Ticket To Ride Review
Ticket To Ride is a new strategy board game created by Alan Moon. We like to play a lo of games here so we gave it a whirl. It’s a game about acquiring train tracks to complete paths from one city to another.
Each player gets some cards and a bag of train cars to mark their tracks. Matching color cards are used to get tracks. While ticket cards set the destination cities your tracks. Completing circuits between cities and acquiring tracks earn points. The goal is to earn more points than everyone else.
Overall, it’s a competitive game involving strategy to win. On par with games like Risk or Monopoly. Ticket To Ride isn’t a short game, it took us about two hours to complete one game. It wasn’t our cup of tea since we go for fast paced card games and low key board games. However, Ticket To Ride is definitely a high quality game, especially for anyone who likes competitive strategy games.
Why Ticket To Ride?
Anyone who likes competitive games or strategy games is going to enjoy Ticket To Ride. The strategy aspect is subtle, but there are several strategies available.
Players can stockpile cards before building any tracks to keep their plans secret. They can build random segments to keep other players guessing. Players can also get key smaller tracks early to force other players to go on lengthy detours later.
For a game that’s about connecting train tracks there’s a surprising amount of strategy and competition involved. Anyone who likes highly competitive games is going to enjoy Ticket To Ride.
How We tested Ticket To Ride.
We tested this game with 4 players. We followed the rules but added card trading to speed up the game.
Comparable Games
Ticket To Ride is mostly comparable to Monopoly or Risk. These games involve strategy and chance. Risk and Monopoly rely on the roll of the dice to determine outcomes. Whereas Ticket To Ride involves drawing good cards. The rules don’t mention it but we felt adding card trading to the mix was a great improvement.
Risk is mostly about acquiring and keeping territories. In both games players benefit from acquiring territory or track. Once a player gets a span of train track in Ticket To Ride they keep it. Risk is about armies and dice rolling, while Ticket To Ride is about drawing cards and acquiring train tracks to complete circuits between cities. I couldn’t help feeling Ticket To Ride really felt similar to Risk, minus the battles.
Ticket To Ride also felt similar to Monopoly, since winning involved acquiring prime real estate in the form of train tracks. There isn’t any money or rent in Ticket To Ride. Tracks are purchased with cards. Still, connecting valuable routes throughout the game really racks up the points. Instead of bankrupting other players, Ticket To Ride has players blocking other players from completing critical connections.
Risk, Monopoly, and Ticket To Ride are all high quality board games. Again, they aren’t our cup of Tea but I recognize Ticket To Ride is on par with those games as far as strategy and competition.
Pros and Cons
Strategy is the best aspect of Ticket To Ride. It doesn’t rely on dice rolls to determine the outcome. There’s still a bit of luck since players definitely need to draw good cards to win. However, a large part of the game is planning out good routes and anticipating other players moves.
I didn’t care for the slow pace. Only being able to do one action per turn seems to bog it down. A player can either draw cards or purchase track during their turn. Not both. It’s not a short game.
Review Summary
Our Ticket To Ride game review gives it 7 out of 10 stars. We’re not monopoly or Risk fans, so we weren’t thrilled about this game. If you like those games, then Ticket To Ride would probably score a 9 out of 10.
Ticket To Ride Review brought to you by: David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
