30 Rails

30 rolls for 30 rails!
In front of you lies the blueprint of your city- with its beautiful mountains, and the glorious mine that is powering it. Connecting the four corners of the city are four stations, and it is bestowed upon you to lay rail tracks, ensuring it becomes well-connected.
Can you build the perfect rail network for your city?
30 Rails is yet another roll-and-write game that I recently tried, and to me it’s been the game to play on quiet evenings, or at the deep end of the night. It was developed by Julian Anstey in 2016, and I highly recommend it for those who are in the early days of the print-and-play journey. The game is not complicated, the rules are fairly easy to grasp, so give it a go when you feel the need to unwind casually. And if you have a knack for drawing or doodling, you’ll love the game!
What you need to play 30 Rails
The best part of this game is you don’t need too many components to give it a shot. Print one page (black-and-white), grab a pen and 2 D6 dice of different colors, and you are set! If you don’t have different colored dice, that’s fine too. Just make sure to roll them separately. With the components in hand, it’s best to watch a playthrough video, if reading a manual is not your thing. Out of the many playthrough videos, we enjoyed the one that One Player has made. Feel free to check it out at the end of this blog!

How to play 30 Rails
The gameplay is fairly simple:
– Step 01: Pick a dice, and roll it for every row of the grid of your city. The number that comes on the dice for each row represents a mountain that you need to draw (get creative!) in the city. You have the liberty to omit one out of the six mountains, do so wisely! The goal is to have enough space for networks of rail to go from one end of the city to the other ends.
-Step 02: Draw a mine on the map that is adjacent, or right next to a mountain. It has to be orthogonal from a mountain; to put it in layman’s terms- above, below, or beside a mountain!
– Step 03: Draw 4 stations on the four ends of the city. Be smart on their placement, since you have to connect the stations, and with the mine to get maximum points.
– Step 04: Draw a bonus square! You get extra points if your rail networks go through the bonus zone. Again, make sure to draw it where the likelihood of the rail tracks merging or passing through is the highest!
-Step 05: Time to play the game!
The game will last for 30 rounds or less. In each round, roll the 2 dice; one will represent the row or column where you need to draw a track, while the other dice will represent the type of track that needs to be placed. 2 different colored dice are recommended for you to tell the dice apart, but in case you don’t have them then you can always opt for rolling the 2 dice separately.
You also can alter or ‘override’ the dice once for the tracks, and once for the rows/columns. Use them wisely. These can be game-changers!
-Step 06: Once 30 rounds are over, or if you are no longer able to lay down tracks, then the game is over. Count your points and see if you have made a well-connected city!

Know the game to win it
If you are a fan of trial-and-error, ignore this point! If you’re not, then I feel it’s best to understand the tracks before placing them on the grid. Each track has its pros and cons, and where you place them will impact the whole game. Don’t just place tracks for the sake of it, plan where you want the desired tracks to be.Â
Particularly important zones:
-Starting point for each station
-Zones next to the mine
-The Bonus square
To laminate or not to laminate?
While I mentioned laminating games that you love in one of our popular blogs, I wouldn’t recommend laminating 30 Rails. While I love to casually play this game, drawing on laminated paper does not have a ‘good feel’ to it! I have previously played roll-and-write games on laminated sheets (e.g. Lantern), but 30 Rails involves sketching and drawing rail tracks on the entirety of the game. Rather, printing on reused paper (environment-friendly!) and drawing on them felt much more convenient than playing on a laminated surface.
So- print it, photocopy it, and get going! Much more convenient that way.Â
Play with multiple colors
For the creative souls out there, the sky’s the limit in 30 Rails. Doodle away the mountains, mines, and stations! Use different colors for each component, and have a vibrant final look for your city.
You will find this game more therapeutic in nature than a high-voltage, adrenaline-filled fest.
A game for quiet evenings? Or game nights?
Every time I try out a PnP game, the first question that comes to me is if the game is qualified for a game night. The game is very neat and well-built, repeatable in nature, and easy to learn- ticks all the boxes for a game night with friends. But I personally prefer playing it by myself, to unwind from a long day of work. It helps me feel composed, without making me work my brains out. But that’s just me, it may work differently for you!
Customization? Only if you love it!
Ah, our area of self-proclaimed expertise! If you love this game, then you can choose to print the rail tracks separately to turn the roll-and-write into a tile-placement game! All you have to do is print at least 20 copies of each of the tracks, the 5 mountains, a mine, and the four stations. You can design them to your liking to add a personalized touch. Name the city as well! I have half a mind of putting the printed (and laminated) sheet on a magnetic chess board and attaching little magnets on all the tiles to make a more immersive experience. My gut tells me that 30 Rails will be a more entertaining game in the module of tile placement, instead of roll-and-write.Â
Where to get it from?
Saving the best part for the last- IT’S FREE! All you have to do is visit Board Game Geek and download the file to build your city. A big shoutout to Julian Anstey for crafting such an amazing game.Â
Overview | 30 Rails
Publisher: Julian Anstey
Number of players: 1
Difficulty level: Easy
Rounds of gameplay needed to learn: 1 or 2 rounds
Game duration: 15 to 30 minutes
Price: FreeÂ
Download from: Boardgamegeek.com
Theme: Roll-and-write | Build rail tracks for the city
Number of pages and color: 1 (black and white print)
Assembling difficulty level: Easy
Lamination: Not recommended
Additional elements required: 2 D6 dice and Coloring pens
Time to learn: Within 30 minutes
Travel-friendly: 8/10
Shelving friendly: 9/10
Rating from PnP Time: 7.5/10

Tasliman is a board game developer based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it. He is the founder of Kraftz, a brand that develops board games commercially, as well as with reputed entities like BRAC and The Gates Foundation.