Crash Games’ Successfully Kickstarted Card Game ‘Yardmaster’ Will Be Arriving On iOS In August

Last month, tabletop game designer/publisher Crash Games ran a successful Kicktstarter campaign to fund a new locomotive-themed card game called Yardmaster.

The campaign had a funding goal of $18,000 and the project made more than double that with a total of $39,992 pledged, unlocking four out of five stretch goals. Unfortunately the fifth and final stretch goal (unlocked at $44,000) would have unlocked digital iOS and Android ports of the game.

However, despite not reaching the final stretch goal, Crash Games’ Founder, Patrick Nickell just announced in the latest project update that Yardmaster will still be making an appearance on iOS on August 29th, a couple of months before the physical game is slated to arrive to backers (myself included) in October.

We don’t have anymore details at this point with regards to single player, local and/or online multiplayer game modes or pricing, but I’ve reached out to the folks at Crash Games for some more info. I will definitely be watching this one closely as the game looks like a good deal of fun and I can’t wait to check it out.

Here is a description of Yardmaster from the Kickstarter page:

In Yardmaster, 2-4 players compete to build trains comprised of railcars of different goods and values. However, players are restricted in connecting railcars of only the same value or good type, so if you grab a railcar you can’t use, it needs to wait in your sorting yard until it can legitimately hook up to your train.

Players start with three cargo cards in hand, and three railcar cards are laid out on the table. Each player has one exchange token in one of the four colors, and whoever is to the right of the start player has a Yardmaster token. On a turn, a player takes two actions, repeating an action if desired; whoever holds the Yardmaster token takes a third action on her turn, then passes this token to the right. Players can:

Draw a cargo card from the deck or (in most cases) from the top of the discard pile.
Buy a railcar by discarding 1-4 cargo cards of the same color as the railcar, with the number determined by that railcar’s value.

Swap your exchange token for another one; you can discard two cargo cards matching the color of your token to represent one cargo card of the proper color when buying a railcar.

Eight cargo cards provide bonus actions during play, such as drawing extra cargo cards or paying less cargo to purchase a railcar. The player to reach 16-18 points first wins.

Check out the Kicktstarter campaign page for more details and some preview videos of the physical version.