For Whom The Die Rolls Mainline Games
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Mainline is a game from the dawn of 18xx development, with the emphasis on corporate activities. There are no shares or stock market. Each player owns and operates one company. The aim is to be the player with the most money when the game ends, which happens when the bank runs out of funds. Apart from the lack of shares, the main differences between this and other 18xx games are:

1. You are given a hand of tiles drawn from the full set, and lay tiles from this hand. You cannot choose just any tile to lay.
2. All tiles, whatever their colour or complexity, can be laid directly on the board. Once laid, some tiles can be promoted.
3. You can put more than one base in the same station if it suits you.
4. You can split your dividends between paying out to yourself and withholding for your company. Splits are done on a per-train basis, i.e the dividend for each train is either paid out or withheld.
5. If you get into the situation where you are forced to buy a train and don't have the cash, bankruptcy is not a problem. Instead, the bank will lend you the necessary funds - at a price, of course. Well, it is the bank.

Mainline is a Hartland Trefoil design modified by Keith Thomasson.

© Keith Thomasson September 9th 2003