
2021Mark Gerrits
Mostly how-to-play and reviews. Mini Express is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 10 reviews, 11 how-to-play guides, 3 recorded sessions, 3 unboxings, and 4 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
Mini Express is a strategic train game for 1 to 5 players in which you and other wealthy capitalists manage four railroad companies. Through careful planning and ruthless execution, players pioneer the western expansion of the 19th century, vying to be the most influential railroad baron and complete the transcontinental railroad. Mini Express is a sequel of sorts to Mini Rails in that on a turn each player takes one of the two available actions, although otherwise the games are not similar. Your action choices are to (1) lay track to expand a company's railroad or (2) take a stock from a company. To lay track, you take train pieces from the company's reservoir on the game board and place them one per hex to expand that company's network to a new city. When you do this, you gain influence in the goods that are in demand in that city. (The game includes four types of goods, and each type of good is the same color as one of the railroad companies.) Each city can have at most 1-3 companies enter it, and when that limit is reached, you remove the demand tile from the game. When you build into a hex (whether landscape or city), any other train companies in that hex gain a train in their reservoir (to represent them profiting from how your efforts affect that area). To take a stock, you must decrease your influence in that company equal to the number of trains in that company's reservoir. If you can't do so without going below zero, then you cannot take that stock. When all the shares have been claimed from two companies or two companies have no train pieces remaining, then you complete the round and the game ends. For each good/company, you multiple the number of shares you hold by a points multiplier that's based on how much influence you have in that good/company relative to other players. The higher your standing, the more valuable each of your shares will be. Whoever has the most points wins. -description from the publisher
Mini Express has 31 videos from 26 creators: 10 reviews, 11 how-to-play guides, 3 playthroughs, 3 unboxings and 4 other videos. They date from 2020 to May 2024.
To learn the rules, start with "Mini Express - Tutorial and Playthrough with special guests" by Gaming Rules!, which runs 1 h 12 min. For a quicker teach, "Mini Express (gioco da tavolo) - Tutorial Italiano" by Il Punto Ludico runs 13 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "Mini Express Review: Is a Full Train Game in 60 Min Possible?" by Game Boy Geek. 9 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "Mini Express - Solo Playthrough with the Europe map" by Gaming Rules!, one of 3 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Mini Rails, Lacuna and Mini Express: Map Pack 1 – Taiwan & United Kingdom, also by Mark Gerrits, or Food Chain Island, which shares several of its mechanics.
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2022Jay Bernardo, Tony Boydell, Mark Gerrits
1 - 4 players45 - 60 min
2020Scott Almes
1 players15 minLight weight
From BoardGameGeek:
Mini Express is a strategic train game for 1 to 5 players in which you and other wealthy capitalists manage four railroad companies. Through careful planning and ruthless execution, players pioneer the western expansion of the 19th century, vying to be the most influential railroad baron and complete the transcontinental railroad. Mini Express is a sequel of sorts to Mini Rails in that on a turn each player takes one of the two available actions, although otherwise the games are not similar. Your action choices are to (1) lay track to expand a company's railroad or (2) take a stock from a company. To lay track, you take train pieces from the company's reservoir on the game board and place them one per hex to expand that company's network to a new city. When you do this, you gain influence in the goods that are in demand in that city. (The game includes four types of goods, and each type of good is the same color as one of the railroad companies.) Each city can have at most 1-3 companies enter it, and when that limit is reached, you remove the demand tile from the game. When you build into a hex (whether landscape or city), any other train companies in that hex gain a train in their reservoir (to represent them profiting from how your efforts affect that area). To take a stock, you must decrease your influence in that company equal to the number of trains in that company's reservoir. If you can't do so without going below zero, then you cannot take that stock. When all the shares have been claimed from two companies or two companies have no train pieces remaining, then you complete the round and the game ends. For each good/company, you multiple the number of shares you hold by a points multiplier that's based on how much influence you have in that good/company relative to other players. The higher your standing, the more valuable each of your shares will be. Whoever has the most points wins. -description from the publisher
Designer
Mark Gerrits
Publisher
Moaideas Game Design
Categories
Mechanics