Game: TransEuropa

Thread: Re: This or TransAmerica?

sefton — 2008-11-03T22:41:14+00:00

I agree, Europe is more interesting, but far less forgiving. The potential is definitely there for someone to get screwed with a lot of points in a round that ends a little early.

That being said, and as close as they are to one another, I prefer TransAmerica. It feels more balanced, the games are closer, and so on.

Thread: Re: This or TransAmerica?

johnweldy — 2008-11-03T22:06:33+00:00

OK, first let me put your mind to rest. They don't SEEM to be the exact thing sans the map, they ARE the exact same thing sans the map layout. I don't say that as a bad thing, though, just a statement of fact.

Personally, I (a geography-challenged US citizen) started with TransAmerica, then also bought Trans Europa (and Vexation...you MUST have Vexation, though I hear it comes packed with the new edition).

After MANY plays, I like Europe slightly better, but still greatly enjoy both boards. Europe is a bit more interesting, but also easier to get WAY screwed...like 9+ point hands.

Thread: This or TransAmerica?

ackmondual — 2008-11-03T20:52:52+00:00

If you had to choose one and only one, which would it be? In a 'better world', I would get both of them, but they seem to be the exact same thing sans the map layout. At least games like Settlers/Seafarers Of Catan and Ticket To Ride/Europe etc. has different/additional gameplay in addition to different map layouts. It really seems overkill to get both of them.

Thread: looking for a board scan

magocharlie — 2008-10-31T17:41:52+00:00

Hi,
i have both games (transAmerica - transEuropa), my edition of trans europa was used and unfortunatly i found the board of europe broken (a quarter of it have a strap and a Coffee scrub!!!!!!!!)..
Then i want to remake the board on the oppisite side with a adesive paper. So...i need a scan of the map! I hope that someone can help me! I love this game!!!

Thanks

Thread: Re: Raising gamers: TransEuropa with kids

starkeyboy — 2008-10-18T15:16:42+00:00

Terrific niche review.

More like this, please.

Thread: Re: Raising gamers: TransEuropa with kids

Tall_Walt — 2008-10-18T03:37:33+00:00

I suspect Malmö was picked because it's across the channel, and so justifies a double track to get to it.

Ekstroem wrote:
It may be a good idea to start close to others so you quickly can use their tracksHowever, if you can get them to lay the track to join to you, you're in better shape. For example, in a recent game, I had two cities near each other in the Southeast. I thought I was going to have to place their, but then my left hand opponent dropped her post just about between them. "Okay," I thought, "Now I can concentrate on my other cities and depend on her to build to me."

The Trans games, though they're very suitable for children, have very subtle strategy. I have to admit I totally underestimated the games until I realized I was always losing!

Vexation is a great expansion. It takes some of the subtlety away, but puts in a lot of more obvious strategy.

Thread: Re: Raising gamers: TransEuropa with kids

peacmyer — 2008-10-17T16:14:18+00:00

My 7-yo really likes it, so I agree heartily!

Thread: Raising gamers: TransEuropa with kids

Ekstroem — 2008-10-17T14:46:12+00:00

This is not a traditional review that goes through the components, mechanics and gameplay of a board game. There are already several great reviews of TransEuropa on BGG that explain the game in great detail. This review is meant to describe how well TransEuropa works with younger players.

Executive summary: Works great with kids.

Background:

I have two wonderful girls aged 6 and 8 who love to play games. I think the social aspect is what they like the most but I'm sure that the competition aspect and "playing the same games that daddy plays with his gaming buddies" has some importance as well. Lately, I've been introducing them to games that have fairly simple rules, where some strategy or tactics is involved, and that doesn't take too long to play. I started with games that have a theme they easily could relate to. Basically the exact same criteria as for most german-style game.

Learning the rules:

I picked up TransEuropa in Munich after a business trip there. I had tried TransAmerica earlier so I was pretty certain the game length and rule complexity would be no problem. I decided on TransEuropa rather than TransAmerica because I figured they might as well pick up some "local" geography while playing.

The girls were very eager to play the game when they saw it. They quickly got the gist of the rules and while they had some trouble locating and pronouncing some of the city names they soon learned to use the colours to locate cities. After two rounds they had the rules nailed down and the only thing that bothered them was the fact that you have to be behind on the scoring track to win the game (and they still find that bit counterintuitive after 20+ games).

Understanding the tricks:

One of the things I always enjoy is to see if they pick up the tricks of the game or if they just play it. When we play the first couple of games I usually discuss different options with them or point out why a move may be a good or a bad idea. Initially they sometimes placed tracks in a non-optimal way or maybe just placed one track where they could place one track in one end of the railroad network and another track somewhere else.

In TransEuropa there may not be a lot of tricks to grasp (at least not without vexation which I do not have) but they both quickly understood the importance of start location (it may be a good idea to start close to others so you quickly can use their tracks), trying to build tracks that mostly benefit yourself, picking shortest routes and trying to get others to build the tracks for you. All in all they do quite well in understanding the underlying mechanics of the game --- the oldest does slightly better than the youngest.

Fun factor.

Is it fun playing with the kids? Definitely. For both me and them. This is one of the games that they often suggest we should play, which is probably the biggest indicator of whether a game connects with them. I enjoy playing TransEuropa with them quite a bit and while I'm slightly ahead in winnings it's not far. They like to introduce TransEuropa to friends and family when they visit and it's always a success.

Play it again?

Definitely. We play this game all the time, and it's one of the games that our non-games friends and families remember. Their cousin (aged 10) was dying to play it again last time he came to visit so TransEuropa will definately see a lot more game time at our house.

** As for sneaking in some European geography: Generally okay but there's one big sigh. The designers placed Malmö on the map instead of Copenhagen. Why they decided to pick a small Swedish city instead of the (much larger) Danish capital is beyond me, but who knows about the next printing. I know I'd buy a new version just for that change alone.

Thread: Re: How do you win 3 of 4 rounds, and still lose?

gejaycock — 2008-09-30T12:32:02+00:00

Try with Vexation addition; it makes a good game even better.

Thread: How do you win 3 of 4 rounds, and still lose?

