Game of Trains: All Aboard this Refreshingly Simple Card Game

The Game of Trains is all about lining up your train cards in the proper order. But your opponents might put a spoke in your wheel with a well-timed card ability.

Will your train carry you to success? Or will your opponents leave you behind?

Gameplay

Each player is given a locomotive card, which serves as the front of your train. Then each player is dealt seven train cards to form their individual trains. Each train card has a number on it. You lay these cards out to create your train, arranging them from left to right in descending numerical order. The first player who is able to rearrange their cards from left to right in ascending numerical order, wins the game.

On your turn you have two choices, you may draw a card or use a card’s ability. If you draw a card, you take it from the top of the draw pile. You must replace one of your train cards with this new card, placing the old card face up in the center of the table. Each card also has an ability listed on it. If there are ever two cards in the center of the table with the same ability, both are discarded.

If you choose to use a card ability on your turn, you may use any ability on one of the cards in the center of the table. Once used, the card is discarded. These abilities allow you to swap around certain cards in your train depending on their positions to each other or move cards forward or backwards a certain number of spaces on your train. These abilities can also force all players to discard a card in a particular position from their train and replace it with one drawn from the draw pile, or allow you to protect one of your cards from these abilities.

Review

Game of Trains is quite simple. You can learn it in a matter of minutes and begin playing it almost immediately. It’s a game that kids can definitely grasp, while the train abilities add enough to interest adults as well, making it a good family game.

The game’s artwork is quite neat, as each train card shows a train car loaded down with something different and often creative and unique.

Manipulating your train cards is satisfying and there’s some strategy in choosing where to place each new card you draw. You can certainly run into sheer old bad luck, and there’s not much to mitigate that, though the action cards can help a little. But turn orders are fast and the game plays quick enough that you don’t have much time to become frustrated even if you keep drawing badly.

Sometimes you just want something easy to play. You’re not looking for a bunch of bells and whistles. You want simplicity. That’s exactly what Game of Trains offers. It’s fun, it’s light, and it's refreshingly easy.

Pros: Great artwork, good family game

Cons: Little to mitigate bad luck when drawing cards

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.