BJ looks at the newest solo Button Shy game from Scott Almes, THE ROYAL LIMITED
I wonder what other people see when they stare at the cover of The Royal Limited. The first thing I noticed were the two fleur-de-lis symbols bracketing the name, along with a crown over the ‘O’ letter. Yet, when I first opened up this wallet sized game, the thematic setting in the rules talked about England in the 1960s and celebrities riding a luxury train experience.
That combo was a little discordant for me. Instead of 60s London, reading the name The Royal Limited instantly brought me back to hearing Radney Foster’s Went For A Ride for the first time. It’s always been a fan favorite, but the inspiration behind the song was unknown to me until his Are You Ready For The Big Show? album.
During the live performance at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas, Radney told the story of a former slave from Tennessee, who enlisted in the Union Army, then the Buffalo soldiers, and then became a world renowned trick shooter with Wild Bill Cody’s Western Show. But when the rodeoing ended, he “had to have a job.” So he became a porter on one of the big train lines until his retirement. To hear Radney tell the story conjures up visions of Black cowboys like Nat Love and Boise Ikard and Bill Pickett, names that should be every bit as famous as Wild Bill Hickok and Phil Coe.
To my mind, the name and setting of The Royal Limited promised a big little game chock full of iron horses chugging down the main line, as a Black former cowboy-turned-railroad porter recalls days when he was the toast of Queen Victoria herself. The story of the African American contribution to the culture of the West would make a great board game, don’t you think? The designer and developer missed the chance at a greater theme and backstory. But luckily for you and me, the game that the designer did gift us more than makes up for the miss.
Spoiler alert: The Royal Limited is a great little 18 card solo game.
In The Royal Limited, you are tasked with the goal of creating this luxury train in such a way that you get rid of all of the 18 cards in your possession, all before the train leaves the station. The cards you play will come from a central deck and a VIP sideboard, and they will be played linear style in two levels: train cars and passengers.
The game is actually pretty simple, even though it is diabolical in execution. You start with five cards in your hand, and each card references three things: a number, a ticket color, and a special power. Playing the cards as “train cars” means they are played horizontally, and you can play them so long as you never play two cards of the same color and number next to each other.
Cards can also be played vertically, by tucking them as “passengers” behind the train cars. These cards must match ticket colors or numbers, and doing so, triggers the special ability of the train car itself. This is the biggest danger in the game, because those special abilities can trigger into stacks that can cause an abrupt, unexpected end of the round (or the game) if you are not careful enough.
Finally, each game comes with two random VIP rider cards on your sideboard, and to win, they need to go into your train as passengers, also. These “passengers” may have a color or they may even be wild, but playing them is a key to winning the game. Only by getting to zero cards in your hand and deck when the timer runs out can you really say you have won the game.
I am not much of a solo gamer, only an occasional dabbler, but I do like exploring the Button Shy solo card games. They generally take twenty minutes or less and are pretty easy to set up and tear down (with some notable exceptions). The Royal Limited hits all of those notes with ease. It is super easy to set up — shake up the deck, draw two random VIPS, and get the conductor’s watch set up. It is super easy to learn, as the rules essentially come down to how exactly you place a train car or passenger down, and when you can play the VIPs.
The only tricky rule to manage is that some of the cards have a keyword called “next”, which is mandatory, or you pass for the round and advance the conductor’s watch. The next keyword has been the death of my play many times now. It can trigger these cascading effects, as it forces you to discard cards, or even forces you to play a card as a passenger, which triggers even more effects. That chain reaction creates a lot of tension in the game, which is definitely needed since this is a 18 card solo game.
I have yet to hit the goal of “zero” cards in hand, but I’ve come close many times. Each time I flame out (four or more is a terrible score, according to the auteur, I set it up right back again. I do like the fact that the base game comes with ten different playable VIPs, and seeing fictional characters like L. Davis (the veteran musician) and K. Yoon (the fashion designer) each with unique powers definitely adds to the flavor as well as the replayability.
You can yell at me for recency bias, but even glancing through the blog posts of the previous solo games I’ve covered does not dissuade me into thinking that The Royal Limited is my favorite of the solo Button Shy games so far. Now if you will excuse me, I’ve got to set up the game again. There are still a few VIPs I have yet to safely transport.
Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo
A complimentary copy of the game was provided by the publisher.