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As a couple who had been together for almost eight years we loved spending time together, but also started to have our own hobbies and interests to keep us busy. We had collected the usual suspects of gaming. Namely games like Monopoly, Scrabble, Pass the Pigs, etc. We loved playing a good game now and again, but I could see that there was a different level of board games out there to be played.
One game I saw time and time again looked big, complicated, expensive, and yet beautifully illustrated and interesting. Ticket to Ride came in a large box, decorated in awards, and was a game about…trains??
About Ticket To Ride
At a Comic-Con we visited a vendor’s stand, asked about the game and we were directed towards a sales assistant who loved Ticket To Ride. He explained the concept and we were sold.
The board itself is a good size. The map of the USA is a thing of beauty, highlighting main cities from Montreal and Vancouver to Los Angeles and Miami, with everywhere in between all connected by rail. The concept of the gameplay is complicated at first but satisfyingly simple once you grasp the mechanics of the game.
Taking two to five players and coming in at around 60 minutes per game, Ticket to Ride is the perfect strategy game.
Playing Ticket To Ride
Starting with three destination tickets, each player keeps at least two. The destination tickets are the object of the game, awarding much-needed points at the game's end. Each ticket has a point value and will be added to your end score should you successfully complete it.
The score for each completed ticket is on the card and they vary depending on how long and complicated the journey is. You could choose to keep the longer, more complicated tickets or, as there is no maximum number of tickets you can attempt, build up a handful of shorter, potentially easier journeys.
Extra scoring at the end of the game may influence which tickets you attempt, as 10 points are awarded to the player with the longest continuous path of trains. You may choose a longer ticket and over the course of the game try to complete shorter tickets along the same route. But beware! Your planned route may be blocked by your opponent(s) also trying to complete their tickets, taking a route you need.
Some routes between two cities benefit from two train lines, however, these only come into play when there are three to five players. When there are just two players these double routes are not in play, and you will need to find another way around.
Scoring happens during the game and also at the end. When you connect two cities you score depending on how many trains you placed, and there is a handy scoring guide on the board. Once a player is down to their last two trains or less, everyone takes their last turn and the end game scoring takes place. You score for the completed tickets and deduct points for incomplete tickets. A final 10 points are given to the player with the longest continuous route.
We get great satisfaction at the end of Ticket to Ride; discussing what our initial tactics were, what was going on in our minds at the crucial moment, and where a player blocked you off and how you overcame it.
Final Thoughts
Ticket to Ride looks stunning, plays really well and has so much replayability, it really is just a great way to spend an evening. For a great introduction to European style board gaming this is certainly the best way for you and your friends to start.
With any game, there is usually a fly in the ointment. One little thing that impedes the gameplay, or makes it repetitive or even one-sided towards one player. I can honestly say that Ticket to Ride is one of the only games where we cannot actually find anything wrong with it.
Oh ok, the cards were too small and fiddly in the first game. However, Days of Wonder ironed this out very quickly in the subsequent game. The cards are almost a standard playing card size. This was even rectified in the expansion to the original game. Not only did they add more routes to include cities that weren't played in the original, but they included all of the original cards from the first game in a more manageable size.
Once you have been bitten by the Ticket to Ride bug there is no going back. The game has now developed so many new titles covering Europe, Asia, Nordic Countries, and many, many more. You can find the whole collection here.
No matter which new board games we buy and play, we will always come back to this amazing game that started our current obsession.
If you'd like to read more about Ticket to Ride, we have a how to play blog available here.
Editors note: This blog was originally published on September 4th, 2017. Updated on January 5th, 2022 to improve the information available.
