The Depot: 1870: Frequently Asked Questions

Answered by Bill Dixon, Jay Tummelson, Nick Wedd, and John Bruns

1. When do share limits increase due to the 10th company.
   The game plays with the 10 company share limits. You only use the 9 company limits if one (or more) companies closes.

2. Can a company redeem a share from the president if he has acquired more than 60% due to price protection?
   Yes.

3. If a company redeems a share from a president who holds more than 60% of the company (due to price protection), does he then have to sell down to 60% at his next opportunity?
   No - having a share redeemed from you does not count as having sold that share.

4. Can a share be redeemed by a company in order to meet a share holding limit change forced by a shift out of the yellow on the stock chart?
   If having one share redeemed can get you back to the share limit, yes.

5. Destination tokens: If a company plays a station token in its destination hex, the rules state that if he does not place the destination token it becomes an ordinary $100 marker. Is the destination city still doubled in this case?
   I am not sure what this question means, but I do think that the answer is "no". The rules say "If it [the destination station marker] is placed later as an additional $100 station marker, it does NOT double the city value."

   But the questioner is referring to the case where it is placed earlier, and on the destination city. This seems a very odd thing to do. Even so:
   My understanding of the rules is that you only get to double a city if:
   A) You are doing a connection run or
   B) You have done a connection run and placed the destination station marker.

   Note also that the city is only doubled for trains that end their run there.

   If the player had placed a token on his destination city (obviously he did not have a long enough train to do his connection run at the time the token was placed) then later in the game was eligable to do his destination run. In this case if he wished to place his destination token, the first token would be picked up and returned to the charter as a $100 token, and the destination token would be placed. Why the token exchange? The first token placed occupies a token space, the destination token does not.

   While this contradicts the rule "Once a station marker is placed, it cannot be moved or removed, unless the company closes"; in the case which you describe, obviously some special action needs to be taken.

   Anyway this is a rather unlikely case. It also wastes a bit of money: the company has paid $40, or more likely $100, to place a station marker that later gets put back as unplaced. I think it is sufficiently improbable, that it does not matter much what the rules say about it. My own guess would be that you are not meant to place a regular station marker on your destination hex.

6. Can stock be sold during the initial stock round(1830 has a specific rule against this, is that rule also in 1870?)
   NO, see last line of page 11.

7. Can players sell stock that they purchased in the same complete stock round?
   Yes, this is standard in 18xx games. Assumes that there is no other reason not to sell the shares - see selling shares p 13.

8. When during the stock round does the reissue occur? Can a player reissue stock on behalf of the company just before their turn in the stock round, thus giving themselves first crack at the stock. Since it may be at a 25% discount off of market price, this could be a major benefit.
   If a player acts on behalf of a company in a stock turn, that can be his only action; thus, when a player uses his stock turn to reissue shares, he may not also buy them (in that turn). He, of course, may buy them if they are still available on his next turn.

9. The table on page 18 of the rules, shows $220 as the new par price if the current price is #300. Is this a typo? Shouldn't $225 be the new par price?
   Looks like a typo to me, there is no 220 space on the top row of the chart, and 300 * .75 = 225.

10. The Bottom of Page 21 reads: "Shares still in the open market pay their dividends to the company. Shares in the initial offering or in the company pay their dividends to the company" Isn't this the exact opposite of 1830?
    Yes, I believe this provides the incentive for companies buying back shares. It seems more realistic that the 1830 rules. I think it works well with the purchase/reissue and price protection rules.

11. I have in front of me the grey St. Louis(172) and Kansas >City(171) tiles from 1870; they both have value 60 and track going in all six directions, with St.L. having a double station and KC a triple station. However, in the tile manifest (pg. 30 of the rules) it lists KC as having a 2xstation and St.L. with the 3x. Do the physical tiles prevail here?
    Yes; the physical tiles are correct; the manifest is wrong.

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dmreed@bihs.net last updated 29 May 1996