Age of Steam Expansion: Beer & Pretzels

I love the map, it's the area that I live in! But the rules changes, while interesting, just didn't hold up and we found ourselves wanting to change them half-way through the game.

[Played 8 years after its initial release as part of Guiltfest 2017.]

An odd duck on an even keel. Money is plentiful, but there's no guarantee that everyone will earn the same amount. And since money = straight up VPs, you can screw yourself out of a win by overbidding or overbuilding.

Trivia: This map was released to advertise (commemorate?) [url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44558/beer-pretzels/ratings?comment=1]this game[/url] by the same designer, back before Mr. Alspach became known for [url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155426/castles-mad-king-ludwig]Ludwig[/url] and endless Werewolf variants.

[url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/162040/item/3436558#item3436558]1 play[/url], 4er

It's still AoS, but seems to be greatly simplified.

Rule changes:

• no income, expenses, or shares!
• start with $20 cash
• moving cube immediately pays link owner $5 cash
• the player with the most money wins!

Surprisingly, the map works pretty well. The auctions are really wonky, though, since there is SO much money in the game. It still feels somewhat like Age of Steam. Or actually, maybe more like Steam? It's not bad if you want to play a very quick game, but I think it might be better with 5 or 6 -- so that more money gets sucked away in the auctions for turn order? Or maybe try this with Base Steam rules?