Eurorails

Eurorails, published in 1990 by Mayfair Games, is the flagship of the crayon‑drawn railway series. The board, a dotted hex‑grid map of Europe, works like a giant puzzle where each dot can be linked to another. Players receive a set of colored crayons and, turn by turn, draw their rail lines from dot to dot, expanding their railway empire. The engine of the game is a large deck of cargo cards: each card specifies a commodity, a source city, a destination city, and the payout. The farther the distance, the higher the payment, encouraging long, strategic routes. As players earn money they can buy new track segments, grow their network, and aim to connect all major European capitals. The win condition is to reach a target amount of profit after having linked every major city. Games run three to four hours, and a BGG weight of 2.7/5 signals straightforward rules but deep strategic choices in route planning, competition for choke points, and delivery management. The crayon mechanic leaves a permanent, personalized map on the board, making each session visually unique. Perfect for fans of logistics, network building, and long‑term strategic challenges, Eurorails blends nostalgic analog components with a puzzle‑strategy experience that still appeals to train and economic‑game enthusiasts.