These games involve buying and selling stock in railway companies, laying track, and running locomotives to generate a profit.
Most are hex map games in which cardboard tiles are laid to build sequences of railway track.
Instead of the hex map system found in 18XX games, railway tracks are drawn with crayons or dry erase markers.
Their largest event is the Puffing Billy Tournament, but other competitions include Iron Man, the 18XX Championship, and the Empire Builder International.
[4] Train games are also popular at the annual World Boardgaming Championships which routinely attracts over 1000 participants, over 100 of whom play titles such as Rail Baron, Empire Builder and 18XX.