Ticket to Ride

I am sure I played Ticket to Ride a few times over the years, probably with Doug or the Leggs, since I have no real contact with any other gamers.  We picked up a copy at Walmart a few weeks back and finally had a chance to unbox it and give it a shot.

First we watched this "How To Play" video from WatchItPlayed.  I like his explanations -- they are always direct and easy to follow.

It turns out the game really is as simple as his explanation.  Each player starts with 45 train pieces, 5 trains cards, and pick up to three of the top three ticket cards to select which rail routes you will attempt to complete.

Each turn, either pick additional train cards, or additional train cards, or spend train cards to complete one section of track.  The feel of the game changes as the board fills up.  At first, every route is wide open, but halfway through, there are routes that block any attempt to get from one city to another.  Also, when selecting ticket cards (paths to build), after you've already built some lines, you can choose new llines that connect to your exiting routes.

For our first playthrough, we both got the last combo of 5 colored cards to complete our last rail lines with our last five trains.  Final score was about 87 to 106.  I had completed a 20-point line and got the longest path bonus of 10.

The cards were a bit smaller than usual, and the little train pieces were just big enough to handle with shaky hands, though toward the end, on the side of the board I couldn't reach, there were some lines that looked a bit derailed.

I see how it would be more crowded and challenging with more than two players.  And I'm sure that experienced players have seen it play out enough times that they know which rail lines are the easiest, which are the most challenging.  To us, it was a fun discovery, and was a relaxing pasttime.  I can see why the game is a classic.  I can't see buying more versions at $30 each, just to get different maps to play, though there is a whole shelf of them waiting to be bought down at On Board Gaming right now.  Would the Europe map really be different enough to invest in?  Where would we get the space to store them all?

Of course, we hopped on the Play Store and found the app version.  It looks like there may be some of those alternate maps available there, but it only has single player "against our advanvced AI" or multiplayer where I suppose we would both have to buy the app and be playing on different devices.  I'm so tired of everything being infiltrated by AI.

Anyway, Ticket to Ride is well-deserving of its status as a classic.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to pick up the simple rules and start moving the trains around.

Update: the app is $4.99 and plays very true to the original.  There is an "Around the World" ticket that adds all 10 expansions (Japan, Africa, Europe and others) for $29.99.  I will try to do a write up on that in the future.