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"Goblins, as you may or may not know, are not a particularly patient, considerate or generous race." The cover of the Off the Rails rule book sets the scene for the tight, competitive push-your-luck game within its compact box.
Designed and published by Andrew and Stuart Platt and also featuring Andrew's art, Off the Rails was made possible by a successful 2017 Kickstarter campaign. The core game plays in about an hour for 2-4 players and there's also a solo mode that takes about 20 minutes.
I didn't back Off the Rails on Kickstarter, so the first I heard of the game was when I got my copy around the time of its retail release. I loved the cartoon art on the box and was intrigued by the mechanics, but does the game hold up in actual play?
Off the Rails: The Basics
Off the Rails takes place on a board divided by a grid, with each side acting as the starting point for a player. In the centre of the board are four coloured mine squares. A card drawn every turn causes jewels to be generated around one of the these mines. It is these that players must race to pick up and carry to the edge of the board (the 'surface layer') in their mine carts.
But there's a twist. Around halfway through the game, the Chasm Card will come up. When this card is revealed, players must lay a chasm tile each turn instead of generating jewels. A chasm tile effectively removes a space (and anything on it) from the game, making it harder and harder to move around.
After a few turns, the growing chasms will make it impossible for any mine carts to stay on the board. When every cart has either made it off safely or fallen into a chasm, the game ends and players score points based on the number and type of jewels they collected.
Fun, Frantic Track-laying
To move around the board, players lay and upgrade track tiles that dictate where their mine carts can go. The basic tiles feature either a straight piece of track or a 90 degree corner. These basic tiles can be upgraded to T-junction tiles, which can, in turn, be upgraded to cross junctions.
Players get four actions a turn. They can use these actions to lay or upgrade tiles, to place one of their two mine carts on the track, or to change a mine cart's speed. Speed is cleverly tracked with a D6 that sits in the cart. However, how many pips are showing on the die is the number of squares that the cart must move at the end of the action phase. Each cart starts at three, with players able to slow them down or speed them up throughout their turns.
When a cart passes over jewels they can pick them up, but to score them they must deposit them safely at the surface (edge of the board). Hazards such as disconnected tracks, collisions with other players and, eventually, chasms will causes players to drop jewels or even lose them and their carts completely as the game progresses. This means that players have to be able to think on the fly and adapt their strategies to what other players are doing and what's happening on the board.
A Great Blend of Skill, Luck and Player Interaction
It's hard to fault the basic set-up of Off the Rails' mechanics. In my opinion, Andrew and Stuart Platt have struck an excellent balance between skill, luck and player interaction. The skill of the game is undeniable, as players have to think hard to plan out optimal routes, pick up jewels and get to the surface safely. I love the balance between laying track and managing the progress of one or two mine carts. You can tell that a game requires skill because you get a real sense of accomplishment when you pull off a strategy, which is what I've experienced time and again in Off the Rails.
That said, the game does have elements of randomness that make luck a factor. Random jewel deposits can favour some players, as can Chasm tile placement (though players have a lot of choice once the initial chasms have been placed). Far from this randomness making the game feel too luck-driven, I've found that it heightens the excitement. There is enough randomness to force players to think fast and adapt, but not so much that whole strategies can be ruined in one moment. When randomness has caused big shifts in the games I've played, I've found those moments to be tense and dramatic, with players aware that they're taking a risk before being hit by 'bad luck.'
In addition to both individual skill and luck, the interaction between players also has a role in the game. Once a track tile has been laid any player can use it, which means that collisions are very possible. Collisions are always worse for the player who has been hit, which means that there is always an incentive for the turn player to initiate one. I think the Platts have nailed the interaction by making sure that it's effective but not too punishing. If the cart that's hit is carrying jewels, at worst it will lose half. It will only be completely destroyed if it's carrying nothing, which means there's no loss of points.
Collisions can also change the direction of the carts involved, which means that they play an important strategic function in navigating the board. Using them wisely (which I seem incapable of doing) takes skill and planning. They can hurt the active player more than the opponent if not used well.
Extra Gameplay
Andrew and Stuart have increased the game's mileage by adding in additional variants for multiplayer and a solo mode. The game comes with a small deck of objective cards, which can be used to give players bonus points at the end of the game. These reward achievements like completely filling your cart, causing certain types of collisions or for having the most of certain types of jewel. I haven't felt the need to use them yet, but I can see them adding an extra touch of variability to keep the game fresh in the future.
Solo Mode
In addition to the main 2-4 player game, the designers have added a solo mode. The mechanics are similar but the rules objectives different. The player controls one of each colour mine cart - which can still only be launched from the corresponding surface layer - and must collect at least one of each type of jewel, returning it to the correct surface layer (each jewel matches a surface colour) to win the game.
Unlike the multiplayer game, all the jewels that will ever be available start the game around the mines. Drawing cards at the end of the turn doesn't add more; instead, each card drawn adds a new chasm tile to the board. In the flavour of the game, the goblin tribes have realised that in order to get anything from the mines before they collapse, they need to work together!
I've played the solo mode a couple of times and won both times, even achieving the 'perfect' victory (returning two gems of each type to the right surface layer). I'm still not that experienced with the game, so this suggests to me that the solo mode maybe isn't that hard. I might have just got lucky, but I certainly got the sense that this solo mode isn't brain busting like some games can be.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. I still enjoyed the games, which played in about 20 minutes, and definitely felt the tension from the growing chasms. Honestly, I do think that the gameplay better multiplayer, but the solo mode is a nice addition and certainly not a waste of time.
The Presentation of the Game
Off the Rails is not one of those Kickstarter games where they went over the top with production. Instead, I think the Platts used the platform well to create a game that looks and feels high quality, without raising the price and size of the game beyond what it needs to be.
The art style on the board, tiles and cards is fun and unique, giving the game a very distinctive look. These cardboard pieces are complimented by really well-designed plastic mine carts that fit the tiles perfectly and do a great job of holding a speed die securely whilst making it easy to rotate as you change the cart's speed.
The jewels are also made from very attractive translucent plastic. I guess that cardboard tokens could have been used instead, but I'm glad they weren't. The little plastic jewels are very tactile and look great, adding to the experience of picking them up and dropping them off into your stockpile.
Final Thoughts on Off the Rails
I'm glad that Kickstarter exists because of games like Off the Rails. This project might never have seen the light of day were it not for the funds that Andrew Platt was able to raise in advance. It's fantastic to see small UK designers and publishers putting out games as good as this.
When I opened the box I expected Off the Rails to be a bit of light fun. While it certainly isn't a heavy game, that expectation nevertheless did it a disservice. Andrew and Stuart Platt have created an excellent game out of a few components and a relatively simple rule set. Off the Rails is strategic without being overly complicated, dramatic without being unfair and interactive without being mean.
True, it's not perfect. The one fiddly element is setting up the deck of cards, which seems convoluted even if it does help the game's balance. The solo mode of the game is enjoyable but, as I've said, not at the same standard as the main game. That doesn't bother me, as I'll play it multiplayer more often than not, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're hoping to get a lot of solo time out of it.
Those gripes are really all I can say against the game and they're very, very minor. I love the multiplayer game play, the replay-ability and the quality of the production. Off the Rails is an excellent game and one that I think will win a lot of fans if it gets the attention it deserves.
