How to Play Age of Steam

Learn the 10-step turn order, 7 special actions, and scoring formula of Age of Steam before your first game against AI.

Turn Flow (10 steps)

Issue Shares: In player order, issue as many shares as you like
Determine Player Order: Bid in an auction to determine the next player order
Select Actions: In player order, each player claims one of the 7 special actions
Build Track: In player order, build up to 3 tiles (4 with Engineer)
Move Goods: Two rounds; move one goods cube per round
Collect Income: Collect cash equal to your income track value
Pay Expenses: Pay $1 per issued share and per locomotive link
Income Reduction: Income drops by bracket (market adjustment)
Goods Growth: Roll dice to add goods cubes to the board
Advance Turn Marker: If this was the final turn, go to scoring; otherwise the next turn begins

First Move · Move goods first in both Move Goods rounds, regardless of player order.

First Build · Build track first, regardless of player order.

Engineer · Place up to 4 track tiles this turn instead of 3.

Locomotive · Immediately increase your engine by 1 link (max 6).

Urbanization · During the build phase, replace one town with a new city tile.

Production · Just before Goods Growth, draw 2 cubes from the bag and place them on empty spaces of the Goods Display.

Turn Order Pass · In the next player-order auction, you may pass once instead of bidding without dropping out.

Income track value × 3 + completed link tiles × 1 − issued shares × 3

Build up to 3 tiles per turn (4 with Engineer). Cost depends on terrain.
Urbanization is free, but only before you build your first track this turn. If you build track first, you lose this turn’s Urbanization chance.
Incomplete track sections lose ownership if you do not extend them on the next turn.
Goods can travel as many links as your engine level (max 6), and each owner of a traversed link gains +1 income. Favor routes over your own links.
A goods cube must reach a city of the same color to be delivered. Placing a new city creates a new destination for that color.
Income Reduction: income 11–20 is −2 / 21–30 is −4 / 31–40 is −6 / 41–49 is −8 / 50+ is −10.
If you cannot pay expenses (shares + engine), income is forcibly reduced; if income drops below 0, you go bankrupt and are eliminated.