Calliope Games Station Master - Railroad Strategy Board Game for Family Game Night - Fun for Kids & Adults - 2-6 Players - from The Makers of Tsuro and Roll for It!

Product is as advertised. Very giftable.

If you are looking for a fun game to play with a group of casual gamers, Station Master is a great choice. The mechanics of the game are not overwhelming, and after one time around the table, everyone will have a good grasp of how to play. The strategy choices don’t run too deep, but there are enough “gotchas” to play on opponents to keep it fun. It’s also a great game to reinforce multiplication skills with younger players.If you are a more hard core board game player, the strategy and gamesmanship will be a little light. Chance of the cards plays a large factor in the outcome. It’s a good option, however, to keep on the shelf when your non-gamer friends come by.The product is produced and packaged well. The train art is good, but there isn’t a ton of variety. My one serious criticism is the color scheme and fonts used for some of the cards. Some have white text on a gold background in a font that is a bit challenging for ‘older eyes.’ Once you memorize the cards, it’s not a problem, but I found myself having to refer to the printed rulebook at first, and this can be a turn-off for first time players. This should have been caught and revised in playtesting.Overall, a good game to have on hand for variety when you are looking for lighter gaming options.

I tried playing this a couple times with my 8yo and it just was not very fun. It was confusing and frustrating. The rules are not well-written. Maybe we never actually played it right, but it just was not interesting. The last time we played, we just abandoned the game and decided to get rid of it.

Train games, who doesn't love them? Station Master starts off like an abstract card game with a hint of hidden bid/bet mechanic. However, once you've played for a bit and start thinking strategically about the moves you're making, and when to use action cards, the game gets quite a bit more interesting.Pros:6 player game in a relatively small box (could have been smaller)Attractive production, rules are easy to read/understand and are printed on thick paperCards are decent, probably won't sleeve themFun game, not sure how well it scales through player counts as I've only played with three, but I think it could be a lot of fun at six. Not certain I can say the same thing about two, howeverCons:Passenger tokens are cardboard, looks like other versions of the 2nd edition offered wooden tokensBox could have been 50% smallerThe train theme is definitely one of those things that people either love or hate. I think it works well here considering the action cards make sense (i.e. caboose is the end of train > train leaves, uncouple > move car, etc.)Overall:Really nice production and a fun game. Going to keep this one in my collection - lightweight, but it offers enough strategy to feel like you're playing a "bigger" game. 5/5

This is a great game at a higher player count. If you have a larger gaming group and you need a game that works well with 5 or 6 players this is a great option. You can play it at a lower player count but it is more fun with more players. This game also has great player interaction. Too many games are multiplayer solitaire, not this game. It is a lot of fun to mess with the trains and passengers. It is very fun to play a game where you are constantly messing with other players plans. Also, it is nice to have a train game that is not about connecting some kind of routes. The rules are easy to learn and teach. You either assign a passenger token to the train or play a station card. The station master cards are fun because that is where you mess with people. I also like that it is a small box game. I only have three issues with what is overall a good game 1) there is some math involved in the scoring with multiplying negatives and that can confuse some people if they are not good at multiplication and remembering what happens when a negative is multiplied by a negative. 2) the use of green and red chips for passengers can be tough on colorblind player, there is green and red on engine cards too, red and green are not colorblind friendly colors. 3) I have played a deluxe version of this game which is way nicer with much better components, so after playing that much nicer version, its a bit of a component let down playing with this standard version. Overall though, this is a very enjoyable game with lots of interaction that is best with a higher player count.

I picked this up for my son as a gift as I thought he would like it for hunting. It is very light. In fact, when it arrived I didn't think there was anything in the bottle. I actually opened it up to look. I like that it's light as they often go backpacking and this will make it easier to carry. I also like that you get a smaller bottle and then a larger bottle of this stuff to use as a refill.You essentially squeeze the bottle and a whiff of this air with fine particles comes out. You watch which way they move and you can tell if you are downwind of the game you are hunting.One thing my husband mentioned was that this might be useful if you were looking for a leak in your car systems. I have had a leaking AC system and although I don't completely understand the car stuff, this might help locate it.Just a thought.