I was thrilled to find it here, but I have one problem with this version. It's starting point.
This game is very addictive, as simple as it is. The game starts in the year 1800, with $100,00, with typical trains for the period. You get like colored trains to go into their respective "stations" and get money. You start off with a yellow and a red town, and you must build tracks to and from so a red train coming out of the yellow town can go to its station without crashing.
It costs you to build track, which is chosen from pre set shapes by clicking your mouse pad, get penalized for building through trees/houses. It costs money to clear wrecks by calling out a server car to erase the danger icon. Switch tracks to make the trains avoid collision and go to their proper town with a mouse click.
Along the game play the "time" progresses and as it does, so does the shape and speed of the trains coming out. Each time the correct color train goes into the correct town, you earn money. If you build too much track for the amount of trains you have successfully negotiated to their proper stations, a railroad cross buck comes up
and game is over.
At any point in your layout, you may, if you choose, save it. If, by the time the fifth town comes up and you have a complete mess which will never work, you can quit that, go back to archives and find the place you saved the game and try again. If you get caught up and don't save it....back to square one!! On the higher levels, just to add more interest and chaos, there is a "ghost" train. A flashing white engine that obeys no rules regarding stop lights or track switches. Simply put it to any town!!
Eventually on your little screen you will have 6 colors of towns with trains coming in all directions!! I have been known to play into the wee hours, caught up in..." I see what I did wrong, let's try it this way". The only problem I have with this download version is that it starts at level 16. If you have never played before, you need to start at level one, to build your understanding of the track building slowly. If you have never played....starting at level 16 will be frustrating and it may give cause for you to quit altogether, which is a true shame.