MerricB — 2008-09-30T02:43:46+00:00

Laurie is a natural for TransEuropa. This was his very first game, and he owned us incredibly. In three of the four rounds, he was the first to complete all of his routes.

The weird thing is that in the third round, he lost in a big, big way: 10 tracks incomplete! That was the round Rich won, and it was enough to give Rich the game.

Josh wasn't doing so well, neither was I. It was entertaining to see how far apart our initial placements could be, it was rare that two of us were very close.

I mucked up terribly in the last round: my initial placement cost me two turns where I could only place a single track instead of two, and that was enough to shatter my own chances of winning.

So, round by round:
1) Merric -1, Rich -1, Randy -2, Laurie 0, Josh -1 A very tame round
2) Merric -3, Rich -4, Randy -2, Laurie 0, Josh -4 Things heat up!
3) Merric -2, Rich 0, Randy -4, Laurie -10, Josh -7 Laurie crashes and burns, incredibly, Josh is still in!
4) Merric -4, Rich -4, Randy -1, Laurie 0, Josh -1

Scores: Merric 3, Rich 4, Randy 4, Laurie 3, Josh 0.

So, a joint win to Rich and Randy, in what was actually a pretty close game! I enjoy Transeuropa - one of the few games for 5-6 players that plays in a reasonable time.

Thread: Re: End conditions?

lacxox — 2008-09-09T18:02:20+00:00

Thank you very much for your answer!

Thread: Re: End conditions?

greenpawn — 2008-09-09T16:39:47+00:00

"after all players scored for a round", means that, "SCORING is completed for the round". All players do not HAVE to score as it is worded.

I guess that the "a" version would be correct.

Thread: Re: End conditions?

lacxox — 2008-09-09T07:59:51+00:00

We do play the game like that; also it's just how Trans America ends. But then I still don't really get what the 'after all players scored for a round' part means. I guess it must be the a, version then.

Thread: Re: End conditions?

greenpawn — 2008-09-08T22:05:14+00:00

A round ends when one player completes all of his city connections, then the round is scored. The game ends when during scoring (after a round), a player moves his scoring marker past the red space. The winner is the player who is farthest from the red space. Remember, this game rewards the least points, like golf.

The first person that completes his 5 cities, scores 0 points, eveyone else gets negative points and moves their scoring marker forward depending on how many spaces (double for double lines) needed to complete their connections.

Are you more confused now?

Thread: End conditions?

lacxox — 2008-09-08T21:22:19+00:00

Maybe it's my not so perfect English knowledge but it seems I don't really understand the end conditions written in the Rio Grande Games edition. It is a bit different from the rules posted in BGG; it says "The Game ends after all players have scored for a round and at least one player moves his locomotive to or beyond the red space at the bottom of the scoring track."
So what does the first part mean?
After all players scored for a round=
a, after the scoring of at least one round
b, after each player had some points
c, after each player has been a starting player at least once?
In case it's not a, what happens if in a four-player game after the third round somebody moves his locomotive to the red space while another player has won all the three rounds?

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Shadowen — 2008-09-03T03:49:37+00:00

Orange City Card

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Shadowen — 2008-09-03T03:49:05+00:00

Green City Card

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Shadowen — 2008-08-23T18:00:33+00:00

Blue City Card

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Shadowen — 2008-08-23T17:59:34+00:00

Yellow City Card

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Shadowen — 2008-08-23T17:58:32+00:00

Red City Card

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Shadowen — 2008-08-23T17:57:55+00:00

Starting Player Card

Thread: Re: Video review of TransEuropa with Vexation

Yokiboy — 2008-07-05T01:24:29+00:00

Great review Scott, I love your show!

You did mess up the TransEuropa rules a bit though.

Each player chooses a color, places his starting marker before him (in his play area) and his locomotive as a scoring marker in the train house.
Your locomotive starts in the train house, and...

For each point counted, the player moves his locomotive downward one space in the direction of the red space at the bottom of the scoring track.
Moves downwards for each track you're away from connecting your five cities. Which means that once a player reaches the red area at the bottom of the scoring track...

The player with the most points is the winner!
So normally there's a lot more losers than winners.

Thread: Roller Coaster Train Ride

TangentZ — 2008-05-14T17:47:36+00:00

Players: Myself, Alex, and Mike

I recently acquired Trans Europa and decided to bring it to play with a couple friends. None of us played it before, but the rules are so simple, it only took 5 minutes to set it up and get going.

We played a practice round and were surprised by how abruptly it could end. Alex declared "I'm done!" when Mike and I just finished 3 of 5 cities. We quickly learned the power of utitlizing the other player's network.

So we moved on to start a real game.

I got a lucky draw of cards as the citities were farily close together. I won the first round handily, with Alex losing 5 and Mike losing 3 points.

I wasn't so lucky in the second round and couldn't reach the dreaded Madrid as my last city. Alex won with Mike losing 4 points and me losing 6 points. Ouch!

In the third round, I got the Madrid again! It proved to be detrimental. I should have started on the west side. Mike won this round with Alex losing 2 and me losing a another 6 points! I was then sitting at 1!

The fourth round was do-or-die for me. I went with a stealth strategy by starting in Paris, one of those neutral cities (i.e. the ones with checkered edges). Alex and Mike didn't know where I was really going for and connected to my network early on. Voila! I totally surprised them by laying down the last track (didn't need a second one) to London and finished all my cities.

With this win, they both fell off the scoring track, and I won with just 1 point left!! Talk about a big comeback and the closest possible win.

We all enjoyed this light game and will definitely play again in the near future, possibly with the Vexation expansion.

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That_Quiz_Guy — 2008-05-12T13:02:08+00:00

Chugging Up The Score Track

Thread: Re: Video review of TransEuropa with Vexation

Antonakis — 2008-05-05T11:00:40+00:00

Excellent presentation. Very clear, simple and light for a fast and enjoyable game. I have not tried the expansion but my friends enjoy the base game when we are tired or we don't have much time on our hands.

I can't remember the rules at the moment, but my friends and I have always played it with a rule saying that whoever has the fewer points at the end of the game (another player goes over 10) then he is the winner. So when we play we usually have 1 winner (unless there's a tie ofcourse), 1 loser (might also be a tie here) and the rest are the in-between nobodies.

