Ticket to Ride | BoardGameGeek

Session: Ticket to Ride: USA 1910:: Big City Lunch

loofish — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:19:26 +0000

Three of gathered for a game over lunch. I pulled out Ticket to Ride and, because I thought we migth kick it up a notch, I went for the Big City game. 3 player is already pretty tight, with routes into key cities blocked off quickly. With the Big City as well, it ought to be ... interesting.

I kept all 4 of my tickets. I got a little lucky in some ways, as 3 of them were Chicago and all were east coast. But on the other side, all were relatively short - not a lot of points at stake. As for the other two, JD kept only 2 of his initial draws. TH kept 3.

So we began. My usual mode in this game is to build up a hand and play out over several turns, establish a network then build from there. That was not going to work this time as turn ONE JD claims a route into New York - of course, the one I wanted to connect with Chicago. Well, OK, I am east coast all the way, I can come south first, then branch over to Chicago. Except, TH follows that with the New York-Washington route and suddenly, on Turn 2, I am on Plan C.

Which is what I love about this game.

All three of us got in each other's way quite a lot over the next few turns, as we fought for space on the east coast. I had to come up through Canada and down to make my routes (despite no Canadian tickets), but the network was beginning to come together - plus my New Orleans-Miami connection was growing in my hand. I connected to Nashville and Atlanta and Chicago, pausing to get the connection down to New Orleans. JD built down to Atlanta too, claiming the direct path into Miami (possibly fearing me building it ahead of him) and then building westward. TH had jumped away from the fray in the east and was building out to Las Vegas, but was heard to mutter a curse or two when JD claimed his desired connection into Denver and we was forced north to connect his network to his eastern half.

We pulled more tickets. I went up to 7 in 2 pulls. JD grabbed one more, TH 2 more. I now had to make it to Dallas and Houston, and up to Duluth and Winnipeg. The Texan ones were simple from New Orleans and I grabbed those quickly and without incident, but TH's routes grew into that area of the Canadian border and instead of a straight route Chicago-Duluth-Winnipeg, I was forced to take the longer route - the 6 train route into Winnipeg. That was a race, as JD had gotten the route into Houston via El Paso and had ran down his number of trains left. But with 4 in hand, he pulled tickets again. Then he did it again the following turn. He was up to 7 tickets now, then he slapped down his last few trains. I barely got the red I needed for connection to Duluth. TH had too few trains to complete all he wanted and as his last turn he was forced just to play the longest route he could, since the ticket was not going to be done.

I was ahead at this point (I had 75, TH had 68, JD had 63). But JD had completed all 7 tickets and mine were mostly 5-7 pointers. As it turned out he had 57 points in tickets, I had 53, so I held on, 128-120.

Poor TH had 2 unfinished routes and was cursing himself for using up trains that didn't finish a route, instead of using them for the 6 train connection to Portland. He also lacked a connection to Los Angeles that hurt a lot. I think he got confused about where he needed to get connected - I worked out that he could have played out those tickets (with a little change in what he did with the trains he had) and scored 79 in completed tickets, beating us both.

He promises to bring his A game next time.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: Cleanup Variant for Kids

ZackStack — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:43:13 +0000

by ZackStack

I think making a game of cleaning up games for the little 'uns is just brilliant. Well done sir.

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Cleanup Variant for Kids

RowdyRodimus — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:09:09 +0000

by RowdyRodimus

Sorting the trains after a game is the worst part of this game. So I started doing this as a way to get it done easier, shuffle the train cards and let the younger kids enjoy the game.

Once you have finished the game, just randomly hand out five train cards to each person. Let them play all of one color card they have in reverse of the normal way by romoving the train from the board and placing it in a pile of it's own (each person having a pile for each color).

When all the trains are off the board, the person with the most trains of any color is the winner. If a tie it goes to the person with the largest number of secondary colors.

It's not the greatest thing in the world, but it does introduce them a bit to the rules and gives the kids something to do.

