How to Play Iron Rails: Full Rules Guide | Playgridia

2026-07-30

Iron Rails is a turn-based strategy game about connecting cities by rail on real geography. You collect coloured train cards, claim routes on the map and quietly work toward destination tickets nobody else can see. 2-4 players against bots or friends, free in your browser — no download, no sign-up.

Your whole turn: pick one of four

In Iron Rails a turn is exactly one action. There is no pass — if the board offers a legal move, you must make one.

• Draw train cards (2): from the five-card face-up market or the blind deck. Taking a face-up Locomotive (wild) costs your entire turn — it comes alone.
• Claim a route: spend matching-colour cards equal to the route's length, lay your trains between the two cities and score immediately. Grey routes accept any single colour; Locomotives substitute for any colour.
• Draw destination tickets: draw 3 secret goals, keep at least 1.
• Build a station: (station maps only) a depot on a city lets ONE opponent-owned route through it count for your ticket connections.

Setup and the end of the game

At setup each player is dealt 3 destination tickets (plus 1 long ticket on maps that have them) and keeps at least 2. The moment a player's train supply drops to 2 or fewer at the end of their turn, everyone takes one final turn and then the game closes for final scoring.

Scoring: routes or tickets?

The deck is 110 cards: 12 of each of the 8 colours plus 14 Locomotives. Route value climbs steeply with length, so the long hauls are both expensive and decisive:

• Route points: 1 car → 1 · 2 → 2 · 3 → 4 · 4 → 7 · 5 → 10 · 6 → 15 · 7 → 18 · 8 → 21.
• Destination ticket: +its value if the two cities are connected at the end, −its value if not. The value is the true shortest path between them measured in train cars (capped at 22).
• Longest continuous path: +10 (ties → everyone tied scores it).
• Globetrotter: +10 to whoever completed the most tickets.
• Every station you never build: +4 — a station is a rescue, not free value.

Ties break on total score, then completed tickets, then longest path.

A simple plan for your first match

The default Western Europe board is tuned for newcomers: 26 cities, 54 routes, 30 trains each and none of the advanced rules (no tunnels, ferries or stations). For your first game, look for the stretch your two tickets share, claim the short routes on that corridor first and leave the long hauls for later. On your turn every route you can afford pulses; the ones with a heavier green ring also serve a ticket you already owe — when in doubt, take those.

Once the rules click, pick your board: the comparison of all five maps and the tactics that actually win. Ready? Play Iron Rails free now.

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