Objective
The goal of Metro is to obtain the most victory points by the end of the game. Victory points are obtained by connecting the rail lines from one of your wagons to a destination. The more tiles that the line passes through, the more victory points are scored. The location of the wagons are predetermined, and the game proceeds by players taking turns laying down a tile and connecting rails. The game ends when all the tiles are played.
Set-up –Example for a 4 player game
1) Place the game board in the middle of the playing area. The game board shows:
60 square spaces - on which the track tiles are placed
32 numbered Metro stations - on which the metro wagons are placed
1 cental station in the middle of the game board
1 scoring track at the edge of the game board
2) All players place their scoring marker on the “0“ space of the scoring track.
3) Shuffle all track tiles and place them face down besides the game board in easy reach
for all players. Each player takes one tile and looks at it without showing it to the other players.
4) Each player takes all wagons of their selected color and places them on the game board, according to the charts shown in the instructions. The numbers indicate the spaces where the players have to place their wagons. All wagons must be placed on the dead end of the Metro stations, where they remain until the end of the game. The tracks with the station building do not belong to any players. Any unused wagons are returned to the box, they are not used in this game.
Sequence of play
The youngest player is the starting player, and then the other players take their turn clockwise. During their turn a player performs the following action:
Action: Place track tiles
The active player (the player performing their turn) places their hand held tile on the game board. If they don’t want to place this tile they may draw a new tile from the face down supply, as long as there are any tiles left. In this case they must place the tile just drawn, keeping their hand tile. After placing their hand tile the player draws a new tile form the face down supply, as long as there are any tiles left. A player who has connected all their lines to destination stations still keeps on placing tiles. Note: The track tiles have been designed in such a way that all lines are connecting to some station at the end of the game. It may happen though that loops are constructed which do not connect to any station. Such loops are of no relevance to the game.
Rules for placing tiles
• When placing track tiles they may connect to any line.
• A tile must always be placed on a free space. It must be placed adjacent (edge to edge) to at least one tile already lying on the game board or on a space at the edge of the game board.
• All tiles must have the same orientation, i. e. the arrows on the tiles must point at the same direction as the ones on the game board.
• A tile may not be placed in a way that a Metro line is connecting its departure station with a destination station passing only one tile. The only exception to this rule is when there is absolutely no other way to place the tile.
Scoring and end of the game
A scoring takes place as soon as a Metro line has connected to a destination station.
The owner of this line immediately gains 1 victory point for each tile their line is passing.
If the same tile is passed more than once by this line, it generates 1 victory point each time it is passed.
If the line is connecting to the power station in the center of the game board the victory points total for this line is doubled.
Each player’s victory points are recorded on the scoring track using the player’s scoring marker.
The wagon is flipped over to the backside (dead end), indicating that this line has been scored.
The game ends as soon as all lines have been scored and all tiles have been laid out.
The player with the most victory points is the winner of the game.
Notes: • The scoring of a Metro line can be done anytime, in case it wasn’t done before by mistake.
• The tracks of the central station printed on the game board do not count for victory points when a line
connects to it. Only those tiles actually placed on the game board by the players count for victory points.
Variants and expansion modules
• In order to have a better choice when placing tiles the players may agree upon abandoning the orientation rule. Using this variant it doesn’t matter where the arrow of a tile is pointing at.
• In order to have a better choice when placing tiles the players may agree upon allowing 2 or 3 hand tiles instead of only 1. Using this variant game play will last longer.
Expansion module 1: Metro companies
When playing with this expansion, the players do not own any Metro companies. Instead of establishing their own companies, players are buying
shares of several of the 8 Metro companies. Regardless of the number of players all 8 companies are used always.
Set-up and preparations are the same as for the basic game with the following exceptions: 4 wagons of each color (each color is representing a different Metro company) are placed on the spaces of the game board according to the chart in the instructions. The numbers indicate the spaces where the wagons have to be placed. Regardless of the number of players all 8 scoring markers are placed on the “0” space of the scoring track.
All shares are sorted by percentages, resulting in four piles. The piles are shuffled separately and placed face down on the appropriate spaces of the shares board. Each player draws one share from each pile without showing their shares to the other players. Then the top share of each pile is drawn and placed face up next to the particular pile.
Sequence of Play
When performing their turn a player now must decide between two possible actions:
Place track tiles (see basic game)
or
The active player places one of their own shares face down at the bottom of the pile of the same percentage. Then they take either the face up share or the top face down share of this pile. If they take the face up share, they reveal the top face down share from the pile to be used as new face up share.
Important: Shares can be exchanged only as long as the fi rst scoring marker of any Metro company has not reached or exceeded the 25 points space yet.
Scoring of Metro companies
Scoring is done the same way as in the basic game. Points do now count as profi t points for the Metro companies instead of victory points for the players.
Scoring and end of the game
After all tiles have been laid out and scoring has been done for all companies a final scoring takes place.
First determine the value of each Metro company:
The company or companies with most profit points…each value 8,
with second most profit points………………………each value 7, etc.
company with least profit points………………………each value 1
Please use a wagon of the appropriate color to indicate the values on the scoring track.
Now the players sum up their victory points (VP):
40%-share = 4x value of respective company; 30%-share = 3x value;
20%-share = 2x value; 10%-share = 1x value
The player whose share(s) of a certain company add up to the highest percentage of this company held by any player gains bonus points. These bonus points are a tenth of the company’s profit points, rounded down. In case of a tie both players gain the full amount of bonus points. All players add up their total, the player with the highest total is the winner of the game.
