The train depot is a noisy place, with cowboys shouting and cows mooing as they are loaded onto the stock cars of the cattle train. While the steam locomotive hisses as it is refilled with water from the spout, smiling ranch owners think of the riches they will receive once the train reaches Chicago. Some of them were smart enough to buy shares in the railroad, which finally reached the town this spring. Business is booming!

In Texas & Pacific, 2-6 players represent wealthy investors and ranchers in the 19th-century U.S. Midwest and Texas. Players buy stock certificates from the major railroads of the era. They compete to earn the most money during the game by carefully timing dividend payments and expanding the railroads across the plains to increase the value of their holdings. At the end of the game, the player with the most money wins.