Ticket to Ride

This is an excellent board game, with a reasonable mix of skill and luck involved. Depending on how many people are playing, and how quickly they take their turns, this game can take anywhere between thirty minutes and two hours. The rules are simple, and while experienced players have an advantage against beginners, people can get up to speed after a few turns of their first game. Strategies for winning consistently can be gained after only one or two games. There are many versions and expansions for this game, all of which are fun and interesting and worth looking at to see which best suits your group of players. But, this is the most basic form of the game and has the most straight-forward set of rules: - You have "tickets" telling you which cities your trains need to connect in order to earn points, if at the end of the game, the connection isn't completed, you get a negative point value for that "ticket". - You have colored "train car" cards, which you combine to build connections between cities. If a connection is colored, you need that color to make the connection and if it is grey, then you can use any one color to make the connection. - On each turn, you can either: build a connection between two cities; select a new "ticket"; draw two "train car" cards from 5 visible possibilities or from the face down deck. - There are "locomotive train car" cards, which are wild, but are more expensive to draw from the visible cards (only get one). - The longer the set of train cars used to make a connection, the more points you earn (1=1, 2=2, 3=4, 4=7, etc.) - Whoever has the longest connection at the end, by train car length, gets additional points. The expansion versions add other possibilities, depending on the map (tunnels that can take more than one card to complete; ferries that require at least one locomotive; etc.). Some of the maps/expansions are better suited to more players and others are limited to just two or three players. You can probably find a version of this game that is best suited for your group, but this basic version is a good version to start with. I would also highly recommend the PC or mobile version of this game, which can provide access to many of the maps and give you an idea as to which version of the game you would prefer, without buying all of them. Overall, this is one of the best board games out there, well suited to beginning players or more advanced board gamers.

Fun for the whole family. It's not overly complicated so anyone can play but the strategy involved keeps it interesting. Only complaint is the cards are tiny. Takes up less table space that way, I guess.

I needed that route! You just cut me off, now instead of destination cards giving me gobs of points, now they all count against me. There’s no way around! My nerves have never felt more vexed than they do now. That’s Jane Austin speak for: I’m seeing red and now I’m going to do anything I think might hurt your chances for the rest of the game; and the next one we play! Ok, so the first time this happens, there’s usually another way around, it’s probably the long way around, but hopefully you have enough trains to make it, because that’s a constraint you have to work under. Game Play This handsomely illustrated elongated board looks has a map of the United States dotted with notable cities that are connected by short and long lines of rectangles (or tracks). In line of track is one of several colors. You start the game with some cards in your hand that are nicely illustrated train cars of the same several colors. Each turn you either · take you can draw two cards from either some face up cards or “roll the dice” and choose some from a facedown draw pile, or a combination. If you pick a wild from the face-up pile, you only get one card that turn. · buy a route (lay down your trains on the rectangles between cities) You buy the track by discarding from your hand the same number and color of cards of the track where you lay down your trains. · Draw three Destination Cards. You’ve got to keep at least one. These give a method to the madness of which routes you buy. As you lay down your trains you rack up points, The longer the track, the larger the gain. If you successfully complete the route on your destination card, you also rack up points, but those you conceal till the end of the game. The game ends a full round after someone has fewer than four trains- everyone but the catalyst gets another turn. Points are scored as I’ve said, but those destinations you weren’t able to complete, yeah those count as negative points. Oooo.. ouch. I hate to tell you what to do but… Keep an eye on how many trains your opponents have left, don’t be stupid and fill your hand with destinations when you won’t have time to complete them. If it looks like a route you need is one that your opponent might need, you have a vested interest in getting there first, even if it’s an easy one. You may even consider drawing more destination cards for your first turn or two so that you can spend more time in the game working on more that are related. Than getting those you start with and drawing more in the middle of the game. What does “related” mean? Consider the following routes: LA to Miami (goes from the south-east corner of the US to the south-west corner) New Orleans to Duluth (goes north and south through the center of the US) Salt Lake City to Houston (goes from the western US to the south-center) Because there could easily be much overlap in the first and third route, but not the second route, I’d dump the second route and keep the other two. Theme Well, several off-shoots from Ticket to Ride have come. Not to mention an expansions for the original game that adds several smaller routes. So there is evidence that the theme can be slanted, but in Ticket To Ride Europe, game play is the same with some twists, like you can use someone else’s route for your destination’s sake without getting points for the route, and you route requiring tunneling through mountains are more pricey. These off-shoot stand alone games are a good way for Days of Wonder to charge full price for what could have been a less expensive expansion to the existing game. I can hear you say, “Yeah, but they are boards in different venues!” Yes, they are, but Rio Grande seemed to be able to offer double-sided boards (Yes, that means two new maps) and new rule sets for Power Grid for less than half the cost of the original game. “Oh... Really?” Yup. But for comments to the theme itself, I think the original game is pretty strong. Struggling to eek out routes to complete destinations- trying to get there before someone cuts you off can be very nerve racking, especially when two or more destination cards are riding on making that connection. I’ve got lots of little trains! Cool little plastic trains! Balance While I often complain about chance and this game includes card, the fact that you don’t have to take all the destination cards you draw mitigates it, and that there are several face up cards to choose from also helps. Anyone can build anywhere beats the imbalance Power Grid shackles you with. Tit for tat. Anyway, for having cards, I have no complaints. Interaction Interaction is low. While verbal congrats are possible, expressions of dismay and indifference often follow someone laying track. If you can’t reach the cards, there will be- “give me those two oranges” or, “how about two off the mystery pile of joy! But as I think of it, this game could be played in silence. So if you are entertaining that favorite group of mine to pick on- introverts, you already knew what you were in for. Learning Curve Low. The purchase price card you get tells you how much things cost and the production of a square base on die roll and Robber operation are pretty easy. Each development cards has what it does written plainly on it. While the rules are easy, the options are pretty limited and objective is pretty straightforward. Downtime Nominal. While you do have to wait your turn, there is a possibility that the track you want to buy gets bought on someone else’s turn. If you pay attention you can make groans at the time they will pay off the most. What’s not to Like? I can’t think of anything bad to say that I haven’t already said. It’s a great game that has done much good for the industry and I trust the makers are raking in mega bucks with all their spin offs. If people are willing to pay, they deserve it. Ah, the beauty of capitalism. I guess there are eccentric people out there, who are happy to shell out another $35 to $50. Collateral Endorsement I haven’t come across a soul who didn’t like this game, but you may say that my social circles are small. You are probably right, but I love growing them with games. My kids love to line up the trains from here to there, but they have severed my board in one place, so beware, the (read: any) board is best set up on a table rather than the carpet floor where wee feet are wont to walk.

