Railroad Ink is a very interesting and unique little game that has definitely caught our attention. Phil was the one to discover this game from Gen Con. You can even get the funny little story of how that went down from Phil in the beginning. This is the rare game that is fast, makes you think and ponder, and yet doesn’t leave you feeling mentally tired or exhausted afterwards.
This is one of the favorite board games of both Phil and Heather, which sets up for a fantastic episode of Table for Two – one of the best ones yet!
Railroad Ink is a great little game that plays great whether you have only two players or several more. Our favorite couple’s Railroad Ink playthrough is a great one and it’s easy to see the excitement that Heather has for this game.
About Railroad Ink
I’m not going to lie: the first time Phil broke this one out I was doubtful. The setup is so simple, the four dice seem so basic, that it was hard for me to imagine that this game would really play out to be anything too interesting.
I will fully admit, I was wrong. The combination of various routes that come up on dice, the combination of luck and strategy, and the careful use of your special abilities like overpasses means that there’s a lot of thinking going on in this game that does a very nice job blending luck with planning and strategy to try to put together the best game card.
What Phil & Heather Think
This actually is one of Heather’s favorite games. She absolutely loves it, as she states in the video, even though her winning percentage is…what’s a nice way of saying abysmal? When Phil asks her what she wants to play, “Railroads” is often the answer and she’s not talking about Ticket to Ride, as good a railroad game as that is.
As for the expansions? They’re not bad, but they do make things slightly more complicated and as a result Heather and Phil generally play the original. They find this to be a little bit better/more fun than with the expansions, but both are good games.
Phil’s Take
Worth hour plus in line to get at Gen Con. Grand total of 31 dice to plan out routes. Only 9 different routes to draw out. Hope it all connects, hope the dice don’t bone you, limited options and looking for good planning and some luck. Great party game. Really adaptable.
Phil’s take on Railroad Ink
This was a game that was even played with Patrons over our Patron Discord. A roll each day, plenty of time to decide on how to arrange things, and then each player participating built their map. It was – well in this case it was a very rough game point-wise.
This is a great game and one that will be a sure favorite among many different types of boardgame players.
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Proud to embrace the locally created moniker of “Corrupt Overlord” from one of the all time great Lords of Waterdeep runs, Shane is one member of the Assorted Meeples crew and will be hard at work creating awesome content for the website. He is a long-time player of board games, one time semi-professional poker player, and tends to run to the quirky or RPG side of things when it comes to playing video games. He loves tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Werewolf, Fate, and others, and not only has been a player but has run games as DM for years. You can find his other work in publications like Level Skip or Hobby Lark.