Ticket to Ride (board game)

At the beginning of the main game, players are dealt four train car cards as their playing hand. They are also dealt three Destination Ticket cards, each showing a pair of cities on a map of the United States and southern Canada. These become goals, representing two end-points that players secretly attempt to connect. The player must keep at least two of these destination cards and discard unwanted tickets, if any, to the bottom of the stack. Once kept, a destination ticket may not be discarded for the rest of the game. Each player selects a group of 45 colored train pieces with a matching scoring marker.

Each turn, the player has to choose from one of three options:

1. draw two railway car cards in various colours from the draw piles (with the restriction that drawing a wild Locomotive card face up forfeits drawing another card), or
2. draw three additional destination ticket cards and keep at least one (replacing undesired tickets at the bottom of the stack), or
3. play their collected railway car cards from their hand to claim a route on the board and place the corresponding number of train pieces from their store on the claimed route, thereby earning points.

The routes are of varying lengths (requiring varying numbers of matching coloured cards), and only a single player can claim each discrete route marked on the board. Some cities are connected by two parallel routes that can each be claimed by a different player (unless the game is played by three or fewer players, in which case only one of the routes can be claimed). The same player may not claim both parallel routes between two adjacent cities. The point value of claiming a route is roughly proportional to the square of its length.

On their turn, a player can claim any route on the board that has not already been claimed, regardless of whether the route helps to complete their destination tickets. The routes score points by themselves, as mentioned above, but routes not connected to a player's destination do not help them reach the destination or complete their destination ticket.

The key to the game is getting the routes connected. Here the blue player has failed to claim the track between Duluth and Omaha, causing the route in the north to be disconnected and thus incomplete.

The game ends when one player has only two or fewer of their supply of coloured train pieces. When this occurs, every player then plays one additional turn, after which they each reveal their previously hidden destination tickets.[4] Additional points are awarded for having successfully connected the destinations on the cards, whereas points are subtracted for any incomplete tickets. A ten-point bonus is awarded to the player who has the longest continuously connected set of routes.

Since the game's release in 2004, Days of Wonder has released additional stand-alone board games, expansion maps - which require a base game to play, a card game, and multiple electronic game versions.

The original game features "railway routes connecting cities throughout North America",[5] and was released in 2004. In 2008, Days of Wonder released USA 1910, a card expansion that contains additional destination tickets and a full-size deck for both routes and railway cards to replace the much smaller ones included in the original game.

Ticket to Ride: 10th Anniversary

In 2014, the company released Ticket to Ride: 10th Anniversary, which has a larger map of the original game (USA) and metal boxes for the trains. There are no rule changes to the game, but the map and cars are larger and have been redesigned. The USA 1910 expansion is also included in this version.

Ticket to Ride: 15th Anniversary

A 15th Anniversary edition was released in August 2019 with translucent train cars and a special booklet detailing the history of the game. The card borders and backs were updated and are clearer and more vibrant than in earlier editions.[6] There are no rule changes to the game and no expansions are included in this edition.

Europe

A game of Ticket to Ride: Europe at the end of a two-player game. The green player has used a station to use the red player's route from London to Edinburgh.

A Europe version was released in 2005. Ticket to Ride: Europe takes place on a map of Europe as it was at the turn of the 20th century. Two new types of routes were introduced: Ferry routes that require locomotive cards to be played when claiming them, and tunnel routes which add the risk that additional train cards may be necessary to complete the route. The game includes "stations" which allow the player to use a route owned by another player and thus complete their destination ticket. In 2009, DOW released Europe 1912, a card expansion for the European game. It contains additional destination tickets, and an additional play mechanic— Warehouses. In 2015, DOW released a mini extension Orient Express, containing eight destination tickets featuring a route of the Orient Express.