Oh and another thing, as a european I'd like to point out about when you said that it costs 2 to "cross that river".... well it's not really a river, that's the English Channel or La Manche.

Once again, well done and thanks for the review Scott. I'm always eagerly awaiting your next review/presentation!

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monikad — 2008-05-02T20:59:07+00:00

Close up of the Locomotive

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monikad — 2008-05-02T20:46:25+00:00

The City cards

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monikad — 2008-05-02T20:43:56+00:00

The City cards are in five colors

Thread: Re: english rules for transeuropa

Joeyeti — 2008-04-30T11:26:56+00:00

I second this (old) question:

does anyone know where to get the original english rules and if there are pictures in them? I would like to translate it...

Joe

Thread: Video review of TransEuropa with Vexation

snicholson — 2008-04-30T10:05:46+00:00

As an episode of Board Games with Scott, I did a video exploration and review of TransEuropa and the expansion, Vexation.

You can watch this 10-minute review at
http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?p=83

Thread: Lost in Europe

MerricB — 2008-01-12T12:36:09+00:00

I delight in TransEuropa. A game that takes around 30 minutes to play that is great with six players? Fantastic!

This was Randy's first game, and I think he enjoyed the experience. However, it was Mike who made up for his problems with Incan Gold with some inspired play. Well, it was probably inspired play, as opposed to play from myself that gave him the win while leaving me in the dust.

The first round was fairly even. Well, I lost 4 points, but Mike only lost 2, Rich and Randy 1 each, and Craig was the one to complete all his routes.

The second round wasn't so good for me, nor for Craig. Mike won it, with Rich losing only 1 point, and Randy 2. I'd entered the round not quite paying attention to where all my cities were, and had perhaps not the best initial placement. Nah, who am I fooling? It wasn't a good round. Craig lost 6 points, I lost 8. Ouch!

The last round had me with only 1 more point. Well, I aced the game... in a manner of speaking. Mike did incredibly well and completed his routes first, when most of us were merely groping for our connections. The west side of the map was hardly touched, which turned out to be a problem. Mike was level, Craig, Rich and Randy lost four points each, and I lost six.

This hadn't been the greatest game in the world for me... but a very good game for Mike.

Final scores:
Mike 11, Rich 7, Randy 6, Craig 3, Merric 0 (or lower!)

Thread: Re: First Game: 6 players

Raharanor — 2007-11-26T02:21:26+00:00

The way in which we had to connect to our respective cities by the way of not only placing tracks down but also connecting to other people's routes during the game made for a fascinating and somewhat amusing game. The first two rounds I only lost one point per round and then lost more in the third round and lost somewhere in the vicinity of six points in the last round to lose the game alongside Mat. Pity about that, as I was going so well...but it was my own fault that I placed lines down that aided Craig in his cause...

The cries of "I'm going to lose so many points!" and so forth reflected the levels of decision-making required within the scope of TransEuropa in a major way. As well as being fun to play in groups, the ability to properly centralise your location at the beginning as well as connecting to other people's routes is vital to greater success in this game. Attempting to judge whether your track placement will help your opponents is a real pain to be sure, but at times it cannot be helped if you wish to complete your routes.

Thread: First Game: 6 players

MerricB — 2007-11-26T00:03:57+00:00

I've been a player of games on the online portal www.brettspielwelt.de for over a year now, although I haven't been playing much just recently because of plenty of gaming in Real Life(tm). Every game I play there is one that I own in Real Life(tm), except for one: TransAmerica.

Why is this the exception? I think it's mainly because it has a simple interface and rules. In any case, it's a game I've really come to appreciate, even though I'm not that good at it.

So, when I was in Melbourne last week I noticed that Mind Games had a copy of its cousin, TransEuropa. I immediately grabbed it, for it isn't an expensive game, and it is one of the rare games that works really well with six players, and also plays in 30-45 minutes. That's exceptionally useful, especially when you expect six players to grace your table at your next Board Game Day.

So it was that Rich, Mike, Craig, Josh, Mat and I sat down at the beginning of this Election Day BGD to start a few 6-player games. And the first game to hit the table was TransEuropa.

In fact, Mike wasn't there at the very start, so I took the opportunity to explain the rules and run one round of the game for the other players. Mike arrived halfway through that round (that is, about 5 minutes after we started), and after it was complete we began the game again.

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TransEuropa in play

The object of TransEuropa is to connect your coloured "pawn" to five cities on the map. The cities are randomly selected from five decks of cards - each will be in a different area of the map.

Play is simple:

On your first turn, you place your pawn on any intersection on the map.

Each turn after that, you place one or two rail segments on the map, which must be connected (by other rail segments) to your pawn. Some lines are harder to play than others, so to cross mountains you can only place one rail segment in your turn. Otherwise, you can place two across plains.

What makes the game interesting is that you can use the networks created by the other players. Once your network connects to theirs, you both can use the other player's! That may get you closer to your goals... but it's likely to get them closer to theirs. It actually gets quite tense as the game moves towards its conclusion, for if you are close to winning, it's likely that your opponents are as well. Did the link I just played make it easier for them to win than me?

Scoring works as follows: Each player begins with 13 points. When someone connects all their cities, every other player loses points according to how many links they were short of making their goal - this is normally in the range of 1-4. It can get worse.

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TransEuropa at its end

Josh managed to demonstrate "worse" in the first round, as he was six segments short when I completed my network. Everyone else only lost one or two points.

The second and third rounds were won by Mike. My initial good start had been squandered, and I found myself joining the rest of the pack. Josh, although losing, managed to restrict his losses so he wasn't going out, taking only 1 or 2 point penalties each round.

It was really entertaining to hear the others - and me, from time to time - getting really worried as each round got towards its conclusion. Cries of "I'm going to lose so many points!" and "I'm in trouble!" became commonplace. It wasn't quite as amusing as the Robot Dances you get in RoboRally, but it was close.

The fourth round brought the game to a close, with Craig going out first. Both Mat and Rich went out completely, and, incredibly, Josh ended the game in 3rd place: really good going for someone who had done so poorly in the first round. (To say Rich had a bad last round sort of understates it - he lost 7 points!)

