''Metro'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

Dirk Henn Dirk Henn (born 1960) is a German-style board game designer who was born in Bendorf, Germany. Dirk Henn is best known for his game '' Alhambra'', which won the Spiel des Jahres and placed 2nd in the Deutscher Spiele Preis in 2003. Game Company A ...

, for 2 to 6 players.

Queen Games Queen Games is a German publisher of tabletop games, based in Troisdorf and founded in 1992 by head Rajive Gupta, which specialises primarily in German-style, family-level games but has also published smaller numbers of both simpler, children's ga ...

produced the game in 2000 after Henn had published it as ''Iron Horse'' in the company db-Spiele in 1997. The game was nominated in the ''

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...

'' awards in 2000 and was one of the finalists in the

Gamers Choice Award A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

in 2001. It was also awarded the

Mensa Select Mensa Select is an annual award given by American Mensa Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised I ...

award in 2001.

*1 foldable game board *60 track tiles *6 overview boards in various player colours *61 metro trains *6 score counters *1 rulebook

Rules

Background

The players take the role of metro track designers who are building the

Paris Metro Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Sin ...

in 1898 to be opened in the World Fair 1900.

Game board

The game board is square and consists of 10×10 places, of which the four corners remain free. The squares on the edges between the corners represent metro stations, of which each player is assigned a certain number. Connecting these stations with metro tracks earns points; the 2×2 place square in the middle represents the main stations, connecting to which earns double points. The 60 remaining squares are free to build tracks onto.

Objective

The objective of the game is to build as long track connections between metro stations as possible. Each track connection earns points, and the player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Course of the game

The players take turns. The current player takes a track tile face down at random. The player then has a choice between placing the tile on the board or taking another tile, which they must then place on the board. If the tile placed completes one or more metro train tracks, these are scored. The turn then ends.

End of the game

The game ends when all stations have been connected with metro tracks.

Variations

The game can be varied by replacing the initial quite large random chance with strategy. This is done by allowing rotation of the tiles, which is not allowed in the basic game. Another variation is to give each player a specific number of tiles in their hand, so the players have a better chance to plan their routes in advance.

''Cable Car''

In 2009, Queen Games published the game ''San Francisco Cable Car'' based on ''Metro'' and ''Iron Horse''; The setting was changed and more variations in developing businesses were added. In this variation the colours do not correspond to the players. Instead, players buy stock of metro companies (colours). The players then earn points based on the amount of stock they own in the businesses.

External links

{{commonscat, Metro (board game)
Metro
at the board game database Luding
Metro
at

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...

Metro
at Queen Games Board games introduced in 2000

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