Metro

The theme of this tile-laying game is set to the building of the Metro in Paris, 1898. Each player has a number of trains for which they must build tracks: the longer the tracks - the more points they will score. The gameboard consists of 8x8 squares. On the outer edge of the board there are 32 stations were the players place their trains. The stations have both a start and an end point. More end points are found on the four center squares on the board, but no trains start here. The 60 track tiles are shuffled and placed face down in several stacks next to the board. Each player should always have one tile in their hand, making it possible to plan ahead.

Course of the game

When it's a player's turn, he plays his tile on the board. The tile can be used to extend both his own and his opponents tracks, but the tile must be placed next to an already placed tile or the outer edge of the board. If the tile is placed so that it forms a continuous track from a station to an end point, scoring will take place. To find the score, you follow the track from the station, and counts all the tiles, all the way to the end point. The player who owns the train on this track scores 1 point for every tile on the track. It is possible to form a track so that it loops over the same tile more than once, and the player gets one point for each time it crosses a tile. If the end point is in the center of board, the track is worth twice as much, doubling the score. It is always the player who owns the train on the track who gets the points, regardless of who placed the last tile.

So, when you place a tile, your primary goal is to extend your own tracks, and secondary, to hinder tracks of the other players becoming too long.

Winning the game

When all tiles are placed on the board, and all trains have reached an end point, the player with the most points is declared the winner.

Evaluation

Metro is a very good game in the tile-laying family. It has simple rules and rather simple gameplay, but it still rewards players who pay attention and find the placements that gives optimal utilization of their track tiles. Since you only have one tile on hand, this is mainly a tactical game, were you try to find the best moves this turn.

Metro works fine as a family game. I have played it several times as a opener/closer on game nights, when we want a break from the longer, more demanding games. It is always fun to watch the board as the tracks expands.

I will give the game one negative point, and this is the game box. In 2000 Queen Games started to ship their games in some small, but deep, boxes. The box is twice as deep as it need to be, but worse is that the short length and width of the box do that the board has to be folded three times before it will fit. This makes the board more exposed to abrasion and it looks like it could easily be torned apart. But in all fairness: this is a minor problem, and Metro is such a good game that this shouldn't stop anyone from purchasing it.

Iron Horse

The author, Dirk Henn, runs his own, little publishing house, db Spiele, that publishes several of his own games. These games is printed in limited editions, and though the components doesn't have the same quality as the games from the big publishers, they are of good quality. The first edition of Metro was published by db Spiele in 1997 under the name Iron Horse. Metro is the same game as Iron Horse, but has new illustrations and better components. With the release of Metro, Queen Games has made it much easier for players to get hold of this great game.

Variant

Usually when playing Metro, players only have one tile on hand, and this tile must be placed in a fixed orientation. The rules desctribe two variants: One where the players can place a tile in the orientation they wish, and one where each player gets two or more tiles on hand. I have played Metro with both of these variants (and various combinations of them). My recommendation is to give each player two or three tiles on hand, but that these must be placed in the fixed orientation. What we found, was that playing with two or three tiles on hand, reduced down-time - with more tiles it was easier for the players to find good placements. The variant with free orientation doesn't add too much to the game, as several of the tiles are completely symmetrical. This variant actually increased the down-time, which was not a good thing.

Reader comments

Jonathan Flagg:

The Metro game my friends and I play with is missing one tile. Is there a way we may have a tile manifest so we may have it replaced so we have all the correct tiles? Thanks!!!

Sieuwert:

This very enjoyable game can also be played on the computer. See:http://www.bluering.nl/sieuwert/games/metro

amit:

See the Game Details and download rules in many languages from Visit Metro on Queen Games Site

amit:

This is a wonderfull game see the game details and download rules in many languages from Queen Games Site

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