New Image for Ticket to Ride

Maras — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:50:30 +0000

by Maras

All the play: Old and young

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Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

Frencois — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:07:43 +0000

by Frencois

Agreed, as stated in my previous post:

- After the initial deal, the short route deck is reduced to a reasonable amount (5 or 6 per player) and the rest of the short routes are removed (but stay hidden) from the game.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: Allowing players to trade cards

DylanAM — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:56:00 +0000

by DylanAM

Here's an idea that might make trading cards interesting to those who are against it...

- Making trading cards take up a turn, as a fourth turn option.

- Allow cards to be traded but do NOT require the traders to be truthful about which cards they are trading! For example, I want to trade for two orange trains, and find a suitor who needs two pink trains. Sure, I say. We each take two cards and pass them to each other. I sigh in relief -- the two cards I have received were orange. My trading partner grumbles in agony -- the cards I passed him were blue. :)

This, I believe sets up the option of trading along with all the pitfalls of it. The possibility of lying will discourage trading enough to keep it from being a major part of the game. But the option will still be there. Politics, yeah you'll have some minor stuff. But you'll have to consider whether or not lying to a person will cause repurcussions for you.

New Image for Ticket to Ride: USA 1910

itiswon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:38:31 +0000

by itiswon

T2R USA 1910 tin case edition

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Reply: Ticket to Ride: USA 1910:: Sessions:: Re: Our Family's First Game of "Ticket to Ride"

ShreveportLAGamer — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:05:48 +0000

by ShreveportLAGamer

claymore_57 wrote:
Wraith wrote:
claymore_57 wrote:
I had done my best to help my son discard long-route tickets as I got close to using my last cars, but we didn’t get rid of enough.

Is that discard, or complete? Because you cannot discard held tickets in (any form of) TTR. The only time you can discard tickets is when you are in the process of drawing new ones, and then you can only discard from amongst the tickets you have drawn that turn. Anything you have previously kept, you are stuck with, and if you want to avoid losing points for them, your only choice is to complete them.

Ah. James did not make that clear in his explanation, and I did not ask about it. For my son I was drawing three, comparing them to what he had, and then discarding three, keeping only one route that he could possibly complete. I see that was wrong.

Well, we'll know better for next time.

Actually, as I had explained, there *are* times when choosing train tickets that one can indeed return a certain number of those train ticket(s) that he/she chooses not to keep. As such, those returned train tickets aren't "discarded" per se. Once kept, a train ticket cannot be discarded, and that's the way we played the game correctly.

As for the like-color train card clumping issue, that's why I recommend going so far as to use the Grandma Way of Card Shuffling (creating a multitude of card piles and alternatively putting one in each pile successively) in order to make reasonably certain that that like-colored cards aren't still clumped together.

The website for the wooden card holders is: www.card-holders.com

Their email address is: cardboardssales@gmail.com

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: Allowing players to trade cards

sergut — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:12:50 +0000

by sergut

Yesterday, I introduced four people to TTR. Let's call them Aaron, Betty, Charlie and Debbie. All four of them were board game newbies: Aaron and Debbie have played a bit of Carcassone before and liked it, Betty has played a bit of Carcassone before but prefers games like Pictionary or Cranium, and Charlie had never played a board game before AFAIK.

Charlie won, with Aaron and me less than five points behind. Everybody liked the game.

Aaron, Betty and Charlie said that they would have liked to have some trading in the game. They have never played Catan or anything similar before. However, they felt they needed some trading "to get rid of all the cards you do not need and get that colour you have been expecting for ages".

