Great Western Trail: Second Edition
Drive cattle to Kansas City, improve your herd, hire workers, build along the trail and advance your locomotive in Alexander Pfister’s revised cattle-ranching strategy game.
Move a cattleman along the trail toward Kansas City, using buildings and neutral locations for actions along the way.
Improve your cattle deck, hire workers, build structures and advance the locomotive so each delivery becomes more valuable and opens stronger opportunities.
Why We Love It
Great Western Trail ties deck building to movement along a shared route. Improving the herd changes what you can deliver in Kansas City, while buildings, workers and locomotive progress create competing long-term investments.
About Great Western Trail: Second Edition
Move a cattleman along the trail toward Kansas City, using buildings and neutral locations for actions along the way.
Improve your cattle deck, hire workers, build structures and advance the locomotive so each delivery becomes more valuable and opens stronger opportunities.
Game at a Glance
Improve the Herd
Add better cattle cards so future hands deliver more value.
Travel the Trail
Move through buildings and hazards toward Kansas City.
Hire Specialists
Cowboys, craftsmen and engineers improve different parts of the economy.
Deliver Efficiently
Strong hands and rail progress turn repeated deliveries into points and income.
What is Great Western Trail: Second Edition?
Great Western Trail: Second Edition is the revised 2021 edition of Alexander Pfister’s cattle-ranching strategy game. Players repeatedly move along the trail to Kansas City, managing a hand of cattle cards and a growing network of buildings and workers.
The second edition includes official solo rules and supports 1–4 players.
How the game works
On a turn, you move your rancher along the trail and resolve the building where you stop. Buildings can buy cattle, hire workers, construct new locations, improve certificates or advance the railroad.
When you reach Kansas City, your current cattle hand determines delivery value. You then reset for another trip, carrying forward the improvements you made to your deck, workforce, buildings and rail position.
The decisions that define it
The main tension is whether to improve the next delivery or invest in systems that pay off over later trips. Better cattle raise hand value, but engineers, craftsmen and cowboys unlock different long-term efficiencies.
Route tempo matters too: moving quickly produces more deliveries, while stopping often can build a stronger engine.
Who is it for?
Choose Great Western Trail if you want a heavier euro that combines deck improvement, route movement and multiple interlocking development tracks.
Choose The Quest for El Dorado for a much shorter deck-building race.
Publisher sources & scope
Checked September 16, 2026. This hub covers Great Western Trail: Second Edition, not the original first edition.