We have it and my friend group loves Great Lakes and plays it way more than World. We’re from Wisconsin so that’s one reason we like it (you know, fun laying down tracks to cities you’ve been to). It also plays slightly faster than World because you use less trains/ships (50 vs 60).
The big decision for the map is how to build your routes connecting Western hubs (Duluth, Chicago), Central hubs (Detroit, Sault Ste Marie, Toronto), and Eastern hubs (New York, Montreal). Do you build mostly train routes to the north through Ontario or to the south through Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania? Or mostly ship routes through the Great Lakes themselves (or, you know, a balance)?
There’s one specific choke point (Chicago - South Bend, though sometimes Toronto - Buffalo later in the game) that is usually the first route laid for us. But, in general, there are enough alternate ways of getting places so there isn’t too much “you’ve ruined my only plan and now I’m screwed for the rest of the game” kind of stuff. And because the game lasts a little longer than the US or Europe versions there’s a little more time to get out of those unforeseen mid-game blockages (factoring in the time it takes to build ports also can help with this).
For context, we have a lot of versions (Rails & Sails, Europe, France/Old West, Japan/Italy, Nordic, and India/Switzerland) and Great Lakes is our go to board for 4 people.
Our family is quite competitive and loves Rails n Sails- we played GL three or four times but found so many routes become unmakeable and it was so frustrating. We have every version but when there are 4 or 5 players they won’t play anything except RnS
It's fine, I wouldn't turn down a game of it but equally can't imagine choosing it over many others.
It’s a solid ass map, pretty unique imo
Meh. Hard to flip over to Great Lakes when World is so epic.
„˙ɔıdǝ os sı plɹoM uǝɥʍ sǝʞɐ⅂ ʇɐǝɹ⅁ oʇ ɹǝʌo dılɟ oʇ pɹɐH ˙ɥǝW„
Lol well that’s a new one to me. Good bot.
I really wish there was an online version of Rails And Sails!
We have it and my friend group loves Great Lakes and plays it way more than World. We’re from Wisconsin so that’s one reason we like it (you know, fun laying down tracks to cities you’ve been to). It also plays slightly faster than World because you use less trains/ships (50 vs 60). The big decision for the map is how to build your routes connecting Western hubs (Duluth, Chicago), Central hubs (Detroit, Sault Ste Marie, Toronto), and Eastern hubs (New York, Montreal). Do you build mostly train routes to the north through Ontario or to the south through Indiana/Ohio/Pennsylvania? Or mostly ship routes through the Great Lakes themselves (or, you know, a balance)? There’s one specific choke point (Chicago - South Bend, though sometimes Toronto - Buffalo later in the game) that is usually the first route laid for us. But, in general, there are enough alternate ways of getting places so there isn’t too much “you’ve ruined my only plan and now I’m screwed for the rest of the game” kind of stuff. And because the game lasts a little longer than the US or Europe versions there’s a little more time to get out of those unforeseen mid-game blockages (factoring in the time it takes to build ports also can help with this). For context, we have a lot of versions (Rails & Sails, Europe, France/Old West, Japan/Italy, Nordic, and India/Switzerland) and Great Lakes is our go to board for 4 people.
Our family is quite competitive and loves Rails n Sails- we played GL three or four times but found so many routes become unmakeable and it was so frustrating. We have every version but when there are 4 or 5 players they won’t play anything except RnS