In any case, this was our first game. We will see what future games bring... and I think I will introduce them to Catan as well. :-)

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: General:: Re: Board not cut right :

Cubsfan31 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:24:17 +0000

by Cubsfan31

My board has issues with the scoring tracks being shaved off a bit on the sides (the graphics wrap around the edge of the board). While still playable, it's really annoying. Hopefully DOW has straightened out their quality control.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

maaikefest — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:24:34 +0000

by maaikefest

Perhaps randomly removing a number of tickets before the game could help?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

Frencois — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:26:58 +0000

by Frencois

I've been playing quite a lot and even created a number of maps (see www.donjon-facile.com/rail). The issue with the "drawing destinations" luck should be delt with this way (as some of you pointed out before):

- Build or use a game with enough long and short tickets so that people don't end up knowing them by heart (i. e. Meta Game kind of number of tickets.
- Split long and short tickets in three decks. One for long route on one axis (e. g. north-south), one for long on the other axis (e. g; east-west). Something like 15 being the good limit between long and short routes on most maps. For some maps (like basic USA?) that are more rectangular than squared be clever on the split of long routes (e. g. NW-SE vs NE-SW for example).
- Initial deal: only ONE long route from one long axis deck, ONE route from the other long axis deck, and TWO short. Players must keep TWO or THREE tickets (no more no less). Usually players will keep the long on the axis that match the best the two short routes and keep three altogether. This means that it is usually quite fair between players.
- Initial deal: long routes discarded are removed from the game, short routes discarded are put on the bottom of the short routes deck.
- After the initial deal, the short route deck is reduced to a reasonable amount (5 or 6 per player) and the rest of the short routes are removed (but stay hidden) from the game.
- During the game, no one can draw tickets on two consecutive turns.
- During the game, when you draw tickets, you draw a total of 3 tickets (see below) and must keep ONE exactly (no more).

Then we have two variants
A) You draw only short routes during the game!
All long routes are removed from the game after the initial deal.
Short routes discarded (two each time) are put on the bottom of the short routes deck.

B) Once initial deal is done, each of the two long routes deck is reduced (at random, cards hidden) to a number of card equal to the number of player.
When a player draw tickets, he draws a total of three cards from the three decks (long axis 1, long axis 2, short) but cannot take 2 long roads from the same deck.
Long routes discarded are removed from the game.
Short routes discarded are put on the bottom of the short routes deck.

We discovered that this pretty much makes everyone happy

Now a mitigation level also comes from the combination of:
- the size of the map
- the number of players
- the number of cars given to each player
Depending on those factors we may change a little our rules, but the basics are kept as explained above.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

Wraith — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:29:17 +0000

by Wraith

bnordeng wrote:
Is it just worse with the Mega game because of the quantity of cards?

Luck of the draw is an element of every form of TTR. However, it is a significantly stronger element of the Mega game, for two reasons.

Firstly, there is the obvious fact that drawing four tickets when drawing tickets makes the probability of drawing no good tickets considerably lower.

Secondly, the larger number of tickets means that each ticket you hold for cities to which you are already connected reduces the available connected tickets by less. To explain, say there are ten tickets for New York in a deck of 70 cards. (I don't remember the actual distribution off the top of my head, so just say...) If you hold two New York tickets in a five-card hand, that leaves 8 New York tickets in 62 cards you don't hold. In the standard game, there are 5 New York tickets out of 35. (Again, just say, because I don't remember the distribution again.) Holding 2 in a hand of 5 means there are 3 out of 30 remaining to be drawn. So, that's about 1 card in 3.75 for the Mega game, and 1 card in 10 for the standard game.

Obviously the maths is actually far more complex than that, but the general effect is pretty much that. You create a network to match cards you already have, but the fact that you have those cards reduces the probability of drawing more cards that match the network well. The Mega game reduces this effect, making it easier to just keep drawing cards that fit your existing network.

These effects make drawing a much more worthwhile option, so much so that I find it is rare to be able to win without drawing more tickets, and once players are going back to the draw deck so much more often, with more confidence in getting what they want (and rightly so), it is those draws that usually determine the winner.

So, which game do people play? The original or big cities or something else? Next time I play, I want to try something different to balance it out a bit. Thanks.

Using the sets you have already mentioned, I prefer straight 1910. I think the tickets in that set have been designed better. The long tickets tend to be harder to get, as some of them take you to more fiddly places, and the areas of the board with lots of short tracks have more tickets going there, so those who have to head into those areas can make up points by drawing more tickets (with a higher probability of getting something useful).

