dice each round (if possible, and each Route showing can only be drawn once, of course). 3. You can’t draw Routes in a way that directly connects Railways to Highways or vice versa (you need a Station to do that).”

“Each player can also use 6 Special Routes, displayed in the top part of the boards, that do not appearon the Route dice. These Routes may allow you to connect different Networks together and/or make bigger Networks. You may draw a Special Route once per round, in addition to the Routes shown on the Route dice, but you may use each Special Route only once per game. After you use a Special Route, you must mark it off on your board as a reminder that you can’t use it again.  Also, you can only use up to 3 Special Routes during the entire game (and remember, only 1 per round).”

“Once all the players have drawn all of the available Routes, it’s time to checkand declare if you achieved any Goals. This is the only way to score points during the game (the rest of the points are calculated only at the end of the game).”

“The game ends after the 7th round. Now it’s time to count your score! Each player counts the points they earned for their connected Exits, their Longest Railwayand Longest Highway, and the Central Spaces they drew on, marking their points on the designated spaces of the Scoring Table on their boards. Then, each player must check for incomplete Routes. Each end of a Route that does not connect with any other Route or the outer edge of the board counts as an Error.  Mark each one of these Errors with an X in a circle. You lose 1 point for each Error on your board. Mark these penalty points on the matching space of your Scoring Table. Note: If you are playing with an Expansion, mark any additional points on the expansion space of your scoring board. Finally, add up all the points you earned, including those from the Villages you activated and the Goals you achieved during the game (and subtracting any points from Errors), then write your total score on your Scoring Table. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the fewest Error marks on their board. If they’re still tied, the victory is shared.”

Comparisons:  The best comparisons to the Lush Green and Shining Yellow Editions of Railroad Ink Challenge are the previously available Deep Blue and Blazing Red Editions of Railroad Ink (also available through this Kickstarter). Some other very popular and highly-rated roll-and-write games include Cartographers, Fleet: The Dice Game, That’s Pretty Clever, Twice as Clever, and Welcome To….

What Should I Pledge?:
$20 Basic: one copy of Railroad Ink Challenge (either the Lush Green or Shining Yellow Edition), the Solo board, Teleport die, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$38 Standard: a copy of both Railroad Ink Challenges (the Lush Green AND Shining Yellow Editions), the Solo board, Teleport die, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$61 Urban Planner: everything in the Standard pledge level, plus 4 Epic Boards, 4 additional Player boards, 4 colored markers, 1 Giant Box, and 1 Storage Box.
$83 Collector: everything in the Urban Planner pledge level, plus 4 Future Expansion dice, 4 Electricity Expansion dice, 4 Sky Expansion dice, and 4 Engineer Expansion dice.

Add-Ons:
$16.50 Giant Box & Storage Box: the Giant Box is magnetically-sealed, and can accommodate the previous Blazing Red and Deep Blue Editions along with the new Lush Green and Shining Yellow Editions and the Purple Storage Box with all of the stretch goals and extras.
$5.50 Standalone Storage Box: for backers who want the Purple Storage Box to hold their stretch goals and extras, but not the Giant Box.
$8 Epic Boards (4): to play with the Epic Boards, you’ll need 6 Basic Route Dice, or two different copies of the game (or two different Editions).
$8 Additional Players Deck: 4 extra player boards & 4 colored dry-erase markers will increase your max player count by 4.
$8 Future Expansion Pack: includes the Alien Farmer, City Builder, and Super-Connection mini-expansions.
$8 Sky Expansion Pack: includes the Air Routes and Weather mini-expansions.
$8 Electricity Expansion Pack: includes the Street Lamp and Power Grid mini-expansions.
$8 Engineer Expansion Pack: includes the Construction, Renovation, Separation, and Special mini-expansions.
$16.50 Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition
$16.50 Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition
$5.50 8 Markers Recharge Pack
$8.50 Railroad Ink Digital: Founders Edition

KS Exclusives
Nothing specified, but Horrible Guild’s generic FOMO statement follows: “Many add-ons and stretch goals will be Kickstarter Exclusives that won’t be available later in distribution. It’s now or never!”

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $83 for the Collector pledge, $33 for the Deep Blue and Blazing Red editions, and at least $19 in shipping (shipping may be more than $19 to cover the additional two Editions) for a total of at least $135.

Railroad Ink Challenge completes its Kickstarter on Wednesday, June 3rd and tentatively ships in December 2020.