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Freight Rivals

Run a trucking company against rival fleets

Who is playing?

  • Mallard
  • Teal
Length:
Computer companies:

Every company starts with $25,000 and two used trucks with drivers. Each day you bid on loads from one shared board, and the lowest bid wins each load. Keep trucks loaded, drivers happy and the bank above water. After the last day, the company worth the most wins.

Not in the same room? Play online while you talk on a call, each on your own phone.

More info

How to play

Two to six trucking companies share one load board. Every company starts with $25,000 and two used trucks with drivers at its home terminal. Each turn is one day, and everyone plans the day at the same time.

  • Bid on loads. Pick a truck, then bid on loads it can reach in time. The posted rate is the most the broker pays; you can bid down to 70% of it. A truck can bid on up to four loads and wins at most one.
  • The lowest bid wins, weighed by reputation: a company at 100 can ask about 10% more than one at 50 and still win. A truck that would deliver late counts as 15% dearer. Bids are secret until the day runs.
  • End the day. When everyone is done, the brokers award the loads, richest first, and the trucks drive the interstates. Loads nobody wanted come back the next day at a higher rate, until their pickup day passes.
  • Money comes in when a load delivers. Fuel and driver pay go out for every mile, loaded or empty, and every truck costs its payment and insurance every day, rolling or not. A late load is paid 80% and costs reputation.
  • Look after the trucks. Every mile wears a truck down, and worn trucks break down more often: a repair bill and most of a day lost. A day of service puts it right.
  • Look after the drivers. Drivers like miles and home. Days sitting empty, or more than two weeks from home, wear their morale down, and a driver who gets fed up quits. Send them home for a day and a half, or give a raise.
  • Grow by buying used or new trucks and hiring drivers from the pool, or sell a truck you can’t keep busy.
  • Below minus $40,000 the bank closes the company. After the last day, the company worth the most (cash plus what its trucks would sell for) wins.

Tips

  • Empty miles are the hidden cost. A cheap load that starts where your truck is often beats a rich one 400 miles away.
  • Watch the Market tab: yesterday’s winning bids show how hard your rivals are cutting on each lane.
  • Booms and storms move the market. Loads out of a booming region pay about 25% more; a storm stops freight out of a region and slows trips through it.
  • A truck bought late in the game rarely pays for itself before the end.

Questions

Is it the same map as Dispatch Desk? Yes: the same freight markets and interstates, and trips follow the roads. Dispatch Desk is the single-player game about running one company hour by hour; Freight Rivals is a day at a time, against other companies.

How do I play with friends? On one device, add people in the setup and pass it round: each plans in secret. Or play online, each on your own phone, with a time limit per day if you like.