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Josh and Mike reflecting on Mike's victory

Final scores:
Mike 8; Craig 4; Josh 3; Merric 2; Mat 0; Rich 0

I'm very fond of TransEuropa. I daresay it'll hit the table quite a lot at future game days, as the reaction of my friends was also really positive.

Thread: No luck for me.

kevruth — 2006-12-11T14:43:08+00:00

My friend and I tried this one out. Before we started his comment to me was "I never lose at train games." I came to find that out.

Having only two people play makes this go very, very fast. We got in three games. The first ended in just one round. I guess I didn't centralize my starting point very well. I was more than 13 tracks away when my friend placed his final track. I was really wondering if this was going to be a standard.

The last two games went much slower taking about three rounds each. I even managed to end one of those rounds. The last game was a real problem for me having to run the entire length of the board to link up my cities and even having to go clear to Glasgow, too. Very poor draw of cards in that one.

In the end, though, my master-train-game friend won them all. We had a blast with this. We can't wait to play with many more people. I had purchased mine during Tangathon and got it really cheap (I think for $6.99). My friend now wants to own a copy, too.

Thread: Got 30 minutes? Fill 'er in here!

kirkusmaximus — 2006-10-14T16:35:52+00:00

Description: TransEuropa is primarily a game of efficiency and getting others to do your bidding. Each round you are dealt 5 cards, 1 from each region of the map, representing a different city. Your goal is to connect all 5 of your cities before anyone else does the same. You can use any track you are connected to after placing your starting tower. It features an accelerated ending based on how well or poorly the players have done in the first two rounds. This nice feature prevents the game from dragging too long and adds a sense of urgency to it.

Gameplay: The gameplay mechanics are very straightforward which makes the game accessible to everyone. After you are dealt your cards each player takes a turn where they place their colored starting tower and then lay 2 units of track. Some of the links on the board require both units to traverse while most only need one. There is some strategy in planning when to cross the doubles so that you don't lose a track lay. After the first turn each player continues to lay two units of track that connect to their tower in any way. This means that once your track touches another player's track you can use all of their network. Timing when to tie in is another key element of the planning in this game. Scoring is handled after someone connects their last city. Play ends and the other players pay 1 point for each unit of track they need to connect the remainder of their cities. Each player starts at 13 so usually their are 3 or more rounds before the game is over. The winner is the player with the most points left at the end. After round 2 the endpoint, which started on zero, is moved to 2 less than the lowest player. This ensures a quicker ending to games where everyone is running close to each other.

Components: The components are very nice. The board is solid and a colorful depiction in the abstract of the continental US. It enhances the gameplay with its easy to see cities and connections. The track links are wood and uniform and the starting towers are wood also. The cards are a little small but this doesn't hurt too much as this isn't a card game and they are only dealt, not played. Overall a very nice set that will stand up to repeated plays.

Value: The price for this game is set pretty low compared to many games on the market. This reflects the relatively low number of components makes it an excellent value. Looked at in terms of gameplay for the money it would be hard to beat this game.

Overall: TransEuropa represents a very nice filler game that works well for families or anyone needing a 30 minute game. There is enough luck to keep everyone in it yet enough decisions to let you feel like you can control your destiny. Tension builds throughout as different players connect and you know everyone is closing in. Give TransEuropa a try if you get the chance, you won't be disappointed.

Thread: Re: 1st to 12?

Salt-Man Z — 2006-09-02T18:27:43+00:00

Well, for starters, the track goes to 13. (The train house at the top of the score track = 13.)

Personally, I think it's much more intuitive to lose points for not going out, and ending the game once someone has "gone out the bottom".

Really, it's the same thing however you count. And there's no one stopping it from doing it your way.

Thread: 1st to 12?

Milarky — 2006-09-01T20:02:17+00:00

why count down from 12 and not just add up to twelve?

it woudl make more sence if the rules said all player start with 12 points,

but i do see the point why not start game end when a player hits 12 errors lowest score wins?

just being picky i think.. but adding up is easyer then taking away..

Thread: Re: Lissboa and Athen are mentioned on the cover but not on the map

NrowS — 2006-05-28T03:55:20+00:00

dilago wrote:
Strange thing, cities that are mentioned on the front of the box, but which are not included on the map. Looks to me like they changed the map during playtesting, but forgot to change the names on the box into Madrid and Istanbul or some other cities that are actually on the map.

That's true!! I bought the game thinking Portugal was on the map... as you can imagine, I got a bit disappointed when I opened the box for the first time.

Thread: Oooo ... wooden components... I like ...

friedricetheman — 2006-04-08T18:08:56+00:00

For the price, this game is the best bang for the buck. The game comes with a mid sized playing board, 36 mini cards (7 for each color and 1 starting player counter/card) and lots of wooden pieces ala Settlers of Catan (83 wooden train tracks, 6 little wooden choo-choo trains, and 6 wooden player markers). When playing, one cannot wonder if all this blingage is neccessary (do we really need the names and pictures of the places of interests of each city on each card? It's nice, but does it really help the game much?). Gameplay wise, I've only played it once so I cannot really comment on it, but to me, this game is deceptively simple at first but there is more to it than just placing train tracks every turn. There seem to be a lot of choices to be made each turn. Do you connect the track here so that you could use less tracks to get to your city and risk other people benefiting from your track placement or do you connect to another person's train network to get closer to your other city on the other end of the board?

So, in conclusion, if you would like a game for those nights where you are just too tired to play heavy games like Arkham Horror or Serenissima, this game would fit just right in. It's not too taxing on the brain cells and not too easy either. It's a balance of both. In other words, you could teach your 8 year old nephew to play this and he'll get the rules down in 5 minutes. A really nice game for family outings. And it comes in a really small box too!!

Thread: Trans Europa - Mike's Thoughts....

mikehibbert — 2006-01-17T19:42:56+00:00

Thread: I ended up somewhere in Africa

ValJor — 2006-01-01T15:34:59+00:00

Date: December 31st, 2005

Game: Trans Europa

Players: Ivan (my son), Isabela, Nicolas, Pascale and Valdir (myself)

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Our friend Welington invited a bunch of people to celebrate New Year's at his house. Now, I'm not a big fan of parties with a ton of people, but he promised me that he would dedicate one of the rooms in the house to boardgaming. He didn't have to say anything more...