I haven't had the chance to play a whole lot of Big Cities, though. I just think 1910 is designed better than original, and I know I don't like the draw-fest of the Mega game.

My favourite form is Marklin, though. The passengers and freight make the strategy of the game much deeper, adding a whole new dimension to the game.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

barneyg — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:40:14 +0000

by barneyg

bnordeng wrote:
We do have one house rule where we split the tickets into big (11 pts and up) and small (10 pts and down) tickets and you get 3 from the big stack and 2 from the small stack at the start. Then, when you draw 4 during the game, you get 2 and 2. This seems to help the luck of the draw with regard to getting all big or all small tickets. Still, I can see how the luck of the draw for tickets that fit into your network still exists.

Won't that always be a potential problem no matter which game you are playing? Is it just worse with the Mega game because of the quantity of cards?

So, which game do people play? The original or big cities or something else? Next time I play, I want to try something different to balance it out a bit. Thanks.

$.02:

1) The 'overlapping long ticket' problem

Splitting between long and short may even things out a little but probably not much -- the luck factor is still strong there if you've completed LA-ATL and then draw SF-ATL and LA-MIA (as opposed to drawing, say VAN-MTL and SF-SSM). What's more, the 11+/10- cutoff is probably too low for the same reason -- you can still get lucky by being offered 2 (potentially overlapping) 18-point tickets while someone else may get two unrelated 12-pt tickets.

DOW tried to solve the 'long ticket problem' in TTR: Europe by having players draw just one long ticket at the beginning of the game, with no hope of getting another ticket worth more than 13 points later. The problem there is it's easy to memorize those tickets and see what others are trying to accomplish. Not so with the Mega Game. So here's what I'd suggest (haven't tested it in any way but I sure will next time we play Mega Game):

At the beginning of the game, shuffle all 15+ point tickets together (in the Mega Game, that's 15 of them), deal 1 to each player, throw away the rest. Then deal three

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

Capt_WaRPed — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:20:01 +0000

by Capt_WaRPed

Though we toy around with Europe and Marklin, my gaming group will usually do either the Mega game or pull out the Swiss map.

However, we do also break out the "Ironman" variation as well on any of the various maps. This is played either as "You must keep all of your opening tickets" or "You must keep all tickets you touch". Luck is still a factor in tickets drawn, but because everyone must do everything, the chances that one person only gets tickets that fit their "plan" are remote.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

bnordeng — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:01:00 +0000

by bnordeng

I guess I haven't played the Mega game enough to realize that it was broken like this. Yesterday's experience was certainly a good example of it though. I've seen that kind of thing happen once or twice before, but not usually. Maybe it was even more pronounced in a 3 player game (usually I play with 4 players).

We do have one house rule where we split the tickets into big (11 pts and up) and small (10 pts and down) tickets and you get 3 from the big stack and 2 from the small stack at the start. Then, when you draw 4 during the game, you get 2 and 2. This seems to help the luck of the draw with regard to getting all big or all small tickets. Still, I can see how the luck of the draw for tickets that fit into your network still exists.

Won't that always be a potential problem no matter which game you are playing? Is it just worse with the Mega game because of the quantity of cards?

So, which game do people play? The original or big cities or something else? Next time I play, I want to try something different to balance it out a bit. Thanks.

New Image for Ticket to Ride

Soledade — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:48:15 +0000

by Soledade

Family day at my daughter's school. I'm the gaming dad!

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Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

gamer99 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:52:43 +0000

by gamer99

I played the Mega Game a couple of hundred times or so and, yes it is a "broken game" due to the huge luck factor in drawing destinations later in the game. If you get lucky, you win. If you're unlucky, you lose. My wife and another couple will play only one game, TtR, and only one way - the Mega Game. They let me try a variation once whereby three destinations were dealt instead of four, and the player had to select one destination only. This tactic definetly cut down on the luck factor, making it a closer and more competitive game. Of course, they didn't like that. I tried to tell them that when one player gets lucky, only one player is happy and three players are not happy. They didn't like that truism either. As I mentioned earlier, they play only one game, and play it only one way. If I want to keep playing with them, it's gonna have to be the "luck of the draw", or nothing at all. Sad but true!

