While I wouldn't classify myself as a grail hunter, I do have a personal grail: the perfect gateway game. This is for a very simple and pragmatic reason. If gamers were water, I'd be someplace on Dune. It's that bad. I'm completely surrounded by people who think Cranium is the acme of game design.

So, when I say I'm looking for a gateway game, I'm looking at this from the perspective of a thirsty man in the desert. I've come to the realization that if I want to game ever again, I have to indoctrinate a group. That's where Ticket to Ride: Europe comes in.

I've been researching simple and easy-to-learn games on BGG for a little while now, and my choices had narrowed down to a few front-runners. TT:E was my first purchase for this specific purpose. After a couple plays, here are my thoughts on using TTR:E as a gateway game.

Rules and Gameplay
As has been remarked upon in other reviews, the rules are simple. I would like to go one farther and say that, in many cases, the rules are elegant. Whereas a more complicated game might have boiled down the same mechanics into a series of phases, TTR:E gives players a choice of only one action per turn from a set of actions. You can either draw train cards, route cards, or claim routes. While it might seem at first blush that this would slow down play (you mean I have to wait to my next turn to claim this route?!?!), it doesn't. New players are prone to AP, especially players you are bringing over the threshold from Monopoly and Sorry. Choosing which action they will take is something they can think about while it's not their turn, and there's only one choice to make. This considerably speeds up play for new players and makes sure everyone is doing something almost all the time. The only rule that is mildly difficult to explain is the tunnel rule, and even that isn't too onerous.

Bits
I don't think you can argue with the bits in this game. The board is attractive, the trains are well-sized, easy to handle, and they give a good tactile side to the game. When you open the box and hand out pieces, people are pleased with what they get. First impressions are important with Euro-virgins; you have to keep up interest any way you can.

Strategy
With the simple rules and gameplay, strategy starts to emerge from small decisions to large. First, players realize you can play the game of "engine denial" by taking any face-up engines and forcing players to draw random cards. Since engines are required cards for some routes, this can be an effective stalling tactic. Equally, players can choose to horde certain colours. New players, once they start completing a couple routes, start thinking about another draw from the route deck. Finally, after seeing the lay of the land, they will realize where other players are trying to play routes and try to block. As an aside, we found that the use of stations, while a good element in the game to add player choice, can be a make-or-break factor in the endgame. Stations allow a player to use one opponent track as part of their route, but incur a 4 VP penalty for their use (i.e. unused stations each add 4 points to your VP total at the end of the game). I won our second game, and found that my stations were a big factor in my win.

Players will, therefore, develop their own playing style by the end of the first game, and hopefully ask for a second!

Mission Accomplished
My couple of plays with TTR:E showed me that I had met my objective of finding a good gateway game for Euro-virgins. One of my friends who had simply watched the game asked me how much it would cost. All the players enjoyed it, and each developed his or her own style by the end. While I am still looking out for more gateway games, this is a fine tool in my arsenal of gamer proselytization.

Highly recommended for those of you who have heard the call to save the souls of those trapped on Boardwalk.