What is 18XX?

This year the 18XX tournament will be for The Lyndon Gurr Trophy, in honour of Lyndon Gurr who passed away 11th December 2024. Lyndon was a regular player in the 18XX room and one of the strongest 18XX players.

18XX are a whole stable of games mostly based around the theme of making  money from running railways, with many games in the stable being named  after a year from the eighteen hundreds, hence 18XX. There are quite a few games in the series that are named by ’18’ followed by something indicating a geographical area  (for example, 18CZ (for Czechia/Czech Republic), 18West (for the west of the US), 18India, etc.) and there are a few which don’t even start ’18’, such as 2038 or 21Moon, and some don’t even include numbers, such as Poseidon or Steam Over Holland.  Some don’t involve railways, but model some other form of transport (barges, spaceships, galleys etc.). 

The rules can be complex, but are often simpler than those of heavy euros, and vary from game to game within the genre. These games offer a range of strategies, as they have several moving parts which interact in ways that are rather hard to predict.

Essentially, they are complex business games in which the players generally buy shares in the various railway companies that are available, and then run those companies for their advancement (and possibly to the detriment of other players).

Each game consists of two interacting sub-games: one in which the players buy and sell shares in the railway companies, and one in which the players run the railway companies (this last involves building track, buying trains and running services). 18XX games tend to be long (from 4 to 10 hours). 

These games will mostly be played in the Quiet Gaming area.  If you want to try one of these games out, a teaching game will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and Sunday and Monday too if there’s a demand. Games do start at other times of the day, but only infrequently when other games finish. 

If you want to know more speak to Steve Thomas, Ian D Wilson and Dave Berry who will provide more information.

Look out for the 18XX signs for where games are being played. 

18India

Steam over Holland