After a little bit of socializing with the adults (well, I can't just run to the board games, can I?), I rounded up the children and went to play the Trans Europa game that we had given Welington as an end-of-year gift.

Pascale wasn't with us at first, we started just the four of us, but after two rounds she showed up, so we just aborted that game to allow her to join in the fun. Nicolas wasn't at all against this as he was leading in VP's lost by this time...

So we restarted the game, now with five players and luck would have that Nicolas would win this first round! Very good for him! Not so much for myself, as I was the one who lost the most points (four) in this round. The others had missed their marks by just one or two.

I don't recall who won the next rounds, but I'm sure it wasn't me... Each round I would lose two or more points, so that after four rounds my situation looked precarious. It's a good thing that in this version we don't have to move the scoring barrier up close to the lowest scorer...

I believe the game lasted four rounds. In the last one Isabela lost all the points she had, ending with zero and triggering the end of the game. But it was much worse for me. I was already low in points and in this round I was far away from two of my cities, I must have lost at least seven or eight points just in this round. We didn't even bother to count my points.

Final Score
[c] Player: Points
Pascale: 7
Ivan: 6
Nicolas: 3
Isabela: 0
Valdir: Somewhere in Africa [/c]In the original TA the score track runs East-West across the States ending up in the Pacific Ocean, so that if someone loses by a lot we usually say that "he ended up somewhere in the Pacific". Now, in TE, the track runs North-South, so I'm guessing that a player who loses by a landslide would end up somewhere in Africa...

Thread: Re: He loves TA, so we gave him TE

steveoliverc — 2005-12-28T18:15:48+00:00

Great session report! We've been enjoying TE a lot lately. I enjoy TA as well but have found that the map in TE makes for a more tense game. I also like that the "move scoring bits up" rule that is in TA has been removed from TE.

Thread: He loves TA, so we gave him TE

ValJor — 2005-12-28T12:25:44+00:00

Date: December 27th, 2005

Game: Trans Europa

Players: Ivan (my son), Valdir (myself), Welington and Worthy Opponent (name withheld at player's request; from now on called WO)

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Our friend Welington loves TransAmerica, it's the game he requests all the time when he comes to play. Therefore it seemed quite natural to give him its sister game Trans Europa as an end-of-year gift. He came to our house today, so we gave him his game. He asked us to play right away.

The rules are virtually identical to the older game, the only difference is that the score track barrier stays at 1 all the time, so that this game will be a little longer than TA.

The board seems to have a lot more double lines. The cards are much more beautiful than the American edition. However, what we gain in the artwork, we lose in ease of finding the cities: the little map (pointing where the city is) is gone, it's replaced by an image of a monument of that city. You have to find your city by the colour alone.

I was randomly chosen to be the first player and off we went, building the railroads in Europe. I won this first round when everybody else was two spaces away from completing their networks. Considering that I had been first to go, this was a very tight round, it could have gone any away, I just took advantage of going first.

WO won the second round (and she was the third player in this round), Welington won the third one going last and Ivan won the fourth one going last as well. So much for the first player advantage!

At this point we were all lumped together around 5 to 7 points, so it was a very close game after each one had gone first once. The start player card came back to me and we played the fifth and what proved to be the last round.

It was a very tense round, we knew the game could end right there if someone missed too many connections. At one moment I got to just two connections from completing my network but Ivan announced that he had won the round. He started showing his cards to prove his network was completed but when he got to his blue one, he showed Rome and only then saw that it was not done! He had mixed Rome with Tirana!

Well, the game continued, WO made her placements getting to one connection from completing her network. And then I made my last two connections and claimed the win for the round. Welington showed his cards, he lost three in one and four in another, making him lose all the seven points that he had (he was in the lead up to that point!) and ending the game.

Ivan, who was tied with me lost three points and WO, who had one point more than me lost it, so that we tied for the win as you can see below.

Final Score
[c] Player: Points
WO: 5
Valdir: 5
Ivan: 2
Welington: 0
[/c]A very tight game that was enjoyed by all. We'll be playing more of this in the near future, that's for sure!

Thread: Re: Lissboa and Athen are mentioned on the cover but not on the map

davedanger — 2005-12-21T15:55:08+00:00

.. also 2 questions:
1) Do hovertrains exist?
2) If not, why are there rail lines on the ocean?

this is a RAIL game, right?

Thread: english rules for transeuropa

yiannis — 2005-11-28T15:39:08+00:00

does anybody knows where i can find the english rules?

Thread: Re: a sister game to TransAmerica

Jimzik — 2005-11-13T16:21:59+00:00

You answered my question of owning both games, thanks for the good review. I like playing TTR:E online better than holding the tons of cards and getting cramps in my hand with the boardgame. Transamerica is the perfect little RR game because it's so easy to explain and play so unless they come up with a different twist it stands alone.

Thread: Re: Cities with white dashed borders?

Aelf — 2005-10-24T10:37:51+00:00

Excellent, thanks for your help everyone.

Thread: Re: Cities with white dashed borders?

Salt-Man Z — 2005-10-21T15:19:42+00:00

Yes, the rules for the 2 games are the same. (Except for the "move the bottom of the scoring track up after 2 rounds" rule, which has been removed.)

Thread: Re: Cities with white dashed borders?

asmiles — 2005-10-21T14:02:58+00:00

Assuming that the rules are the same for TransAmerica as they are for TransEuropa, the cities with the white-dashed border are removed from the game when playing with 2 or 3 players and are used in games with more players.

Thread: Re: Cities with white dashed borders?

dilago — 2005-10-21T14:01:47+00:00

In a 2 or 3 player game, remove the cards for those cities from the deck. Those cities are only used in a 4/5 player game.

Thread: Cities with white dashed borders?

Aelf — 2005-10-21T13:54:51+00:00

I bought the German edition since I'm familiar with TransAmerica on BSW. I note on the TE board, some cities have black and white dashed lines bordering them - does it say in the rules what this is for? or is it purely decoration?

Thread: a sister game to TransAmerica

Gnomekin — 2005-10-12T21:17:44+00:00

TransEuropa is effectively the sequel to TransAmerica, one of the simplest rail games on the market. While TransAmerica had players building networks of rails over the United States, TransEuropa has them building those networks across Europe. Both are games that are easy to learn and play and friendly to a wide variety of different players.