Every week we play board games as a family. When you play that often either you get board with what you have because it's always the same, or you play ticket to ride. It is different enough each time that you will never have the same experience twice. Like any good game it is more fun with more people. It is a simple strategy game where you complete train routes by placing track sections on the boar for points, o blocking people so they don't get points. If easy enough that even younger children can figure it out easily. Keep an eye out for the expansion packs.

Ticket to Ride (TtR) is a great game for people who aren't really that experienced in the board gaming world. Most of us Americans grew up with a bunch of famous named games (Monopoly, Risk, Life, etc) but often these games leave much to be desired because they are either: long, tedious, or too dependent on luck. Lucky for us, over the last 15-20 years game manufacturers both here in the US and in Europe are pushing games to our market and the popularity and success is too much to ignore. Days of Wonder has created a Euro-Style board game in TtR but have removed a lot of the more bulky rules that deter most people from wanting to play new board games. The basic idea in this game is to pickup resources to build trains on a large map of the US and connect as many cities as you can. You have pre-determined routes to achieve by connecting certain cities to one another. The trick and skill to this game is maximizing your network of tracks and connecting as many cities as possible...while keeping a continuous train. The reason this game is so great is that you have a lot of activity at all times (picking up resources, connecting cities by placing trains on the board, picking up new routes/goals, etc.). The other nice feature to this game and most Euro-games is that players are never fully eliminated. Although someone might be far from winning, they are still in the game and can play a part. The final part of this game which is so much fun is that once the final turn has been triggered, there is a big reveal of sorts where everyone shows their secret routes they were trying to achieve and gain points (or lose them!) based on their success. The game can have many twists in turns in the final scoring. Great game for all ages. Fun for gamers and non-gamers alike. Play time is around 45 minutes (longer for new players, obviously). This game plays 2-5 players.

