I’m a firm believer that a game of 1825 Unit 3 per year helps to maintain a healthy mind. So, that’s what we did. This was already the fifth of our Unit 3 games. This time, with experience and my nice spreadsheet for money management, we were able to finish in just 2.5 hours.
Not a bad game at all! Olli got the Stockton & Darlington, I bought six shares of CR and three NBR while Olli had four CR and three NBR, including the presidency. On third SR, both of us got one more NBR and then on the fourth SR Olli dumped all NBR shares and invested in GSWR. He got six shares, while I got just one. I believe I lost the game here. On the next SR the rest of the GSWR was sold and I had only two of them.
Sixth stock round had us buy more NBR — two for me, one for Olli. At this point all three companies were running at 200-230 pounds. CR was taking money in, while NBR and GSWR paid out.
On SR 7, Olli started HR at 112. He got six, I got four. That was probably another mistake from me — I’ve learnt that minors should not be leaved monopolized, as they can be very lucrative, but this one wasn’t and I helped to fund some train shenanigans. GSWR got a 5 train from HR and that sealed the deal.
On SR 8 the other minors were started. Olli got M&C at 112 and I got GN of S at 142 (enough to buy the mandatory 5 train and a 7 train). Now NBR was running for 330, while GSWR was running for 440 — and I only had 20%! That was painful, especially as those runs continued for six operating rounds.
SR 9 was last, we could see GSWR would reach the end of the SPI during the next operating rounds. So, it was just time to get as good a portfolio as possible. Me and Olli bought the rest of GN of S, Olli swept the M&C shares and I got bunch of NBR shares and couple of CR shares when my money ran out (those were cheap, just 71, when NBR shares cost 230).
NBR got a 7 train from GN of S, while M&C’s 7 train went to HR. In the end NBR was able to run for 520, but only once.
In the end I had slightly more cash, but Olli had a better portfolio. Final scores were 8423–8281, thus I lost. The difference is only about 2%, so I’d call the victory marginal.
