Board Meeting

Board Meeting: Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is a game published by Days of Wonder, designed by Alan R. Moon.  It has had a number of expansions and variations, but this article covers the original.

The players are participants in a bet to see which person can cross the United States by rail the fastest – sort of an Around the World in 80 Days kind of thing.

COMPONENTS

The game includes a large game board with a map of the United States, with cities connected by a number of colored train routes.  There are five wooden circle score markers, one for each player, which are used to mark the number of points the players earn on a number track on the outside of the board.  Each player gets 45 plastic train cars in the color of his score marker.  The game also comes with a handful of extra train cars, three for each color, in case any get lost.  Along with the rule book, there are 144 colored cards that correspond to the train routes and various other game mechanics.

RULES

The rules are clear & concise (which I’ve come to expect from Days of Wonder games).  The play rules begin with an overview of all the phases in each turn, then goes into detail of each phase.  One of the interesting things about Ticket to Ride is that the players can only choose to do one of three things each turn.  It leads to a bit of strategy, as the players need to plan ahead to build a route, and sometimes even to have a backup plan in place, since playing a route is a little like gin rummy and has to be done all at once.  This can lead to another player jumping on a route before the first player has all the cards necessary.  The game designers/publishers (whoever is responsible for the rule book) have also done a good job of detailing possible situations to avoid rule disputes.

DIFFICULTY

Ticket to Ride doesn’t require much deep thought to play.  As I mentioned above, a little strategy comes into play, and players need to think a few turns ahead in order to win.  Planning past the next turn isn’t necessary to enjoy the game, however, just to play hard for a win.  It’s possible to win without much strategy, especially if the other players don’t strategize much.  The individual phases of each turn aren’t difficult to figure out at all.  The most difficult concept for my group to grasp initially was the difference between the plastic train colors and the colors on the cards.  For the record, the colors on the cards correspond to the route colors, and the colors of the plastic trains only serve to identify which player owns the route.  Scoring isn’t difficult at all, as the scoring tokens just slide around the numbers on the edge of the board.

FUN FACTOR

The game takes a little while to play.  The box claims it takes 30-60 minutes, but as always that depends on the group playing.  My group contains a couple of people who agonize over every decision like it’s the most important thing in the world, which can drag out a game a bit.  I don’t think we’ve ever played for more than an hour.  The simplicity of the rules lets players focus on the game and stay out of arguments over details – especially since there isn’t a ton of direct competition in the game.  The background story supplied by the game isn’t important in gameplay, but applied well it can add a fun theme.

OVERALL

Ticket to Ride is absolutely a game to pick up for both a collection and a regular game night selection.  It instantly worked its way into our rotation and at least one of my cousins asks for it every time.  At around fifty dollars retail price, it can be a little steep for an impulse buy, but as a planned purchase it’s a good price.  I would recommend the game to anyone who asks – especially since it doesn’t fall into a specific niche genre that would turn players off.