We had six Knights conveyed at Eric’s house for a couple of games this evening first out of the gate was Chicago Express. A train route building game with stock auctioning for control of each of the five train companies.

In Chicago Express you are not allowed to use any of a companies resources until you own a share in that company. The game starts with an opening auction of one share of four companies in the game, the fifth Wabash opens when a train route reaches Chicago. The way a player earns money is by owning shares in companies when a dividend phase happens.

The player with the most money at the end of the game wins. Only way to get money is by being payed from stock dividends in profitable companies. To get the shares you have to spend your money, which is all very circular, well isn’t that a nice clean feedback loop…

After the first Auction I had a share in the Pennsylvania Railroad, Derek got a share of Baltimore & Ohio, Steve purchased a share of New York Central, and Chesapeake and Ohio share ended up with Brett. Pennsylvania Railroad, of which I was the majority share holder, and New York Central, majority share holder was Steve, pushed hard for Chicago and the extra Dividend payment. While Chesapeake and Ohio under the joint share leadership of Eric and Brett moved westward across the southern part of the board. Baltimore and Ohio took a more novel approach under the sole leadership of Derek and decided to start a sightseeing loop around the Appalachian Mountains.

Garrett was playing this game as minor or equal shareholder and I think had shares in three of the companies by the end of the game. When Wabash opened Brett won that share and moved that companies’ route into Chicago. This move made Chicago nonviable for Pennsylvania so Garrett and I changed gears and built the companies’ route into Detroit.

Derek quietly just kept control of Baltimore and Ohio not letting anyone else win shares when they were auctioned.

When the dust settled after the final dividend, Derek’s quiet strategy payed off and he had the most money. Well done!

Chicago Express Final Scores:

  Knight Score
1 Derek 77
2 Luke 72
3 Steve 62
4 Garrett 61
5 Eric 59
6 Brett 39

After the main course of the evening we finished the night with a game of Push.

Push Final Scores:

  Knight Score
1 Luke 65
2 Brett 61
3 Steve 53
4 Eric 33
5 Garrett 31