How to Play An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition (2026 Prototype Rules)

How to play An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition — the essentials

An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition is Cole Wehrle’s extensive rebuild of his historical economic board game set amid the nineteenth-century opium trade in Qing China. Players control trading firms. You develop business interests, secure supplies, connect maritime transport and commercial networks, earn money, and seek social standing at home. Rival firms sometimes have incentives to cooperate on a profitable route, but those partnerships are unstable: competitors can build, exploit and undermine shared networks.

The key difference from the 2016 edition is geography, time and asymmetry. The redesign organizes important commercial decisions around London, India and China, introduces distinctive business cards and a bounded clock, and gives historical events an influence that players cannot simply command. The map, supply chains and political disruption therefore interact more directly with where your firm chooses to operate.

Crucial rules status: as of November 2026, Wehrlegig’s official resources page labels the downloadable Second Edition document a Prototype Rulebook. The linked file is dated 6 October 2026. This article is a teaching companion to that prototype, not a substitute for a finalized component-by-component instruction manual. Exact setup counts, card powers, costs, event frequencies and solo procedures should be taken from the currently linked PDF rather than inferred from the original edition.

Our game overview focuses on availability, theme and crowdfunding. Our first-versus-second-edition comparison covers the redesign. This article instead explains how to approach the prototype at the table, what the main systems mean and how to teach the structure in the correct order.

1. Find the correct rulebook before setup

The first thing to do is establish which edition and version you are playing. The 2016 Hollandspiele rulebook is not interchangeable with the 2026 Second Edition. Wehrlegig rebuilt the game rather than merely upgrading its presentation; several central systems have different roles.

On the official Wehrlegig resources page, look under An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition. You will find the prototype rulebook, a print-and-play download and links to supported digital implementations. If you are using a printed prototype or a digital mod, compare the rules version and component set before the first turn. The publisher’s official PDF should take priority over an old forum explanation or a recording based on an earlier test build.

For a first teaching session, have one player read the prototype setup and action-reference sections before everyone arrives. The design has a relatively approachable high-level loop, but players need accurate instructions for the available actions, zone restrictions, clock and current event sequence. Avoid teaching a guessed action menu.

2. Teach the game in four linked ideas

Begin with a four-part story rather than explaining every card. First, a firm needs access to supply. The opium trade depends on commercial activity in India and movement of goods onward. Second, it needs the means to move and sell goods. Ships and Merchants, obtained through London-linked commercial systems, matter to what can be achieved in China. Third, firms can exploit networks together. One player’s investment may benefit another, and today’s profitable relationship may change tomorrow. Fourth, private fortune is not the same as social victory. The publisher describes wealth as a means to building a family’s status rather than an end in itself.

The historical setting is not simply decoration for a generic supply-chain puzzle. The game examines merchants’ incentives within coercive nineteenth-century imperial trade, including the consequences for Qing China and the disruption of war and rebellion. Players are not being asked to admire the activity their firms represent; the game is explicitly designed as a critical historical portrayal.

Once players understand this loop, move from geography to timing, then to events and the victory condition. If you teach every exception before the geographic structure makes sense, the different business decks can feel arbitrary. Framing each action by where your firm is and what stage of trade it advances helps players reason about decisions.

3. Setup: what to prepare for a prototype teach

Use the setup procedure and player-count adjustments in the current prototype rulebook, not an assumed fixed number of ships, money or event tiles. Broadly, players will need the map and geographical areas, relevant London/India/China business card systems, their individual firm components, the market or trade-network components, and the chronology and event materials specified by their version.

For the teaching group, make three preparations. Separate the business decks by their printed location. This allows newcomers to see that business options are not interchangeable across the board. Identify where the turn-order and time information is shown. An action that changes your position affects later opportunities, not simply the appearance of your pawn. Show the event system before it starts. If players understand that political disruption can arise independently of their choices, a destroyed trade line will feel like an anticipated game system rather than an unexplained punishment.

If using a public print-and-play kit, check the version printed on the files. A publisher video can be a useful visual aid but should not override newer text; the early October teach-and-play recording itself says its artwork and rules are not final. For solo, use Richard Wilkins’s separately designed prototype rules instead of creating an informal second firm that acts like a human opponent.

Do not mix components from the 2016 edition into the Second Edition setup without publisher instructions specifically allowing it. The change to geography, player differentiation and time means identical-looking trade assets may have changed mechanical functions.

4. London, India and China: why your location controls your choices

One of the redesign’s defining features is that a firm’s position determines which commercial operations are available. In Cole Wehrle’s Player Difference development diary, London is associated with acquiring Ships and Merchants, India with opium supply, and China with placing and using acquired commercial pieces within the trade network.

