Ticket to Ride

Do you fancy playing the role of a railroad tycoon? Building connecting routes between major cities and claiming the most prestigious routes before your rivals foil your plans? Then give "Ticket to Ride" a go, you'll be pleasantly surprised at just how much fun playing with trains can actually be.

As with most games the aim is to score more points than your rivals. To aid (or hinder) you are given a set of "tickets" at the beginning of the game that indicate a journey between two cities. These may vary in difficulty and length, for example on the European edition of the game a ticket may be from "Edinburgh" to "Lisbon". Typically the longer the journey the greater the points awarded when completed. However, points will be deducted from the players final score for each uncompleted ticket.

Each turn players may perform one of three actions: These include taking train cards, placing a route or drawing additional ticket cards. Train cards come in different colours, including a wildcard and are used to claim routes between cities. To do this you need to use the correct number and colour for the route as indicated on the board. This tends to lead to a certain amount of hording as you try to build up enough cards to lay down your routes in quick succession. Points are also gained for routes, the more trains required to complete a route the more points you gain.

If you're feeling particularly lucky, or you're in the envious position that you've already completed your tickets, you have the option of randomly drawing additional ticket cards. You must keep at least one of the cards drawn and if fate is smiling you can easily branch off your network to reach new cities and secure the points. However you may also find that you're left holding a ticket that you have no chance of finishing.

Competition for routes is fierce, and only when you are playing with four or five players are some routes doubled up. What I love about the game is the amount of brinkmanship that occurs during the game. The calm before the storm as players collect train cards and then soon enough someone will break and place a route. All hell then breaks loose as there's a scramble to claim key strategic positions for your tickets. The anxiety builds as slowly routes disappear and you're forced to rethink you're strategy and take your travellers on a scenic route. There's an immense amount of relief when you finally secure your most noteworthy tickets, and of course on the flipside panic if you know you cannot complete a ticket.

There are different versions of the game available, all offer the same core game play but each offer a different gameboard and slight variations in the rules. The first game, named simply "Ticket to Ride" is based in North America. The "European" edition introduces tunnels, stations and ferries and the "Marklin" edition, which is based in Germany, introduces passengers and merchandise.

All three versions are enjoyable in their own right but my favourite is the "European" edition. It still maintains the core game play that makes the game so great, but I like the additional elements and the gameboard. The stations allow you to use another players route, allowing you a bit of leeway, but they are limited in number and when used reduce your score by a slight amount. The tunnels add some uncertainty as you're not guaranteed to complete the route.

Ticket to ride is extremely quick to learn and would appeal to non gamers looking for a fun boardgame. It's a simple but rewarding game in a nicely presented package.