Objective

Score as many points as you can by optimizing the routes of 4 Underground lines through 13 districts on your map of London

Game Play

The game is played over 4 rounds. In each round, follow the 4 phases in order:

1. Find your starting station

Each new underground starts at a special starting station for its color (it will be flashing).

2. Building sections of track

This phase comprises of several turns (between 5 and 10), depending on the Station cards that are flipped over. There are a total of 11 Station cards: 6 Street cards (blue background) and 5 Underground Cards (pink and yellow background).

On each turn, a Station card is flipped over. Players draw a straight line from either end of their current line to a connected station that has the corresponding symbol. Note that two of the cards are jokers (wild cards), and can be used to connect to any symbol. One card is a Railroad Switch symbol: when this card is turned over, turn over another symbol card, but you may start your straight line segment from any station on your current line (creating a fork in your track).

Tracks may not cross (except through a station) or duplicate.

You may always pass instead of drawing a section of track. If you have no legal move, you must pass.

When the 5th Underground card (pink and yellow background) is flipped, it signals the end of this round. Players have the option to draw the last section and then proceed to the next phase.

3. Round Scoring

Each Underground scores points based on the following features:

• • MULTIPLY the number of different districts (yellow regions) this line enters
• • TIMES the maximum number of stations passed through in a single district (Choose the district with most stations passed through by this line)
• • Then, ADD 2 x How many times this line crosses under the Thames (Each crossing counts 2 points)

You will also count the number of tourist sites (spiky stations) your line passes through. For each site passed, cross off one circle on your tourist site track at the bottom of your score card. At the end of the game, you will score the leftmost uncrossed circle.

4. Finish Round

After each round, players pass their pencil to the next player on their left.

In a 2 or 3 player game, if there is an unused pencil to your right, take it instead.

End of Game / Final Scoring

Game ends after 4 rounds. On your score card, add up the following points:

• • All the points scored from your four different Underground lines.
• • The leftmost uncrossed circle on your tourist site track.
• • Interchange station points (interchanges that connect different colors: 2 points per interchange connecting 2 lines, 5 points per interchange connecting 3 lines, 9 points per interchange connecting all 4 lines).

The player with the highest score wins the game! In the event of a tie, the player with the highest score for a single Underground line wins. If a tie persists, the players involved share the victory.

Construction Rules

Remember, drawing a section is always optional. If you cannot or do not want to draw a section during a turn, you can ignore it and wait until the next card is shown.

The first section of an Underground line must always be drawn from your current departure station.
Each station after this must be drawn from either end of your line and must connect to a station with the same symbol as shown on the flipped over station card.
Exception: When a Railroad Switch is flipped over, a new station card is flipped. Players may draw a new section starting from ANY station on their line connecting to a station with the revealed symbol.

Adding a Section

• Each section that you draw must be a single straight line going horizontally, vertically or diagonally following the grey potential lines laid out on the map.
• Each section must always link two stations together without crossing through another station.
• You cannot cross through a section of any line that has already been drawn, except at stations.
• You cannot connect to a station that is already part of your current line (no loops).
• You cannot draw more than one section per grey potential line. (no doubling up).

Advanced modules

For a new challenge, you can play Next Station London with its advanced modules. Add either Shared Objective cards or Pencil Power cards into the mix, or even play with both sets of cards!

Shared Objectives

Randomly select 2 of the 5 shared objectives. These 2 independent objectives remain visible for the whole game. Each player scores 10 extra points at the end of the game for each completed objective.

Pencil Powers

Each Pencil Power card is linked to one single pencil color for the entire game. Each power is helpful but can only be used once per round. Using Pencil Powers is optional and you do not have to use them in every round.

Solo Daily Challenge

If you select this option when starting a solo game, and have enabled "Share data with Blue Orange" in the game's settings, you will be dealt a solo game with a pre-shuffled deck of cards for the day. The leaderboard for that day's games is visible at https://nextstationlondon.blueorangegames.eu