This means a good plan is a sequence of distinct regional tasks rather than an unrestricted purchase list. A firm that acquires shipping resources in London may still need to spend time establishing supply in India and deploying that capability in China. If you are already in China but lack the necessary supply, repeatedly acting there is not a substitute for arranging a return to the correct economic stage.

The three zones also help differentiate players. Two firms may acquire different business cards in different places and therefore gain reasons to value the same public network differently. This is a design intention, not an assurance that any specific prototype card will remain unchanged in the eventual retail printing.

Example: the missing source

Imagine a trading firm has invested in maritime capacity but still lacks dependable supply. The teaching question is: Where can this deficiency be addressed? In the three-zone concept, India is where the player should investigate supply-related options, not an automatic free action from wherever they currently operate. Exact costs and procedures depend on the rulebook in use.

5. Time, initiative and the cost of moving

The designer’s published description connects geographical position with initiative. In the redesigned system, play resolves across the location order London → India → China. Moving between these areas uses an action and changes the firm’s place in the effective action order. It is therefore not merely a way to move a figure between printed regions.

The game also uses a bounded treatment of time, replacing the earlier edition’s loosely variable decade structure. This is central to why a move across zones matters: traveling consumes some of the limited opportunity to exploit cards, networks and political conditions before a decade ends. A player who changes plans too often may discover that there is not enough time remaining to complete every stage of a business chain.

Teach the location order visibly. Put a small reminder near the table or point to the turn-order row as printed. During a first prototype turn, narrate which area is resolving and why that firm acts before or after the others. Explain that arriving in a different area alters the range of legal actions and opportunities, but check the prototype for the exact placement and movement rules.

Do not give players a fixed number of actions or decades based only on this explanation. The public design diary describes the principles; the October 2026 prototype contains the exact procedural schedule for the version you’re playing.

6. Business cards: acquire capabilities, not just cash

Business cards are one of the Second Edition’s core methods for making firms different. In the original design, players could too easily pursue near-identical economic opportunities, turning competition into straightforward price-cutting. The redesigned cards give each firm a different set of investments, permissions, advantages and reasons to cooperate or compete.

The publisher has described business cards associated with different regions, including London and India, with China acquiring its own card system during development. When a card offers an ability, read its exact timing and geographic restrictions rather than assuming it can be used everywhere. Likewise, a card that improves a shipping network is most useful if the firm can actually connect it to supply and sales.

A common teaching mistake is to treat a business deck as a universal hand of action cards. It is more useful to explain each deck as a set of place-specific commercial opportunities. Some cards may create persistent advantages or influence how a player’s network develops. The teacher should check the actual printed text for requirements, interaction and whether a particular option can be taken in the current area.

Illustrative card choice

Suppose a firm can acquire another shipping-related capability but is already struggling to find supply. Even if the card is powerful, spending a finite action on it may be weaker than traveling to India to build the missing part of the network. That is an original decision example, not a specific printed card effect.

7. Supply chains: how cooperation and competition become connected

The economy is deliberately interactive. Firms invest in suppliers, shipping and commercial infrastructure that may work together to produce a profitable flow. Another company can contribute a part of that network, benefit from its operation or attempt to redirect business toward a more lucrative route. The publisher describes the experience as repeatedly building and unbuilding economic engines for temporary advantage.

When teaching a line, trace it from supply toward the market. Ask who controls each necessary part, whether a rival needs to cooperate for the line to function, and what happens if an asset is moved or disrupted. In this design, maximizing your own engine in complete isolation can be impossible or inefficient because the network’s value depends on other firms’ positions.

The most important cooperative lesson is that alliances are temporary economic choices rather than shared victory agreements. Helping another firm construct a crucial route can benefit you immediately, but it might also leave you dependent on a rival who later shifts their investments. The game encourages players to compare immediate joint profit with their long-term private standing.

To avoid a misleading rules explanation, do not infer exact revenue formulas, supply capacity or ownership permissions from this summary. Apply the current prototype’s printed sequence when calculating the output of any particular line.

8. Business profit and final status are not the same goal

The publisher emphasizes that accumulating money is only part of the story. Players take commercial risks to build wealth, but their fortunes ultimately serve the family’s prestige and domestic ambitions. The social goals of the game help explain why a line with the highest immediate income may not always be the best move.

At the table, teach this distinction before players start racing for money. Ask what the rulebook currently scores, which resources must be committed to domestic concerns, and whether a business action makes those goals easier to achieve. Then examine the profit consequences. This prevents an otherwise common economic-game mistake: counting cash as though it were the whole victory condition.

It also helps explain the historical satire. Wealth produced through an exploitative commercial system could be used by the game’s firms to pursue elevated social status back in Britain. That tension is part of the designer’s subject matter rather than a claim that profits from the actual historical trade were benign or that the game’s viewpoint should be adopted uncritically.

