In last week’s blog post, I discussed the Bank of New York and the strategic flexibility is adds to 18EUS. In this final blog post, let’s talk about one of my favorite parts, the private companies. I had so much fun with the design of the private companies of 18EUS.  The auction mechanism draws from 1822, as does the generality that the private companies hold no intrinsic value, mostly pay a modest income when held by the player, and confer upon the owning company special abilities.  18EUS private companies diverge from there.

18EUS’s overall private company structure is quite unique.  1822 randomizes the order of private companies, so they come out in a different order every game, but every private company is present in every game.  18EUS fixes the order in which the private companies are available, as part of setup, but randomizes which privates are present in each game.  It does so by grouping the privates into three tranches – A, B, and C.  These privates are auctioned in the initial auction at the beginning of the game, during the second stock round, and the third stock round, respectively.  (I originally had 4 rounds of private company auctions, but found the 4^th auction to quite overstay its welcome and added unnecessary complexity).  In each game, one private company in each tranche is fixed.  The other three private companies of each tranche are randomly chosen from nine.  For the math nerds like myself, this makes for 592,704 different combinations of private companies.  By fixing the round in which each private company could come out, I was able to dial in on the strength of the private companies.  I didn’t have to consider things like, “This would be overpowered if it came out early,” or “This would be a complete dud if it came out late.”  And, in general, I sought to make the private companies strong.

Two main thoughts underlie the design of many of the private companies: “Loans for Toys” and “Why not?”  I wanted to make private companies strong enough that people would consider taking out loans just to win them.  If this wasn’t compelling, then people may simply buy the railroad company shares they wanted and use the leftovers to bid on private companies.  The answer to my question “Why not?” could be a concern for dominant strategies.  However, two balancing mechanisms keep this in check.  First, players determine the value of the private companies and should seek to appropriately value the private companies.  Second, the force-buy mechanism nerfs the “Get lots of powerful private companies in one company and own >60%” strategy, as players are often not able to hold on to their shares in excess of 60% when the company is running great.  Often minority investors in these great companies come out ahead because they didn’t pay the price of the private companies.

The results have been fun.  Some might call them extreme, but I intentionally leaned into the extreme with them.  For example, here are a few things that Private companies can set you up to do. Run two trains North-South or East-West and add $300 to your run.  Attach the “N+1” and “N+2” privates to a 4D train to make a 7D train that can run for over $1000.  Add a Pullman to that, and you add another $280 to the run.  Build up your company treasury with the “Mail Contract” or “Bank Share,” which put money straight into the company coffers to help finance trains. Build double the track tiles with “Industrious Railway.”  Let your underfunded company keep paying out its 4-Train until it rusts, then use “Rust Insurance” to pay up to half the cost of the 4D train.  Use the “Reappraisal” private to bump your stock price from $700 to $800 and end the game one round early.  Avoid incurring extra interest payments and loan appreciations with “Responsible President.”  Crank up the payout and growth rate of your bank shares with “Bank Lobbyist.”  Use the “Late Bloomer” private, which comes out in every game, to fit your late-game needs, whether that be a $400 cash infusion to your company, or choosing from any of the unused private companies to add to your company.The private companies of 18EUS are unique and provide tremendous replayability.  And most of all, they have been great fun!

Previous Articles: 

18EUS’s Origin Story

18EUS: The Bank of New York

Author: Greg Holton