Capstone Games announced deals for a 20th anniversary edition of Bus and with Winsome Games for Irish Gauge. 

Capstone’s new Iron Rail series will be a line of games all based on the growth and development of railroad companies during the steam power era, in different regions around the world across the history of railroading.  The games will feature elements of stock investment, railroad route building, and player interaction.

The first game in the new series will be Irish Gauge, designed by Tom Russell of Hollandspiele (Northern Pacific).  Originally published by Winsome Games in 2014, the game explores the development of the railroads in Ireland in the middle of the 1800s.  During the game, players invest in stock, expand railway networks, upgrade cities and towns, or pay out dividends, but paying dividends or upgrading towns hasten the end of the game.  The winner is the player with the highest combined stock value and cash on hand.

Irish Gauge, due out in August, is intended for 3 to 5 players, and takes about an hour to play.  It will feature artwork by Ian O’Toole (The Gallerist, Vinhos Deluxe Edition). MSRP is $40.00.

Splotter Spellen’s Bus, released in 1999, was a pioneer in the worker placement genre.  In this game by Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga, players create bus routes across a city to deliver passengers.  Each player has 20 “action cubes” to use for the entire game, and they may use any number of them each turn.  They can also “stop time” to repeat a passenger delivery, but stopping time too often triggers the end of the game.

Capstone’s updated version of Bus will have the same rules set as the original game, but will feature new artwork by Daan van Paridon (The Estates, Wildcatters). 

Last year, Capstone partnered with Feuerland Spiele to bring two of that company’s games to North America (see “‘Magnastorm’ and ‘Fuji’”).