Take the Train is a card game marketed by the U.S. Playing Card Company under its Bicycle Games sub-brand. The object of the game is to have the most train fares remaining at the end of the game; train fares are distributed evenly among players, and are lost when a player cannot play from their hand and for each card left when a player empties their hand.
The game includes:
Players choose the dealer by some fair means. For the normal game, the Transfer cards are removed, but they can be left in for a more advanced variation. The dealer shuffles while the train fares are distributed evenly (any remainder is placed in the tray, known as the Conductor's Pot). The dealer then deals the cards face-down, one at a time; 13 cards each for 2 or 3 players, 8 for 4 or more. The remaining cards are placed face-down to form the draw pile, known as the Conductor's Hand.
Starting on the dealer's left, a player checks to see if they have a Station card. If so, they play it to start the first line. If not, their turn passes (they do not need to pay a Fare at this time). If no player has a station, players draw in turn until one is found (again, not yet paying fares).
Once the first Station has been played, that line is open. Players in clockwise fashion proceed to make one of the following plays per turn:
The game is over when one player empties his hand of cards, or alternately if a player runs out of Fares. All other players pay one Fare to the pot for each card, and the player with the most Fares left wins.
The game can be played in rounds, with score kept based on the number of Fares the winning player had left. Play can then be to 100 or 250, or the highest total after a number of rounds.
A Free Ride card is a wild card that can stand in for any one number card (it cannot be a specialty or Station card). As the number card it stands in for exists, a player may, on their turn, play the card for which the Free Ride is standing in, and take the Free Ride for their own use. This counts as the play for their turn.
An End of Line card, when placed on one end of a line, prohibits players from adding to that side of the line. To play cards that would normally be played on that end, the players must instead "wrap around" the other end of the line. For instance, if the End of Line was played on the 8 of a line, the 9 of that color, which would normally be played on the 8, instead becomes the last card that can be played on that line; the descending side must "wrap around" from 1 to 12 to 11 etc. until the 9 can be played.
A Transfer card, used in more advanced variants, allows a player to "split" a line by branching off a sequence of a differing color, beginning from a card of which the player holds a card of the same number in a different color. For instance, with the Magenta line open, a player may not have a playable Magenta card, but DOES have an Orange 5 and a Transfer card, and the Magenta 5 has been played. The player plays the Transfer card next to the Magenta 5, then plays the Orange 5 on the other side. Orange cards 4 to 1 can now be played off of the 5 heading away from the station. Any cards that would normally lie between the Station and the number at which the Transfer was played, as well as anything to the other side of the Station, cannot be played until the Station is played.