Within a century of their invention in England in the early 1800’s, steam locomotives would forever change the way people and goods moved from place to place around the world. In the United States, the railroad industry would give a handful of businessmen such extreme wealth that the names, Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt are still widely known to this day. Modern diesel and high-speed electric trains still serve an important role in the world, with intermodal shipping containers making up as much as 50% of rail traffic by some estimates. With such an impressive place in both world history and current commerce, it is no wonder that in 2004 board game designer Alan Moon was inspired to create the modern classic - “Ticket to Ride.”
The core game itself is fairly simple in its core mechanics. The board is a map of the United States with markers for major cities, all connected by a web of railway lines. Players have a few objective cards telling them which cities they need to connect with their railroad. On each player’s turn, that person has the option to draw 2 train cards, turn in a set of matching colored train cars to claim one of the train lines, or draw 3 new objectives and keep at least one of them. There are a couple other wrinkles like a bonus for the player with the longest continuous train line, but at its most basic level the game often chugs along on its own track with a flow of gathering train sets and playing them to claim routes.
That is not to say there is no strategy. Anyone who games with me on a regular basis will know that I am always looking for the spots in games where some juicy decision is going to prove to be pivotal. In this game, there are many of those moments. Do you hold back a large hand to claim many routes back-to-back and reduce your risk of someone seeing your goal and stealing a key route, or do you blast straight through as fast as possible to connect your cities and leave the longer and higher scoring routes open to the other players. Is there enough time left in the game to take one more objective card, or will you get stuck with an impossible connection and lose points at the end of the game. Many options for new approaches to play is a sign I look for in a strong game, and Ticket to Ride is a game with many ways to play.
Want to play with trains but don’t like the same old boring US maps? Not to worry, because with 4 large box expansions, 4 small box expansions, 2 kids versions, and 8 map pack expansions, Ticket to Ride now has a map for just about any scenery you are in the mood to explore. Itching to try it out? If you'd like to learn and play games like this, join us at an upcoming Tabletop Games event! Details and dates here.