1828

1828 — Summary

Capitalization type

• Full capitalization: once it floats (60% sold), the company receives its entire capital (par price × 10) into the treasury at once, exactly as in 1830.

Floating percentage and per-player share limits

• Floats once 60% of shares are sold, the same single threshold used in 1830
• No player may hold more than 60% of a single corporation, except once its price reaches the market's gray "unlimited" cells — there the cap lifts and, uniquely, the president may buy two of its shares in a single action instead of one
• There is effectively no certificate limit at any player count (3 to 5 players); the game doesn't track one at all
• The Mohawk & Hudson private can be exchanged for a 10% share of any corporation without counting against the 60% ownership cap
• Up to 80% of a single corporation's shares can sit in the bank pool before hitting the pool limit, well above 1830's default 50%

Starting cash by player count

• 3 players: $800 starting cash
• 4 players: $700 starting cash
• 5 players: $620 starting cash
• The bank has no fixed size: its cash is effectively unlimited, so the game can never end from the bank running dry
• Only 3 to 5 players are supported — there's no 2- or 6-player option

End game triggers

• A player goes bankrupt: immediate end
• A share price reaches the top $500 cell of the market: immediate end if it happens through full private ownership at the close of a stock round, or end at the close of the current operating round if it happens through a dividend payout
• The final phase (Purple) completes its full set of operating rounds: the game ends once that set is done
• Players may also agree by consensus that the outcome is already decided and stop the game early

Number of phases

• 7 phases (Yellow, Green, Blue, Brown, Red, Gray, Purple), triggered by the purchase of the first train of each type
• Par prices aren't all available from the start: only a small opening set is offered in the Yellow phase, and each later phase transition (Green, Blue, Brown) unlocks a further, higher tier of par prices
• Phase Red (first 6-train): closes every private company still in play, plus the Cobourg & Peterborough minor
• Phase Purple (first Diesel): any corporation that still hasn't been parred is marked for removal, leaving a permanent blocking token in its home city
• Train limit per corporation shrinks over the game: 4 in Yellow/Green/Blue, down to 3 in Brown, then 2 from Red onward
• Operating rounds per set grow from 1 (Yellow) up to 4 (Purple)

Train list and prices

• 2 train — $80 (7 copies; rusts once the first 5-train is bought)
• 3 train — $160 (9 copies; rusts once the first 6-train is bought; buying it opens the Green-phase par prices)
• 5 train — $250 (4 copies; rusts once the first 8E-train is bought; buying it opens the Blue-phase par prices)
• 3+D train — $350 (6 copies; rusts once the first Diesel is bought; buying it opens the Brown-phase par prices)
• 6 train — $650 (4 copies, or 3 with fewer than 5 players; never rusts; buying it closes every remaining private company and the Cobourg & Peterborough minor)
• 8E train — $800 (3 copies; never rusts)
• Diesel (D) — $900 (unlimited copies; never rusts; buying it marks any still-unparred corporation for removal)

List of private companies

• Eight ordinary privates ($20 to $160), each blocking a specific hex until bought by a corporation, several gaining a unique ability once sold: Schuylkill Valley Navigation ($20, revenue $5) simply blocks its hex; Saint Clair Tunnel ($20, revenue $5, rising to $10 once corporate-owned) blocks Sarnia; Champlain & St. Lawrence ($40, revenue $10) lets its owning corporation lay a free tile at Burlington anytime; Delaware & Hudson ($80, revenue $15) lets its owner "teleport" a tile (plus an optional station) to Scranton for $120; Cobourg & Peterborough ($80, revenue $15) is also playable as the game's one minor railroad; Mohawk & Hudson ($120, revenue $20) can be exchanged for a 10% share of any corporation, ignoring the 60% ownership cap; Erie & Kalamazoo ($120, revenue $20) auto-places a yellow tile at Adrian & Ann Arbor once corporate-owned and grants one extra discounted tile lay later; Camden & Amboy ($160, revenue $25) hands its buyer a 10% share of the Pennsylvania Railroad
• Eight "founder's" privates ($250 each, revenue $40): CPR, GT, IC, MC, MP, NKP, NW and OSH. Each one directly launches its matching corporation, granting the buyer 30% of it and the right to set its par price; it closes automatically once that corporation buys its first train. Only 7 minus the player count of these eight survive a random cull before the auction even starts, so fewer of them are in play with fewer players

