years running with an
18xx title, and On the Underground
follows the transport theme but applies it to the London Subway system, known of
course as the Underground. This game was published in partnership with Rio
Grande. ON THE UNDERGROUND (JKLM/Rio Grande Games, 3-5 players, ages 7 and up, 90 minutes; $39.95)
JKLM is a British company
that has produced a nice lineup of games for each of the last few Essen fairs.
Highlighting their output is the fact that they use varying themes and their
games vary in depth. There is a decided transport bent to a subset of their
games, including two years running with an
18xx title, and On the Underground
follows the transport theme but applies it to the London Subway system, known of
course as the Underground. This game was published in partnership with Rio
Grande.
The large board is a map of
the London Underground, with points for stations and spaces for tracks to be
built among them. Some stations are designated as National Rail stations and
others end a line as the Terminus. Eight stations are designated as
"connection stations" and four pairs of tokens are randomly placed on
these to start the game. Depending on the number playing, each player will
control the construction of two to four different colored lines. The play of the
game is simple and it is mostly about scoring as many points per turn as
possible. Each turn, a player will add up to four links from the lines he
controls and in doing so scores based on four attributes:
Connecting to a National Rail station is worth one point;
Reaching a Terminus is worth two points;
If a single line connects two common connection tokens, that connection is worth three points; and
Every station inside a loop, but not part of the loop, is worth one point
when the loop is completed.
Rules for building are
straight-forward. A line can start anywhere but then must continue from either
of its ends. A line can branch only by playing two branch tokens. These tokens
are earned when reaching a Terminus or can be selected in place of building any
or all of the four 
possible
links per turn.
In addition to building the
rail network, a single large passenger pawn begins on a station and each turn
moves to one of four destinations outlined on cards. The passenger always goes
to an Express station if such a card exists, otherwise he can go to any of the
four spots available. The passenger can ride on the trains and walk on the
un-built track, but uses a formula to minimize the walking and number of
different lines he rides. For each colored line he uses, that player gets one
point but this point is indifferent to the number of links traveled. So if the
passenger moves five links on your red and just one link on my green, we each
get one point. As soon as the passenger reaches a destination, a new card is
revealed so that he will always have four options through the game.
The game does not feel new
or original yet is not a replica of anything else produced. The track placement
feels a bit like Knizia's Through the Desert
(Winter 1999 GA REPORT), in the limited placement to get
the near term scores (oases and waterholes in that game). On the Underground has
less of the longer-term scoring establishment of that game, although reaching a
Terminus, linking the same connections, and creating a large loop are close. The
passenger movement is a bit reminiscent of Splotter's Bus, although the
development aspect of that game is missing. It seems at first that determining
where to move the passenger and how to optimize those points would bog
down playing time but in practice, this works well and is easy to pick up quickly.
Overall, this is a game that succeeds more because what it isn't than of what it is. It is not complicated, it is not overly strategic, and it looks complicated because of the busy map and all the bits but really isn't. The box states that the game is for players seven years and up; that's not a distinction you see on many games but it is accurate for this game. It's a great way to learn the Underground system and it works well with any number of players. It's best with three or four, though. Ready to take a trip? - - - - - Ben Baldanza
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