This game is extremely elegant, making it easy for those new to gaming to get into, but it also provides great opportunities for strategy that game lovers can appreciate. Everyone I have played it with says it was their favorite game of the night-- it is a true crowd pleaser. The board is well designed- it is an oversized map of the U.S. with major cities, each linked by segmented lines of different colors. Around the edge of the board is a scoring metric, numbered from 1 to 100, to keep track of your points. Each player gets 45 plastic train cars of a given color, and a wooden cylinder of the same color to move along the scoring metric. Each player has two hands of cards. The first is a hand of cards with different train cars of varying color. You play a certain number of train cards of the same color to claim the "routes" (the lines between cities) of the same color. The second hand is made up of destination tickets. These tell you what cities you are trying to connect with your trains. These either award or deduct points from your score based on whether or not you complete them. They are kept secret until the game is over. The elegance I mentioned comes from the simplicity of each player's goal (to link cities on a map using trains), as well as the simple structure of a players turn. On their turn, a player only has to do ONE of three actions: put trains on the board, draw more train cards, or draw more destination cards. You get points for the trains you place on the map, the destinations you fulfill WITH your trains, and a ten point bonus awarded at the end of the game for the longest continuous line of trains. Having only one action to perform ensures players aren't wracking their brains to remember what to do each turn, and also encourages strategic thinking (if you take one action on a given turn, you have to wait til your next turn to take another). Choose carefully! The educational value of this toy is twofold- you get the brain exercise of strategic thinking, and as an added bonus, you learn a bit of U.S. geography! I only marked down the durability because one of the train cars in my game arrived chipped. But they provide three extra cars for each color, so it's pretty much moot. All in all, this game has something for everyone. It is simultaneously strategic and simplistic, and never gets so directly competitive that you get frustrated instead of having fun. Keeping your destination cards secret until the game is over is a great meachanic- those who scored many points by laying down trains might get passed up by those who completed more destinations, and the "longest route" bonus often becomes a determining factor in games. Everyone who plays is in the game the whole way through. "Ticket to Ride" has beyond earned the honor of "favorite game", and then some.

I'm in my 30's and have been looking for games to play while visiting my parents or with my roommate and his kids, and "Ticket to Ride" has quickly become a favorite. I first heard about it online about a year and half back, on a gaming show hosted by Wil Wheaton, and immediately ordered a copy. It's a game that's simple enough that a child can grasp it, (I'd say 10 years old would be a good starting age, though it is advertised as being for ages 8+) but also complex enough to be entertaining for teens and adults. It's essentially a card collection game, as you try to draw matching colors in order to trade them in and build trains between cities on a map of the US. (With each line needing a specific color and number of cards.) In addition, each player must also complete specific routes or "tickets" between key cities (often at different ends of the map), and can also work on other tasks like trying to build the longest singular train path, which gives you and end-game score-boost. As I said, it's very simple to grasp. But there's quite a bit of complexity, as most of the tasks can be completed multiple ways, and players can actively try to block one-another's routes and strategies by getting to certain areas first. With dozens of locations on the map and numerous "tickets" to play, it makes each new playthrough fun and unique. There's near-endless replay value, and with various expansions and "sequels" having been released, there's even more potential for players who master this original edition. Playtime usually lasts between 30-60 minutes, depending on the number of players and their experience, and it's very quickly paced once everyone gets their hands on the cards they need. The materials include a rather large gameboard (make sure you have a sizable table to play on, as it's roughly twice the size of most standard tabletop game-boards), wooden score-keeping pieces, over 100 cards and plastic trains in about a half-dozen colors. If I were to nitpick, I would definitely say the cards are oddly small and thus can be hard to shuffle and handle- especially at the start of each game, when you'll end up spending 15 minutes just trying to mix them up as much as possible. But it's a small price to pay for such a fun game. Overall, Ticket to Ride has quickly become a family favorite, and it is definitely one I'd highly recommend! A 5 out of 5!

a lot of fun and a little knowledge for a bonus, highly recommended

Highly recommend this game, especially if you are new to Ticket to Ride.

El juego ya lo conocía, muy divertido y gusta incluso a los más longevos (los abuelos rondando los 70 años están enganchadísimos). Las reglas son sencillas y éste en versión americana es mucho mejor que el versión europa por la distribución de las rutas. La única pega es que las instrucciones están en inglés, el resto del juego es independiente del idioma. Si el idioma de las instrucciones no es un problema, desde luego que no merece la pena pagar más porque estén en castellano. Es un juegazo.

great game!the rules are simple,every item has a nice touch and i am enjoying it every time i play.they got some great extensions to the game and i will buy also the Switzerland and India extension. i recommend!for the board games lovers,it's a must!

I found the game quite interesting and engaging while playing with the family. A very well though out game to entertain the family and doesn't ever get boring.. Only the cards are quite small to hold. Otherwise no issues. The quality of the product is top-notch. Plus point is you need not be a hard-core gamer to enjoy the essence of this game. It won't even take much time to finish. So if you have 1- 1.5 hours to spare, this game doesn't have any alternative. The price is really high for an indian customer. I had to pay more than 4000 bucks to have one. Seems you have no alternative once it gets into your nerves. But thinking about the indian and other oriental customers the price should be lessened. RISK is also a good game but it is not overpriced. Only 1500 bucks will suffice.

I love this game! It's super fun, easy to play and possible to play with just 2 people.