In Tinners' Trail; set in 19th century Cornwall; you represent a mining conglomerate at the height of the tin and copper mining industry. You must buy plots of land across Cornwall in auctions and survey them for tin and copper; always managing your “work points” and money effectively.
Once you have a mine in place; it's time to extract the ore and (ideally) make a profit; but the deeper your mine goes; the more expensive the process gets. To reduce the cost of mining; you can place developments; such as ports; train stations; and adits (drainage tunnels); but there's only so many improvements to go around. Once you have made your money — trying to time the market to sell when prices are high — you can invest it in industries outside of Cornwall; which gains you victory points. The earlier you invest; the better the return. Can you outplay the competition and make the most money; or will you be left without two shillings to rub together?
This edition of Tinners' Trail differs from the original 2008 version in several ways. The player count; for example; is now 1–5 instead of 3–4; and the resources on the board are now set up via tiles instead of die rolls to maintain variability while reducing the randomness. Dual-use cards are now an important part of the game; giving you information before an auction or an extra boost after an auction. The game includes two expansions; with the arsenic expansion introducing a new resource and the emigration expansion seeing miners travel overseas.
Game Components:
Game Board Rulebook Auction Marker 3 Custom Dice 43 Meeples 50 Cubes 65 Player Pieces 45 Survey Cards 8 Promo Cards 32 Area Tiles 6 Promo Tiles 9 Area Set Up Cards 10 Drainage Tokens 10 Tarot Cards 10 Additional Money The Dice Tower Seal of Approval is a trademark of The Dice Tower; LLC and is used with permission.