List of corporations

• 16 fixed-home corporations spread across a broad Eastern North America map (the Great Lakes/Midwest, the Northeast, the South, and Eastern Canada): Boston & Maine (B&M), Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), Canadian Pacific (CPR), Grand Trunk (GT), Erie (ERIE), Illinois Central (IC), Michigan Central (MC), Missouri Pacific (MP), New York Central (NYC), New York, Chicago & St. Louis (NKP), New York, New Haven & Hartford (NYH), Norfolk & Western (NW), Ontario, Simcoe & Huron (OSH), Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), and Wabash (WAB)
• One playable minor railroad, the Cobourg & Peterborough (C&P), which starts with a free 2-train and closes once the 6-train phase is reached

Game-specific mechanics

• Corporate mergers into "Systems": if a single player controls enough combined shares (6, or 5 if none were sold that round) of two floated corporations, they may merge them into one System sharing a treasury and a stock price, though each original company keeps its own train roster tracked separately inside it
• Par prices unlock gradually by phase instead of all being available from the start
• Eight of the sixteen corporations are launched directly through a matching "founder's" private rather than a normal IPO
• Effectively no certificate limit, and an unlimited bank
• A special "coal marker" ($120) is required for any corporation to run a route through the Virginia Coalfields hex
• Unparred corporations left over once the Purple phase hits are removed from the game, leaving a permanent blocking token in their home city

Emergency sell

Matches the 1830 baseline almost exactly: company treasury first, then the president's personal cash — capped at exactly what's needed, no more — then, if that's still not enough, a forced sale of the president's own shares in any corporation they hold, at market price, with their own presidential certificate always protected from sale. Selling shares of a different corporation can still flip that company's presidency to someone else, just like in 1830. If the shortfall still can't be covered, the president is declared bankrupt and the game ends immediately. The one genuinely 1828-specific wrinkle: once two corporations have merged into a System, each of its two original companies is checked separately for whether it needs a train, since they keep independent train rosters even while sharing one treasury.

Comparison with 1830

1. Setting, map and number of players
1830 covers the northeastern USA for 2-6 players. 1828 stretches the map out across the Great Lakes, the Northeast, the South and Eastern Canada, and only supports 3 to 5 players — there's no 2- or 6-player option.

2. Corporations launched directly by a private, not just by an IPO
In 1830 every corporation is founded the same way: by parring it during a stock round. In 1828, eight of the sixteen corporations are instead launched directly by buying their matching $250 "founder's" private, which hands the buyer 30% of the company and the right to set its own par price.

3. Par prices unlock gradually, not all at once
1830 offers its whole par-price ladder from the very first stock round. 1828 only opens a handful of low par prices at the start, and each later phase (Green, Blue, Brown) unlocks a higher tier — so a company founded early is stuck choosing from a narrower, cheaper range than one founded later in the game.

4. No real certificate limit, and an unlimited bank
1830 caps how many certificates each player can hold and gives the bank a fixed $12,000. 1828 does neither — the certificate limit is effectively switched off, and the bank's cash is unlimited, so the game can never end from the bank running dry the way it can in 1830.

5. Corporations can merge into "Systems"
A mechanic 1830 doesn't have at all: if a single player controls enough combined shares of two floated corporations, they can merge them into one System sharing a single treasury and stock price, even though the two original companies keep separate train rosters inside it.

6. Trains that never rust, once you're past the early ones
In 1830, only the Diesel is immune to rusting. In 1828, the 6, 8E and Diesel trains all stay useful for the rest of the game once bought — a much larger "safe zone" at the top of the train ladder than 1830 offers.

7. A 60% cap that can be broken with a bonus attached
1830's gray/unlimited stock-market cells simply remove the 60% ownership ceiling. 1828 does the same, but adds an extra perk on top: once a corporation is priced that high, its president can buy two of its shares in a single action instead of one.

8. A dedicated minor railroad and a special coal-hauling requirement
1828 has one playable minor, the Cobourg & Peterborough, that starts with a free train — a structure 1830 doesn't use at all. It also requires corporations to buy a special $120 "coal marker" before they can run a route through the Virginia Coalfields, a resource-gating mechanic with no equivalent in 1830.