This week we played Railroad Tycoon. Evil Mike is on vacation out in Las Vegas celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary, so the “just†Mike came and took his spot. We played Railroad Tycoon in a record time of less than two hours. I can only surmise that it’s been Evil Mike holding us back all this time.
The game started out very well…for me. I went first and got the 5 points for shipping the first cube to a city with a service bounty. There was no stopping me, although there was “passing†me. Mike passed me in just a few turns to take over the lead. Mike never looked back and we never caught up to him. He was a Railroad Tycoon machine. He wasn’t just in the lead; he was WAY in the lead.
Meanwhile the rest of us would-be rail barons meandered our way through building tracks and scoring a few measly points. Ben and I were building up around Chicago. Mike and Owen were fighting over the east coast, with Mike winning that battle and Owen bemoaning the fact. I was also on the east coast, but only to connect to New York. Connecting to New York helped me get a big line bonus and my Rail Baron objective. To meet those goals I had to build a rather expensive piece of track through the mountains. Maybe that’s why I ended up with 13 loans at the end of the game. (No “maybe†about it.)
At the end of the game, Owen had the most money with $51,000. He did not have the Rail Baron objective that would have given him points for it though. Still, we all completed our Rail Baron objectives. Those 13 shares really hurt my final score. Mike did win with 78 points. Ben sneaked passed me to take second with 56 points—twenty-two points behind mike!  I had 54 points and Owen had 51 points.
We had a great time and didn’t miss what’s-his-name at all. (Hurry back Evil Mike!)
Chaos Steve