Consult the current prototype for the exact cash, domestic-expense and endgame scoring rules. The available publisher diary describes the underlying incentives, but it is not a replacement for the game’s scoring page.

9. Historical events and the Qing response: what players can and cannot control

The 2026 redesign aims to make historical developments something the traders must respond to, rather than switches they can conveniently turn on or off. Cole Wehrle’s Caught in the Tide of History diary describes a system in which an event bag influences what happens between rounds, with upcoming developments partly visible to the players.

That creates a useful teaching distinction. The network is largely the players’ sphere of agency. They choose where to invest, with whom to deal, what to move and when to take risks. Wider Qing enforcement and rebellions are not their personal action menu. These events occur through the shared historical system and can damage a seemingly well-organized plan.

As the game moves through time, the event mix can become more threatening. Examples discussed by the designer include taxation, regional enforcement and conflict-related disruption. The event system is meant to give some warning without letting merchants determine every crisis. That means an attentive player can consider risk without knowing precisely what the next event will do.

The prototype’s exact event frequencies and resolution details can change in balancing. Do not reproduce a development diary’s sample bag contents as an unconditional setup instruction; read the current printed rules for the physical set you are using.

10. Regional enforcement: why a profitable line may still be vulnerable

Qing enforcement is not simply a random universal tax on every trader. The designer’s 2026 explanation discusses four enforcement regions within China: the Canton River Delta, the mountainous hinterland, the mid-coast and the Yangtze River Valley. The described system can target important commercial lines within the affected region, with disruption potentially affecting dependent trade elsewhere in the network.

That makes location a risk variable as well as an economic variable. A company concentrating most of its profitable routes in a vulnerable area could earn attractive returns but suffer a more consequential interruption. Another firm operating more diffusely could be less exposed to any one regional action while spending extra time building several lines.

Explain these threats after teaching how a supply chain works. When a line is disrupted, trace which upstream or downstream activities rely on that link rather than assuming all assets are destroyed. The exact effect of each token, region and event is defined by the rules version and should not be generalized.

For a hypothetical choice, compare a lucrative network in one enforcement region with a smaller second route elsewhere. Concentration may win if the first route pays quickly, while the alternative could be valuable if the event display warns of a likely regional crackdown. There is no guaranteed best answer independent of current cards and time.

11. The Taiping Rebellion and how major historical events enter play

The Taiping Rebellion appears in the game’s larger chronology as one of the historical forces that shaped Qing China’s political and commercial environment. The designer has explained that early redesigns gave players too much direct control over massive political upheavals, which he found historically inappropriate.

Instead, later prototypes use event systems to represent disruption through developments beyond the firms’ direct command. This matters for play because you can plan around a visible or developing threat, but you cannot simply decide that a civil war should break out at the exact moment it would benefit a particular shipping business.

When learning the game, take the time to identify which pieces and event text refer to wider conflict, which refer to enforcement and which represent ordinary market changes. Resolve them through the printed event procedure; do not invent a direct action to trigger them merely because the old edition or a design-diary experiment contained a superficially similar mechanism.

This is also an important thematic clarification: an economic player character has influence within a particular historical industry, not unlimited agency over the people and political events represented by the wider board.

12. A teaching example: one business plan across three places

Consider an invented starting situation: one firm expects a profitable route but needs three pieces before it can work. It wants shipping and merchant connections, reliable opium supply and a position in the Chinese market. Another firm has already acquired a useful part of that route, which creates a chance for temporary cooperation.

1. Begin in the relevant zone. Review which business capabilities your current area offers and whether they advance the intended route. Use the correct card or action instructions.
2. Identify the missing supply. If the next obstacle is obtaining opium in India, your plan must account for the timing and opportunity cost of being there.
3. Return attention to China. The firm needs to use the network where the trade takes place rather than treating supply and transport as automatic revenue.
4. Consider the other firm’s position. Its contribution may help the line operate now, but the same rival can later pursue a competing interest.
5. Read the event outlook. A promising route might be exposed to enforcement or chronological upheaval before it delivers the desired return.

This is not an official sample turn and does not specify how many actions the current prototype charges for each stage. It is a decision map designed to help newcomers understand why the geography, network and event systems must be taught together.

13. Seven easy mistakes when learning the 2026 prototype

1. Using the 2016 rules. Second Edition changes its geography, asymmetry and event structure substantially.
2. Ignoring where you are. London, India and China are meaningful action locations, not merely artwork.
3. Ignoring travel’s time cost. Repositioning affects what you can achieve before the clock advances.
4. Trying to build independently. Commercial networks are interactive and may reward temporary cooperation.
5. Assuming profit alone wins. The game links wealth to domestic prestige and private victory goals.
6. Treating Qing events as player-controlled tricks. The redesign intentionally gives wider historical forces more autonomy.
7. Using development examples as final printed rules. An October 2026 prototype can still change before fulfillment.

