Retuning 1853

by Stuart Dagger

1. The Bidding for Contracts is taken in Stages.  The information available by the end of the process will be much as in the original game but you will no longer be bidding blind.

   In the first Stage all players secretly write down the amount of their Bid.  Your Bid may be for any whole number of pounds, provided that this is enough to cover the values of the Cities that you will eventually write down.  You do not need to decide at this stage just what those Cities are going to be.  The minimum and maximum number of Cities for a legal Bid remain as in the standard rules.

   All players then reveal the amount of their Bids and the seating order is determined - first the player who has made the largest Bid, and so on down.  Ties are resolved by lot and the player who has made the largest Bid takes the Elephant.  Each player places his or her Bid money in an envelope.

   In the second Stage, beginning with the Elephant holder and continuing round, each player Bids for Cities and their associated Shares.  When it is your turn you write down (secretly) the name of one of the Cities in your bid and claim (publicly) a Share associated with that City.  This continues round and round the table until everyone signifies that their Bid is complete by passing.  When it is your turn you may not pass if either you have not yet Contracted for the minimum number of Cities or if you have not yet Contracted for the maximum number of Cities and there is at least 40 pounds of your Bid money not yet accounted for.

   Players now pay for their Contracted Shares as in the standard game.  The rules governing Shares that you have Contracted for but can not yet afford are unaltered.

   The first Share Buying Round then commences with the Elephant holder.

2. Directorships are not allocated until the end of the first Share Buying Round.  At this point all those Companies entitled to a Director receive one.  The person appointed is the one with the most Shares in the Company; ties are broken in favour of the player who has held Shares in the Company longest.

3. The restrictions on the Cities you may include in a Bid are increased from the present `not more than two Ganges valley Cities including Calcutta' to the following:
   1. in a Bid involving just three Cities a player may only include one of Cawnpore, Lucknow, Allahabad, Benares and Patna;

   2. in a Bid involving more than three Cities a player may not include more than two of the Ganges Cities (in other words, the above list plus Calcutta).

4. The rule which says that you may not sell Shares in a Company in the Round which sees it floated does not apply to the first Share Buying Round; in this Round you may sell such Shares, but only if they were Contracted Shares and only if you sell them at the first opportunity after flotation.

5. In the first Operating Round of a Major Company (Companies 1-4, and possibly also Company 5 - see rule 6) the Director of the Company must choose one of the following alternatives:
   1. the right to lay two tiles in an Operating Round does not come into effect until Phase 2.

   2. the right to lay two tiles in an Operating Round is gained immediately but must be paid for whenever it is used.  If this option is taken, whenever the Company lays two tiles in an Operating Round it pays the Bank at the following rates:  Company 1 - 50 pounds, Companies 2, 3, & 4 (and Company 5 if it is a Major) - 20 pounds.

6. Company 5 may be either a Major or a Minor Company.  Which it is will depend on the Contract Bid of its first Director:
   1. if Company 5 has a Director by the end of the first Share Buying Round, and if the Contract Bid of its Director includes both Ajmer and Bombay, the Company is deemed to be a Major one, with its second home base in north Bombay.  Further, the cost of building the station at Ajmer is reduced to 70 pounds.

   2. in all other circumstances Company 5 is a Minor one.

7. If at least one Minor Company is floated in the first Share Buying Round, add one Metre Gauge Train of Types 2 and 3 to the Train Mix.  In Phase 2, the Major Companies cannot buy a 2M train until at least one of the original Minor Companies buys one.  In addition, in Phase 1, add at least one Metre Gauge Train of Type 1 to the Train Mix subject to the constraint that the sum total of 1M-trains and 2-trains is always 7.  The following rules apply to 1M-trains:
   1. 1M-trains may only be purchased by Minor Companies and cost 180 pounds to purchase.

   2. 1M-trains must run through one city station (which must contain one of the company's garrisons) and may run through any number of town stations.

   3. 1M-trains become obsolete when the first 4-train is bought.

8. Eight Type-58 Standard Gauge 10-value station tiles are added to the game.  These may be laid under the usual rules governing yellow tiles.  They may not be upgraded to 30 pound Green station tiles.

9. In the 4-player game decrease the number of Certificates that need to be sold for a Company to float from 6 to 5, and in the 6-player game decrease it from 5 to 4.

10. The 6-trains become available as soon the first 5-train is bought.  When the first 5-train is bought the territorial restrictions which have applied hitherto are relaxed: Companies owning at least one 5-train or 6-train may now promote any tile and buy any station which they can reach from a home base using one of their Trains.  A Company buying or promoting outside its home territory must include the affected tile in one of its routes in the operating Round when the change takes place.

11. A Company which pays a Dividend of at least 20% (and, if the option below is used, no more than 40%) of its current Share Price advances two positions, rather than one, on the Share Price Chart.  In addition, the players may optionally use the following rule:
    • a Company which pays a Dividend of at least 40% (and no more than 60%) of its current Share Price advances three positions on the Share Price Chart; also a Company which pays a dividend of at least 60% of its current Share Price advances four positions on the Share Price Chart.

12. When all the Shares of those Companies contracted for in the initial Bidding Round have been bought from the Bank, Shares in the remaining Companies are available simultaneously.

13. Clarification to Rule 33 (Running Trains): The route for any train must run through at least two stations: thus a legal 1M-train route must include one Large Station and at least one Small Station.

14. OPTIONAL RULE: In the BAR's first, and only the first, Operating Round it is entitled to lay two tiles at no extra cost beyond normal terrain costs.

15. OPTIONAL RULE: For a longer game, scrap the rule whereby the game ends when a Company Share Price reaches 400 and add 6000 pounds to the Bank.  (This rule will, it is hoped, encourage players to purchase the large 6-trains and 4M-trains.)

These rules were originally devised by Steve Jones and Stuart Dagger, with helpful suggestions from Keith Loveys, Dave Thorby and Jeff Edmonds.  This version was written by Steve Jones in April 1995.

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