Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Light strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Collect cargo, buy matching railcars, and assemble a valuable train whose neighboring cars share a good type or value.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Advantage Token
A transferable advantage changes ties, priority, or the strength of an action.
Read the full game description
Yardmaster is a quick railway card game about turning the right cargo into a legal, high-value train. Four railcars wait in the arrival yard, each demanding payment in cargo cards of its color. A purchased car cannot simply join anywhere: it must connect to the end of your train by matching either the neighboring car’s value or its good type. Cars that do not yet fit remain in the sorting yard, tying up points until a suitable link appears. On a normal turn players take two actions—drawing cargo, buying a car, or changing an exchange token—while the circulating Yardmaster token grants a third action and then passes to the right. Bonus cargo cards create timely discounts and extra draws. The open arrival yard makes opportunities easy to read, but the shared discard pile and strict connections reward planning one or two cars ahead.
