Four Phases

This is the second part of something.  Here's part I.

Lay Track - Phase I

At the start of your turn, your team should have three track cards laying face-up in your factory.  During this phase, you and your teammate move one or more track cards from your factory onto the game grid.  A track card can be placed onto any tile of the game grid that is not already occupied by a cart or a pit card.  This mean that teams have the option to lay track cards on top of existing track cards.  Any orientation of the track card is allowed so long as the track card occupies only one tile.

At the start of the game, teams can only lay one track card per turn.  The number of track cards a team is allowed to lay per turn can be increased if teams achieve specific objectives during play:

• For two track cards per turn: One of your team's carts (not the gold cart) must move at least three spaces in a single turn.
• For three track cards per turn: One of your team's carts (not the gold cart) must move at least five spaces in a single turn.  See phase III for details on cart movement.

When laying down track cards, a team must lay down all allotted track cards.  This means if your team has earned the ability to lay down three track cards per turn, you must lay down all three track cards every turn (not one or two).  This phase ends once you and your teammate has laid all of your allotted track cards.

Pull Lever - Phase II

During this phase, you and your teammate must decide which of the colored tiles (green, orange, fuchsia) to place the switch on.  This decision plays a critical part during the next phase of play.

Move Mine Carts - Phase III

• For the first turn of the game, your mine carts will be positioned inside your towns.
• To move a cart out of a town and onto the board, the cart must "hop" onto a track that has made a connection to the town.  The image below shows three track cards that have made a connection to a red town.  Note: This cart can only hop onto the green colored track if the switch had been placed on the green tile during the previous phase.

A Town And Some Tracks

• Once a track has been hopped onto, your cart follows the path created by connecting tracks until no more track exists to follow.
  
• When a junction is encountered, the cart must follow the track colored the same as the tile the switch occupies.  The switch should have been placed during the previous phase.

A Junction

• If the color of the tile the switch occupies is not present on the junction track card, the card follows the black track by default.
• When your cart reaches the end of the path it is traveling, your cart comes to a rest on the tile containing the last piece of track that was part of the path.  A cart should never occupy a tile on the game grid where track has not been laid.

Sample Movement - Before & After

• On your next turn, your cart will begin on the length of track your cart came to rest on during the previous turn.
• If a path exists for your mine cart to travel on, your cart must move this phase.  This rule includes the case of moving your cart out of your town and onto the game grid.
• Each team controls two carts.  These carts are labeled "1" and "2."  The order that a team moves carts is important.  First, the "1" cart moves.  Next, the "2" cart moves.  Finally, the gold cart moves.

Special notes on cart movement:

• The edges of the game grid wrap on all four sides.  The simplest way to grasp this concept is to think of the game Pac-Man.  In Pac-Man, when a player leads Pac-Man off one side of the screen, he emerges from the opposite side of the screen.  The same concept applies here.

Wrapping - Before & After

• Carts cannot pass through each other.  If the path of one cart is blocked by another cart, the moving cart will come to a halt on the tile before the collision world occur.

Blocking - Before & After

• If your cart begins phase III on a colored section of a junction track, the position of the switch (green, orange, fuchsia) does not affect your cart's ability to move off this length of track onto a connecting path.

  
Discard/Draw - Phase IV

During this phase, discard all remaining track cards (if any) in your team's factory.  Draw three new track cards from the deck, and place these new cards face-up in your team's factory.

Play now passes to the opposing team.

Cheers,

Danny