Ticket to Ride - a modern masterpiece courtesy of Alan Moon, the game is for 2 to 5 Players, ages 8 and up, takes a few minutes to learn, 45 to 60 minutes to play but many games to unravel a variety of successful tactics.
Objective
The object of the game is to score the highest number of total points. Points can be scored by:
- Claiming a Route between two cities on the map;
- Successfully completing a Continuous Path of routes between two cities listed on your Destination Ticket(s);
- Or by completing the Longest Continuous Path of routes.
- Points are lost if you do not successfully complete the route given on your Destination Ticket(s).
Components
One Game Board representing North America (USA and Canada)
240 Coloured Trains, 45 plus 3 spares in each of the 5 Colours (Black, Blue, Green, Red and Yellow)
5 Coloured Scoring Discs (one of each Black, Blue, Green, Red and Yellow)
110 Train Cards (12 of each Box, Passenger, Tanker, Reefer, Freight, Hopper, Coal and Caboose plus 14 Trains, each type with a different colour)
30 Destination Ticket Cards indicating Routes and the Points awarded if they are completed
1 Longest Continuous Path Card
1 Summary Card
1 Rules Booklet
Setting Up
Place the Game Board centrally then each Player chooses a colour and takes the Scoring Disc and 45 Trains of that colour.
Shuffle the Train Cards and deal each Player 4 cards, then deal 5 cards face up next to the Train Card Deck, more are uncovered whenever one of these 5 is drawn.
Shuffle the Destination Ticket Cards and each Player is then dealt 3 cards. The players then look at these cards and may keep all 3 of them or may discard 1 and only 1! Discarded cards are placed beneath the Destination Ticket Card deck.
The Destination Ticket Cards are not revealed to the other Players until the end of the game so remember to look at them and either hold them in your hand or place them face down.
The value of a Destination Ticket Card is printed on it, but remember that amount is subtracted from your score if you do not complete the Route shown!
Now choose a Player to start using a method of your choosing.
Game Play
Starting with the 1st Player and continuing clockwise each Player has a choice of 1 of 3 actions to perform:
- Draw 2 additional Train Cards
- Claim and pay for a Route
- Draw additional Destination Ticket Cards
1. You may draw up to 2 additional Train Cards either from the 5 face up cards or blind from the Train Card Deck. If you pick up a Train Card (acts as a wildcard) from the face up cards then you may only select that card and no other that turn. Once a card is picked up from amongst those face up it is replaced by the top card from the deck.
2. To claim a Route you need to discard the right number of Train Cards from your hand to build the complete route, for example, if we look at the map below we see that Montreal and New York are linked by 3 blue spaces so you must play a combination of 3 Blue or Train (wildcard) Train Cards. In this instance you would then play 3 of your 45 Coloured Trains, 1 on each of the spaces.
Claiming a route enables you to claim points, how many depends on how long a route you have built as shown below:
- 1 space = 1 point
- 2 spaces = 2 points
- 3 spaces = 4 points
- 4 spaces = 7 points
- 5 spaces = 10 points
- 6 spaces = 15 points
Remember to add the Points on each time you claim a Route! Though you can do this later on it is much easier to do it as you go along and that way you can keep track of how your opponents are doing.
3. If you want additional Destination Ticket Cards then you draw 3 cards, now you have to keep at least 1 of these cards and may discard none, 1 or 2 of these back beneath the draw deck.
The game is brought to an end when 1 player has only 1 or 2 Trains left to place. At that point each player, including the player who has 2 or less Trains left, has one final go and then scoring is done for the Destination Ticket Cards.
If the player has Trains completing the entire route shown on their Destination Ticket Cards, in the example above from Winnipeg to Little Rock then they get the points shown on that card, in this instance 11. If the route isn't complete then reduce your score by that amount.
Once you have added or subtracted the Destination Ticket Cards points then you need to identify the person with the longest route, where a route is a continuous set of Trains which is not re-used, the Player with the longest continuous route gets the Longest Continuous Path Card and with it 10 additional points. If there is a tie then all tied players receive the 10 points.
The Hooks
It's quick, it's easy to learn and it's suitable for everyone, your kids, your parents, everyone and we can't always say that about games produced for our hobby. On the other side of this it's a good gamers game too, there are plenty of things to watch, no dice to roll and you are mostly in control of how well you succeed though of course there are plenty of ways to try to hinder others progress.
The Planning in Ticket to Ride is fascinating, you don't want to be left with incomplete Destination Ticket Cards, that just costs you too many hard won points, you want to use longer pieces of track but that requires more cards but the return per card is better the longer the completed route.
Your Tactics
Knowing which Destination Ticket Cards to keep initially ?
- You have to keep 2 out of 3 (though you can keep all 3), the short ones are easier but are generally linked by shorter routes and so less points for linking them, though of course you don't have to take the most direct route. Look to see where the options for each route are, can you combine pieces of track to complete 2 or more of the Destination Ticket Cards.
Which Train Cards should I pick up ?
- Consider the following: do you need a specific colour to complete a route or is it a grey colour such as that from Pittsburgh to Toronto where 2 of any single colour will enable you to complete the route. Do you need a lot of cards of the same type, are the colours you are looking for face up ? Remember you can use the Train cards as wildcards, any colour but you can only pick 1 of them up a time.
When to convert ?
- Knowing when to exchange cards for Trains on the track is difficult. Lay your cards first and others may spot where your planned Routes will join up and they may want that space so keep in mind alternatives and identify your real crunch points. Sections of double track are less likely to be blocked so consider them as backups. On the other hand you can't afford to leave it too long or one or other of the players will lay their Trains instead.
The End Game
- There is one simple rule here, don't get caught with incomplete Destination Ticket Cards! If you are likely to then it may be worth a gamble in picking up an additional one to try to balance it out, but it is a gamble and won't always come off!
Conclusion
This fabulous, fast paced game has great replayability value, the components are good (especially with some spares in the box on day 1) and though it may not be the cheapest game of it's type it's well worth the space in your cupboard or on the shelf, just don't leave it there, a game of this quality needs playing!
If you are new to gaming or want a game you can bring out when non gaming friends pop round then this is an excellent one to try. But it has enough depth and strategy to bring pleasure to most hardened gamers too.
There are suggestions that this game will do very well in the games industry awards and that's exactly what it deserves, though 2004 looks as if it is going to be an excellent year for games with Hansa amongst others to compete against!
Additional Reviews
Details from Boardgamegeek