Personally, I feel there are two questions that you have to ask about TransEuropa. The first is the standard question, is it any good? The second is, if you already have TransAmerica, do you need TransEuropa?

Since you don’t need to own TransAmerica to play TransEuropa, I am going to try and approach it as the standalone game that is. However, I will be making frequent comparisons between the two games.

TransEuropa, like its sibling, is a very simple rail game where players are trying to connect five different cities before their opponents can. It is a very light game but it is also a very light game that is fun and not only plays up to six players, it plays six players very well.

TransEuropa comes in a relatively small but sturdy square box, one that can fit into a backpack or similar bag without any problems. Inside, you will find one page of instructions, a six-fold board, thirty-five city cards, six sets of player pieces and quite a few little wooden black tracks.

The board unfolds to reveal a map of Europe with thirty-five different cities. The cities are divided into five colors, seven in each color, and each color is clustered on a different region of the map. Over the map is a grid of small triangles. Each of the cities is in an intersection of these triangles. Some of the lines are double lines. A scoring track that starts at a station house and runs from twelve to one is on the right side of the board.

The cards are small, slightly flimsy cards. There is one card for each of the cities on the map. The backs of the cards show which of the five different colors their city is, so players can easily select a region’s card without knowing the city. On each card is a pastel picture that shows one of the monuments or other highlights of that particular city.

Each region will have two cities that have a black and white border around the circle that represents that city. Generally, these cities are a little farther off the beaten path. The cards for these hubcap cities are removed when you only have two or three players.

Each player will get a small wooden cylinder to serve as their starting marker as well as a small wooden train for the scoring track. They come in red, green, brown, blue, red, and white.

The little black track markers are simply small square rods of wood painted black. They look almost exactly like the roads in Settlers of Catan. They are also sized so they fit onto the grid.

In general, both the map and the cards in TransEuropa have a much gentler palette than TransAmerica, which has much more vibrant colors. The grid in TransEuropa looks like it was done in charcoal while TransAmerica’s grid looks like it was computer generated. In general, TransEuropa has a slightly more artistic feel to its visual design.

Unfortunately for me, being quite colorblind, I found the colors in TransEuropa slightly harder to differentiate than the colors in TransAmerica. Since each color has a matching symbol, this isn’t a functional problem. However, TransAmerica is easier for me to work with. For people with full color vision, I doubt that this would be a problem.

TransEuropa is played in a series of rounds. All of the players start with thirteen points. All of the players, except the winner of the round, will lose points at the end of each round. When at least one player drops below one point, the game ends. The player with most remaining points is the winner.

To begin TransEuropa, each player takes a starting piece and places the matching train on the station at the top of the score track. The cards are laid face down on the table. Each player will take one card for each region and the other cards are discarded, still face down so no one knows what cities will not be in the game. Players can look at their own cards but no one else may.

A starting player is chosen. They place their starting piece on any intersection on the map. It can be on a city but it doesn’t have to be. Moving clockwise, each player does the same. At this point, players are ready to starting laying track.

On your turn, you can lay up to two points worth of track. Most of the lines on the grid are single lines and it only cost one point to lay a track piece on them. So, you can lay two tracks on your turn on those lines. However, some of the lines are double lines, representing crossing rivers, mountains or other difficult terrain. It costs two points to lay track on those lines so one track on those lines will be your entire turn.

Any track you lay must be connected to your starting piece. If you cannot trace a line of tracks back to your starting piece, then you cannot lay that track.

However, one of the crucial rules in TransEuropa is that track belongs to no one. If you connect your network of tracks to someone else’s network, then they become one network. Either player can build off of any place on that network. Eventually, in most rounds, everyone will be connected and the board will be one rail network.

When one player connects to all of their cities, they declare it, revealing their cards and proving it. This ends the round. All of the other players lose points equal to the number of points that it would take for them to connect all of their cities. Yes, that means a double line will cost a player two points. In general, there are more double lines in TransEuropa than TransAmerica, creating a slightly more complicated board.

As mentioned before, the game will continue, with the player to the left of the starting player as the new starting player. The cards are reshuffled and new cities are drawn. The round continue until someone drops below one point. At that point, whoever has the most remaining points wins and ties are possible.

In general, the rules to TransEuropa are almost identical to the rules of TransAmerica. The only rule that is different is that in TransAmerica, the lowest mark on the score track might be moved up on the third round and that is a rule that I at least never felt the need to follow.

Like its sibling, many of TransEuropa’s virtues are also some of its biggest weaknesses. It is a very easy game to teach and to play. It is a fast and enjoyable game that both regular gamers and non-gamers can enjoy, with the luck of the draw helping even out the advantage that experience brings.

However, like TransAmerica, there is usually a best move to pick. After you’ve gotten your cities, your moves are often scripted out, with the only variance being what other people do. A lot of TransEuropa revolves around how you use the networks other people have set up but even then there is usually a best move to pick and it’s usually not hard to find it.

That being said, TransEuropa is also a very portable game. Not as portable as a game that has the word travel in its title but it’s relatively small size and tough box make it an easy game to travel with. It is also a game that not only plays up to six players; it is a game that plays best when you have six players.

At the beginning of this review, one of the questions I asked is if TransEuropa is a good game. The answer is yes, it is a good game. Not a brilliant game but a solid and enjoyable game to play.

However, the other question is if a game collection needs both TransAmerica and TransEuropa. I’m afraid that I personally feel that it does not. TransEuropa does boast a slightly more complex board. However, it uses the same rules set and that rules set is simple enough that a different board doesn’t create a different enough game.

In comparison, I look at the changes that were made in creating Ticket to Ride: Europe. Not only was the board changed, enough rules were added to make that game have a genuinely different feel and play compared to the original Ticket to Ride. TransEuropa, on the other hand, feels like a clone of TransAmerica.

I enjoy playing both games. However, I use TransAmerica as a light filler for casual play. I don’t feel the need at this point to have another game that is almost the same.

That being said, if you own neither game, TransEuropa might be the better game to buy. The board is slightly more complex and, if you have color vision, may be visually more attractive. In addition, many people have the older TransAmerica so you might as well get a game fewer people have.

