LogFAQs > #932556328

110. Ticket to Ride (2004)

Category: Player vs Player
Genres: Route-building, set collection
Rules complexity (0 to 7): 1
Game length: 45-75 minutes
Experience: 3 sessions of TTR US, TTR Europe, and TTR Africa (2015-2017) with 3, 5 players
Previous ranks: 63/100 (2016), 67/80 (2018)

Summary - Players draw cards from a deck or supply area. A set of cards of an appropriate color can be played to lay train tracks down on a map. Points are awarded for connecting cities with tracks and just for having trains played on the board.

Design - TTR is probably #2 in popularity among the games on my list for the "mass market," after Catan. It winds up becoming a lot of people's gateway hobby game and is often talked about in terms of introducing it to new players, or being used as a stepping stone. Because of its role in many gamers' lives (including my own) and its proximity to Catan on my ranking), I might draw comparisons between the two, even though mechanically they're not that similar.

One of the prerequisites to getting there is that it has wonderful table presence, with a map of a real geographic region and brightly colored routes. The train minis are beautiful as well.

Another near-prerequisite: simple rules. The options on any given turn of TTR are extremely manageable but have more agency that Catan's; instead of relying on dice, TTR has cards for its building materials. And instead of a blind draw, TTR invites you first to draft cards from an lineup. You only draw if you don't have a particular card you see in the lineup that you want, or if you want to conceal your intent. And then laying down those tracks feels very mechanically satisfying.

TTR isn't perfect. Early editions of the game had cards that were way too small. In general, I'm also not huge on hidden objectives that both award points for completion and deduct points for failure, though obviously they make sense in TTR. Hoarding cards is also a pretty good strategy given that there is no hand limit, and the "build random routes" strategy can be highly aggravating. And of course, the game lasts rather long for its relative simplicity, though I'll admit this trait might be a plus in its appeal as a gateway; you can really get into a rhythm and experience it to the fullest.

Experience - Like with Catan, a little bit of bio. Catan I played in 2011 before I'd played any hobby games, really. In early 2015, I was invited to a board game night, where I was overwhelmed by the new people and the new games and ALL the new rules. The next day (or was it a week?) I was back there, in a smaller group, with only the host and the friend who'd invited me the first time. We played TTR that weekend twice. It was... well, it was okay. But I have very fond memories of just hanging out and doing this new activity, even though (even then!) I thought the game was a little simplistic.

I've since played TTR twice, though not on the US map. I'd probably estimate Europe > Africa > US, though I don't feel strongly about it at all. Those other plays happened at meetups and with five people, so the company wasn't nearly enjoyable, but I appreciated seen different riffs on the theme.

Future - My main group doesn't own the game, and I'm hardly gonna buy a game I don't love. But given I'm with someone who's never played TTR, it might be worth another play or two - if the opportunity arises.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness