Designer: Alan R. Moore
Artists: Cyrille Daujean, Julien Delval
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Year Published: 2005
No. of Players: 2-5
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
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Review:
TRAINS!!! Now that that’s out of the way. Ticket to Ride is a game series about building your railroad empire. The game is considered a staple in the board game community and with good reason. You do this by playing corresponding train cards to claim routes. The winner is the person that has the most points. The games for us are always close and intense.
Setup:
As with most games, the first thing that needs to be done is that players pick colors. They are given the associated trains and stations. Everybody’s score marker is set to zero. Shuffle the train cards and then deal four cards to each player. Once that’s done put 5 train cards face up next to each other. Take the six long tickets out of the ticket deck (blue background) and deal one to each player and discard the rest. Then deal 3 tickets from the ticket deck to each player and they have to keep 2. Once that’s all done the game is ready to be played.
Gameplay:
The goal of the game is simple: have the most points. You can get points by completing train routes, completing ticket cards, saving stations, and having the longest connected train. A turn consists of doing one of four things. The first a player can draw 2 cards either from the face-up cards or from the deck. If they want a locomotive (wild) then they can only pick up that. You can claim a route by playing the cards matching the route on the board. A player can draw 3 more ticket cards and have to keep at least 1. The final things player can do is place a station. A station allows a player to use one route of another player.
Theme and Mechanics:
Who doesn’t like trains? The idea of building your own railway empire is great. If the idea of expanding throughout Europe doesn’t excite you then there are maps of the entire world with other Ticket to Ride games. The game runs well and is easy for anyone to play. The game plays fair and every person has a fair shot at winning the game. It does take a little bit of strategy and of course, luck. A
Artwork and Components:
The game and pieces look good. The trains and stations are all detailed and solidly built. None of our pieces have broken or been marred. The board looks great and fits in the box perfectly. The box itself suffered a bit of damage from transit when we ordered it but otherwise, everything is nice (we got it from a third party seller, not from the main company or amazon).
Final Thoughts:
An easy and simple game to play that’s worth having. Any version of the game will do and anyone that considers themselves a board gamer should at least try this game.
The Good:
Easy to Play
Expands the World
The Other:
Each Version is Slightly Different
Can Feel Samey After Awhile
Two Spartans 
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