Version 1.2, 4th September 2009

This page lists some variants that other players have suggested and that I have not adopted, along with some possibilities that I have yet to try.

Other groups

Other players have suggested variants to the game over the years.   I have incorporated some of these into my own house rules.  This section lists a couple of the ones I have not adopted, along with my thoughts about each one.

Some groups finish the current set of operating rounds when the bank runs out of money, rather than just the current round. (This suggestion first appeared in a review of 1825 Unit 1 by Stuart Dagger.  It transpired that the review copy had the wrong amount of game money, which shortened the game considerably.  When playing with the correct amount of money, I have never found the need for this rule).

One suggestion is to limit the increase to share values on paying dividends to a maximum of two spaces. I.e. to ignore the rule that the marker is moved three spaces to the right if the dividend is at least three times the current share value or four spaces if the dividend is at least four times the current value. (The aim of this rule is to stop share values reaching the end of the Share Price Index too quickly.  I have never found this to be a problem.  Indeed, I would find this variant reduces the end-of-game tension between higher-value companies and newer companies that pay higher dividends).

Other possibilities

This section lists some possible minor variants that I have yet to try.

Increase a company’s share price by one space on the Share Price Index when its last share is sold from the initial offering.  (This encourages players to buy the last share in a company, which may make more companies available for purchase).

When a company has no trains when it is due to run trains, move its marker two spaces to the left on the SPI instead of the usual one for no income, unless it is in receivership and leasing a train.  (This gives a penalty to stripping a company of trains completely.  It also applies in the first turn of major companies, which balances the effect of the increase in share price for selling the last share)

If a company has no trains but has previously been run in at least one operating round, halve the value (rounding down) of its shares when selling shares and when valuing the shares at the end of the game.  When buying such shares, the buyer must pay full price.   (This rule is taken from Mike Hutton’s 1860 game.  It enforces some loss of value when a director strips all the assets from a company and leaves it with trains that then become obsolete.  It could possibly also be applied if the company has not operated or even floated, which would affect the tactic of buying and selling shares in order to make new companies available).