For teaching, ask a player to explain where a planned business action occurs, which link of the supply chain it improves, and how soon it might pay off. Those three questions prevent many early misunderstandings without requiring you to memorize every card in advance.

14. Solo mode: what is known and what is still provisional

Wehrlegig confirms a 1–5-player Second Edition and credits the new solo mode to Richard Wilkins. That is genuine new product coverage, not a variant that the original 2016 box automatically contains.

However, the publisher’s announcement and design diaries do not establish a complete, final solo procedure. A solo opponent in an economic interaction game may have its own rules for business cards, timing and trade networks; those details must be read from the prototype solo section or later official release. Do not assume that a dummy firm simply takes ordinary turns with no negotiation, or that a scoring target quoted from an old playtest is final.

For a first solo session, follow the current prototype’s player-count setup, learn the shared geography and event system first, then study how the solo module substitutes for the decisions that other traders would normally make. After playing, compare the result against any publisher-listed benchmark for that same version, not a different draft’s balance table.

15. What to read after your first prototype game

If you are preparing for a live table, start with the official prototype rulebook and the game’s current player aids or print-and-play resources. For a demonstration, the publisher’s Wehrle brothers teaching playthrough uses a version recorded before launch; it can help visualize the experience but does not replace later text.

To understand why systems behave this way, the two publisher diaries are more useful than a generic strategy ranking: Player Difference explains geography and differentiated firms, and Caught in the Tide of History discusses the chronology and the Qing political response.

To decide whether the Second Edition is for you, read our game overview. To compare returning-player expectations against the 2016 game, use our edition differences guide. These pages cover the product and design context, allowing this one to concentrate on the learning sequence.

An Infamous Traffic: Second Edition how-to-play FAQ

Is An Infamous Traffic Second Edition a completely new game?

It is a substantial rebuild of the 2016 economic design, not merely a reprint. Its geography, business cards, timing and event approach differ.

Where can I get the latest 2026 rulebook?

Use Wehrlegig’s official resources page. As checked November 2026, the Second Edition file is explicitly labeled Prototype Rulebook.

Can I play from the 2016 manual?

No. The first edition’s rules do not describe the 2026 game’s revised geographic and commercial systems.

What are the three main locations?

London, India and China. They represent different business opportunities and influence timing and available actions.

What can I do in London?

The publisher’s design diary connects London with acquiring ships and merchants. Consult the current prototype for the exact action choices and costs.

Why does India matter?

India is central to obtaining opium supply. A route cannot run simply because a firm owns transport without access to the necessary goods.

What happens in China?

The Chinese market is where acquired commercial capabilities interact with trading lines, and where regional enforcement and other historical events can threaten networks.

Does movement affect turn order?

Yes in the publisher-described redesign: zones have an order and relocating is part of the opportunity-cost system. Follow the actual prototype for precise timing.

Are firms working together?

Only when it helps their competing interests. Supply chains can be interdependent, and partnerships may change.

Can I decide when the Qing crackdown happens?

The redesigned event system is intended to operate more independently of firms, giving players risks to anticipate instead of events they can simply direct.

Is the Taiping Rebellion represented?

Yes, within the historical event design. Its exact effects depend on the current prototype’s event rules.

How many people can play?

The publisher announces one to five players, including a separate solo design by Richard Wilkins.

Is the final retail rulebook available?

Not under that label on the official resources page as checked November 2026; the downloadable Second Edition rules are called a prototype.

How do you win?

The firms are ultimately measured by their status or domestic fortunes rather than simply raw business cash. Use the current rulebook’s final scoring procedure for the exact calculation.

Is this article an authoritative action-reference sheet?

No. It explains the documented structure and an effective teaching sequence. For exact setup numbers, prices, icon resolution and exceptions, use the actual dated publisher rulebook.

Official publisher sources and version disclaimer

Primary rules source: Wehrlegig Games — resources lists the Second Edition’s Prototype Rulebook, print-and-play files and online implementations. The linked PDF is identified as AIT_Rules_Oct_6_26.pdf, dated 6 October 2026. This article does not quote its unretrieved page-by-page instructions and does not claim to reproduce every procedural rule.

Confirmed design: Announcing An Infamous Traffic establishes the redesign, designer, player count, solo collaborator and historical subject. Player Difference explains the geographic, business-card and timing model. Caught in the Tide of History explains enforcement, region-based risk and wider political developments.

Original editorial teaching companion, checked 2 November 2026. Examples are hypothetical. No firsthand playtests, exact unverified card effects, gameplay guarantees, publisher artwork or advertising scripts are claimed or embedded. Refer to the latest official PDF and game components for any rules dispute. For other resources see the game hub, edition comparison and editorial policy.