Thread: Quick Six-Player Game

themightyhump — 2005-10-05T15:13:59+00:00

The Event:
Tuesday Night Lancaster Gamers Meeting : October 4, 2005

The Location:
Six Feet Under Games in Lancaster, PA

The Players:
Bill, Tom, Chris, J-Man, Scott K, and Scott H

The Game:
Trans Europa by Rio Grande Games/Winning Moves

Session Report:
We decided to get in a light six-player game to start off the evening – and Trans Europa fit the bill. Bill, Tom, and Scott K had not played either Trans game, so rules were quickly explained and understood, and off we went.

In the first round, everyone placed their start markers near the southern section of the board. So routes were quickly merged, and the orange and blue connections were made by all. The yellow connections were the last to be driven to, and Chris ended the round with his connection up to Stockholm. Scott H was one section away from completion of his connection, Scott K was two spaces away, Tom and J-Man were four spaces away, and Bill was five spaces away. First round scores were:

Chris – 13
Scott H – 12
Scott K – 11
Tom – 9
J-Man – 9
Bill – 8

In the second round, we were all in the northern section of the board, and again routes merged fairly quickly. The red and blue connections were the last to be made, and the round ended when Bill made Scott H’s final connection through London. Bill was again five spaces from his completed connection, with Chris four spaces away, Tom 4 spaces away, Scott K one space away, and J-Man one space away.

Scott H – 12
Chris – 9
Scott K – 9
J-Man – 8
Tom – 5
Bill – 3

In the third round, starting spaces were more spread, with me in the Southwest, and several players in the middle and Northeast. I quickly made my Merseille and Barcelona connections, and connected up with the rest of the group to make my Berlin and Kyiv connections. I was one space away from Stockholm when Tom announced his completed connection. After three rounds, I had a wide enough margin to call the game and move on to something else.

Final Scores:
Scott H – 11
Chris – 7
Scott K – 7
Tom – 5
J-Man – 4
Bill – 1

The Synopsis:
This is a nice, light, quick-playing game with plenty of light strategy. The key is, of course, to be able to utilize other people’s routes to get your connection built as quickly as possible. A good card draw helps as well, which I seemed to be lucky enough with during this play.

This game plays no differently than TransAmerica. The map has more water routes to complete over the various rivers, seas, and channels. So playing double routes come into play more in this game. And the cities tend to be more along the edges of the board, so game play may be extended slightly because of that. Both games are quick to learn, non-confrontational, play rather quickly, and make for good light strategy and family-friendly games.

My Ranking:
8 out of 10

Thread: Lissboa and Athen are mentioned on the cover but not on the map

dilago — 2005-07-11T07:19:17+00:00

Strange thing, cities that are mentioned on the front of the box, but which are not included on the map. Looks to me like they changed the map during playtesting, but forgot to change the names on the box into Madrid and Istanbul or some other cities that are actually on the map.

Thread: Board rewards careful scrutiny

AllenDoum — 2005-07-07T17:33:35+00:00

Where Trans America used "double" lines for mountains and rivers, Trans Europa adds coastlines as doubles. But not in every case.

There are a number of places where areas of the board may seem to be surrounded by double lines, where there is a single line route available.

Examples: Where the British Islands require a double line if you are crossing the channel, there is a single line route East of London that connects to Norther Germany. From the same place in Germany, there is a route of 2 single lines into Malmo, or 3 through the North Sea to Oslo. Ther are two gaps in the wall of double lines that lead to the Green (Eastern) cities, and one South of the mountains to get into Spain.

Of course, these may take you near cities you prefer to avoid, but n
knowing where you can save a point or two is always helpful.

Thread: Trans Europa

qrux — 2005-07-03T20:52:09+00:00

Trans America is simply one of the most accessible games ever published. It is certainly a game that can be taught quickly and permits non-gamers to play on an equal basis with hard core gamers. I could never fathom why this never won Game of the Year (SdJ). It is an excellent system and proved fairly popular. It is this popularity that cried out for additional maps. As no sequel had been published or even hinted at, player constructed maps began appearing. Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to play on several of these home-grown productions including Africa, India, Sweden, China and more. Some were respectable and others… not just right. Trans Europe resolves the problems with a fresh, balanced map of Europe.

For those who have never played either game the system is quite simple. Players are dealt five cards, one in each of five colors that correspond to cities on the map. The object of the game is to connect all five of the cities on the cards. On his turn, a player may lay one or two tracks. When one player completes his connections, all other players must deduct the distance (in tracks) for each city they have that remains unconnected. The key, the heart of the game lies in a small twist. In most train games, players must lay all of their own track. In some games a player may use another player’s track but must usually incur some form of penalty. In Trans America/ Trans Europa, once a player’s track-line intersects with that of another player’s line, the two lines merge and are jointly owned. Either player may build off of the merged track without penalty. It is one grand network. The strategies required include where to place your starting marker and when/where/who to merge lines with. Merging may benefit your opponent more than yourself so it is not a decision to be implemented without consideration.

There is one slight rule change from the original system but I had found that in most games players simply ignored the original rule. The cards for Trans Europa are different from those in Trans America in that they do not indicate where the city is located. Each card depicts some monument or building in the specific city. The art work is different also. Gone are the computer precision connection lines which have been replaced with something more ‘hand drawn’ in appearance. Other than that the games are very similar. Unlike the changes incorporated in Ticket to Ride:Europe compared with the original Ticket to Ride, Trans Europa has only minor alterations.

Do you need both games? If you don’t own either game then certainly one should be in your library. Which you choose is personal taste as there is very little difference (Europe or the US) in actual play. If you are a fan of the system and are looking for additional maps then this is a must buy as it compliments the map in Trans America. It is an excellent, simple and entertaining system.

There has been some competition between Trans America/Trans Europa and Ticket to Ride/ Ticket to Ride: Europe systems. Which is the better train game? Which should supplant the other as THE gateway game? I find the entire argument to be trivial and artificial. It is as relevant as the Coke/Pepsi debates. Both game systems are good and make great gateway games. There is no reason that one cannot have and enjoy both.

