Ticket to Ride is a board game that was published in 2004 by Days of Wonder. The game is designed by Allan R. Moon and illustrated by Julien Delval and Cyrille Daujean. This game review handles the original version, Ticket to Ride USA. There are also other versions of the game, for example Ticket to Ride Europe and other different maps around the world. A mobile game was also published in 2011.
In the beginning of the game all players get three destination tickets. They need to keep at least one of these tickets. The tickets show two cities on the map and the players are trying to make this route by building trains on the route. The players build these routes with trains and train cards. By building trains and making the routes given in the destination tickets, players get points. If they fail to make the route given in the destination ticket, they get minus points. Longer routes get the players bigger points and shorter routes a bit less points.
I found the game extremely fun to play and the gameplay felt quite captivating. The game seemed a bit complicated in the beginning, but once the play session began, it started to make sense. I played the game with four players, which made the map quite congested. Yet, I found this really positive as the game became more challenging.
What I particularly liked about the game was that you could choose so many different tactics. You could try and get long destination tickets, test a more straightforward route with shorter destination tickets and even just simply aim to sabotage other players. All four players in our group used various tactics.
One thing I didn’t enjoy about the game, was that it was pretty long and in the middle of the game it seemed to proceed relatively slow. The beginning of the game was really exciting, as was the end, but in the middle of the game, it had quite a slow tempo.
At the end of the day, I would recommend this game to everyone, as it´s relatively easy to understand when you just start and play it. I think it is especially perfect for families or for group of friends who are interested in traveling and exploring the world!
Picture: daysofwonder.com
BASIC INFO
Designer: Allan R. Moon
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Release date: 2011
Number of players: 2-5
PEGI: 8+
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