Europe: 15th Anniversary

Similar to the original's 10th-anniversary edition, a larger map of Europe was released in 2021. This edition includes detailed train sets in metal tin boxes and train cards designed for the event. The green train set was removed and replaced by pink ones. It also features the destination cards from the original game, Europe 1912, Orient Express, and a promo card, bringing the count to 108.

Märklin

A German version, Ticket to Ride: Märklin, was released in 2006 by Märklin, a German toy company best known for model railways and technical toys. Whereas railway car cards of each type in the previous games were identical, the cards in Ticket to Ride: Märklin each show a different image of Märklin rolling stock. This edition features a passenger mechanic, where a passenger token is placed on the board, and can claim point tokens by traveling along a player's route.[7]

Nordic countries

Released in late October 2007, Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries is based on a map of the Nordic countries as the name suggests, also including parts of Russia and Estonia. This version also incorporates the ferry routes and tunnels from Ticket to Ride: Europe. Players only receive a set of 40 colored train pieces for this version, and it is playable by 2 or 3 players only. Following its success in the eponymous countries, this version also became available in the English, French, and German languages.

Germany

In September 2012, Zug um Zug: Deutschland ("Ticket to Ride: Germany") was released by Asmodee GmbH, Days of Wonder's German distributor. It was developed and produced specifically at Asmodee GmbH's request (as Ticket to Ride: Märklin had gone out of print) and was only available in Germany and Austria.[8] It is an adaptation of the same map and routes in Märklin, set in turn-of-the-20th-century Germany. In 2015, Asmodee GmbH released Deutschland 1902, a card expansion for the German map that contains additional destination tickets. In 2017, Ticket to Ride: Germany was released in the US.[9] It is a combination of Zug um Zug: Deutschland together with Deutschland 1902.

Rails & Sails

A four-player game of Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails during play

Released in September 2016, Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails is a standalone game with a double-sided board, the largest used in any Ticket to Ride game.[10] One side is "The World" map and the other is "The Great Lakes" map. This version contains train pieces and ship pieces to be played on land routes and water routes respectively. The travel cards include a modified train card deck and a new "ship deck" used to claim land or water routes respectively. Also included are 3 harbor tokens for each player.

Northern Lights

Released on 9 November 2022. Northern Lights is a stand alone game.

First Journey

Released as an exclusive item in Target stores in 2016,[11] First Journey is designed for children 6 and up. This version is for 2 to 4 players. The board is smaller than the base version, connections are shorter, and game time is quicker. There are no points in this game, but players race to complete six destination tickets. In 2017, Days of Wonder would also create a version for Europe, with the same rules but a European map.

Ticket to Ride: Cities Collection

Maps in the Cities Collection features the same gameplay from the Ticket to Ride game series – collect cards, claim routes, draw tickets – on a scaled-down map that allows for a shorter game time.

• New York (2018). Instead of trains, the tokens are taxis.The wild card is a taxi.[12]
• London (2019). Instead of trains, the tokens are buses.[13]
• Amsterdam (2020). Instead of trains, the tokens are horse-drawn carts.[14]
• San Francisco (2022). Instead of trains, the pieces are cable cars. Also, it features new Tourist tokens in the city's famous landmarks.The wild card is a ferry.
• Berlin (2023) Instead of trains, they use trams. The wild card is bicycles.[15]

The game won numerous awards after being released, including the 2004 Spiel des Jahres (game of the year).[31]

Mike Fitzgerald calls Ticket to Ride "a game that I never tire of, one that lends itself well to the many expansions that Days of Wonder have released. The design principles it uses are all simple and have been done before, but they have never been put together in a game as compelling as Ticket to Ride."[32] Board Game Quest mentioned that it is "one of the greatest gateway games ever made",[33] and Board Games Land described it as "one of the best family board games ever made".[34] Many of its expansions have also been positively received by critics.[35]

• Pyramid[36]

• Railway Rivals (a similar train board game)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ticket to Ride (board game).

• Days of Wonder's Ticket to Ride site
• Ticket to Ride and the Ticket to Ride series at BoardGameGeek