Tans Europa was designed by Franz Benno Delonge the author of some of the finest games published. (Big City, Dos Rios, Hellas, Manila, Trans America and others.) Each of his games have the distinction of being extremely accessible while providing a significant number of decisions for the players. Delonge’s games have a warmth while remaining dignified.

Thread: Re: like Transamerica but with funny names

rdore — 2005-06-28T15:31:36+00:00

Now granted, I think a lot of folks don't know southeastern europe very well. But Sofia is a pretty major city there.

Thread: Re: like Transamerica but with funny names

Blackberry — 2005-06-24T16:27:38+00:00

Thanks for the review. I guess all those games of Third Reich gave me an intimate knowledge of Kharkov, Malmo, and Sofia.

Thread: Re: like Transamerica but with funny names

hotc — 2005-06-24T14:25:13+00:00

Jimscannell wrote:

There is a minor change in that the endgame requires one locomotive to move off the end space after "1" on the score track - there are no rules for moving the endgame marker up after two rounds.

Yeah, I noticed that too. We dispensed with that rule anyway - it has very little effect on the game play.

Jimscannell wrote:

The people who gave Allen Moon a hard time over some geographical innaccuracies in Ticket to Ride: Europe will have more to complain about here. I noticed pretty quickly on the TransEuropa map the dot for Glasgow is really where Edinburgh should be, and there is no Edinburgh.

As with TTR:E, I don't particularly care, and people who care about this sort of thing have probably spent too much time accumulating GeekGold. :-)

Jimscannell wrote:

I know my geography pretty well, and even I've never heard of Charkiv, Malmo, and Sofia, all present on the TransEuropa map. Some Americans may be put off by the localized spellings of city names -- we have Moskva instead of Moscow and Wien instead of Vienna.

Again, TTR:E did the same thing with Athina and Kyiv and so forth. Charkiv is Kharkov, where there was a major WWII battle. Malmo is a large city in Sweden. Sofia is the _capital_ of Bulgaria. Back to geography class with you, me lad.

Jimscannell wrote:

Whereas TransAmerica is about connecting the East coast and west coast of America, the map for TransEuropa feels more like a circle. The "orange" cities here are in the middle of the map - Germany, Switzerland, Holland. The other colors sort of form a circle around the middle. Thus, the board doesn't really have corners, but you will still cry if you get remote cities near the edge, like Moskva, Istanbul, or Madrid.

Read, Jacksonville, Seattle, Los Angeles and Boston, I suppose. Well, it's certainly true that TransAmerica pretty much requires building east coast to west coast, and a major problem is if you've got Boston and no one else has a northern Orange, or you've got LA and everyone else is in the Northwest with Green cities. So that's a good solution.

We have a person in our group who insists that TransAmerica is deep and strategic - he's apparently run into the TransAmerica buzzsaw on BSW, and he's a terrific game player. So maybe this is an evolution (though given the level of strategy, I suspect that it's evolution into a trilobyte or something. Back to biology class for me.)

Jimscannell wrote:

One nice component note about the game - the cards for each city are unique and show some landmark from that city, usually with a small bit of text to tell you what the landmark is. So you see, the game is educational, to boot!

Yeah, like that too. Good review.

Walter.

Thread: like Transamerica but with funny names

Jimscannell — 2005-06-24T13:57:43+00:00

This review assumes you know something about TransAmerica, the sister game, if you will, to TransEuropa.

I purchased TransEuropa at my FLGS last night and immediately taught the game to a group of people hanging out there at the store. The game still has one sheet of rules, and the rules are pretty much identical to the rules that come with Transamerica. There is a minor change in that the endgame requires one locomotive to move off the end space after "1" on the score track - there are no rules for moving the endgame marker up after two rounds.

The big difference with TransEuropa is, of course, the map of Europe. Like Transamerica, TransEuropa turns Europe into a roughly rectangular network of cities connected by links set up in little triangles. Some routes, namely those that go over mountains and rivers, are double routes that use up both of your track placements for the turn. A number of spaces also run over open water, especially in the North Sea (between Scotland and Norway) and it's not entirely clear why some of these spaces are single spaces where others are double spaces. I can assume that the board that we have represents the best compromise between realism and playability after extensive playtesting.

The people who gave Allen Moon a hard time over some geographical innaccuracies in Ticket to Ride: Europe will have more to complain about here. I noticed pretty quickly on the TransEuropa map the dot for Glasgow is really where Edinburgh should be, and there is no Edinburgh. There may be other problems of this type, and some of the included city choices are there more for game balance and the needs of the map rather than for being well known European cities. I know my geography pretty well, and even I've never heard of Charkiv, Malmo, and Sofia, all present on the TransEuropa map. Some Americans may be put off by the localized spellings of city names -- we have Moskva instead of Moscow and Wien instead of Vienna.

Whereas TransAmerica is about connecting the East coast and west coast of America, the map for TransEuropa feels more like a circle. The "orange" cities here are in the middle of the map - Germany, Switzerland, Holland. The other colors sort of form a circle around the middle. Thus, the board doesn't really have corners, but you will still cry if you get remote cities near the edge, like Moskva, Istanbul, or Madrid. Thus, the flow of the game is a little bit different from Transamerica, and the map will develop its own strategies. Your success is still somewhat dependent on the luck that you have in terms of your initial city draw and on the work that other players do to help you bridge various cities. If you absolutely hated the "luck" factor in Transamerica, its still pretty much the same game with the same issues.

However, the game went over very well at my demo last night, and was immediately picked up by several people who were in no way serious boardgamers. The series remains an ideal gateway game for nongamers, and TransEuropa is something that you could easily enjoy with your nieces and nephews, at a family gathering, or as a light filler game with your "serious" boardgaming group.

The tracks and locomotives are the same wooden bits that you know and love from Transamerica. The cards are a little flimsy, and people who love this game will want to look into some sort of lamination.

One nice component note about the game - the cards for each city are unique and show some landmark from that city, usually with a small bit of text to tell you what the landmark is. So you see, the game is educational, to boot!

Hey, it's TransAmerica! On a map of Europe! That's all you really need to know. Excellent "light" game that scales well from 3-6 players. After one play, I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. My score might have gone higher if they'd found some other little "twist" to put on the rules - in some ways this game is too close to its sister game to really make it stand out.