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

bombcar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:53:56 +0000

by bombcar

The "ticket drawing" in Mega Game is basically broken. What you did is doable almost all the time, and you'll usually win.

Session: Ticket to Ride:: Mega-game: Jokers galore and then tickets, tickets, tickets

bnordeng — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:10:42 +0000

by bnordeng

On my lunch hour today, I played Ticket to Ride (Mega game) with two co-workers. I've played several different games with one of them and the other had played other games such as Settlers of Catan. I had played one 3 player game before, but we didn't play with the rule where only one of the 2 track segments can get used; this time we played by the proper rules. I gave a quick run-through of the rules and we were off.

I was dealt a blue and three jokers for my train cards - that's a good sign. For my tickets, I kept Seattle to New York, Denver to Chicago and Denver to Pittsburgh (or something like that). All three players were in Salt Lake City, but I was able to get through there without being blocked. As the game progressed, I could see that 3 players with just one of the double routes available was a much better (and tougher) game.

I completed my three tickets with a nice, long train through the middle of the board and then proceeded to pick up tickets for several turns in a row. I added big tickets like Salt Lake City to Pittsburgh (done), Kansas City to Boston (needed just one more 2 train segment), Portland to Chicago (done), Boston to Nashville (needed a short connection)... this was getting ridiculous. I was picking up ticket after ticket that was complete or practically complete and I was just raking in the points. Plus, it looked like I was going to get longest train and most completed tickets.

They both enjoyed the game, but my score in tickets alone was higher than one player's final score. And, other than making my train through the middle of the board (which I know is a good thing), I really didn't do too much work to get the points. I felt like they got a weak experience from a great game because I was lucky. They both seemed to really enjoy it... I just hope what happened does cause them to shy away from this great game in the future.

I don't recall the final scores, but they were something like 197, 118 and 94. I have seen bigger margins in 4 and 5 player games, but not usually. Ticket to Ride usually creates a close finish for at least 2 players and often everyone (if there isn't too much blocking going on).

File: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: T2R Switzerland Player Aid

spearjr — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:50:26 +0000

by spearjr

T2R Switzerland Player Aid for Board Game: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland ]]>

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: General:: Re: Small cards or 1910 size?

ilta — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:41:19 +0000

by ilta

1910. Same size as TTR:Europe, as well.

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: General:: Re: Small cards or 1910 size?

Vanderdecken — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:04:42 +0000

by Vanderdecken

To be specific they are 56mm x 87mm.

-Van

edit: Not saying you weren't specific Brian, I was typing this before I saw your post. :)

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: General:: Re: Small cards or 1910 size?

ColtsFan76 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:02:41 +0000

by ColtsFan76

My copy is packed away at the moment but I am fairly certain they are the "larger" 1910 size.

Thread: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: General:: Small cards or 1910 size?

bombcar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:54:34 +0000

by bombcar

Are the cards included the smaller original size, or the larger 1910 size?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Making Tracks or: How to Worry and Play Agressive

maia_ann — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:13:58 +0000

by maia_ann

What a great gateway game! Welcome to the ever increasing world of fantastic games!!! :D

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: Making Tracks or: How to Worry and Play Agressive

AlmostMeek — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:38:51 +0000

by AlmostMeek

TTR is one of the few games in my collection that when taught to my parents they both understood and liked, it seems to have the qualities that make it easy for non gamers to pick up

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

barneyg — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:30:12 +0000

by barneyg

There are a few simplifying TTR variants in the 'Variants' subforum, you might find stuff there..

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

EuroHobbes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:24:10 +0000

by EuroHobbes

maxdevis wrote:
gamesgrandpa wrote:
Given the games you already enjoy, I would strongly recommend TtR: Europe

it depends,
are you planning on playing a lot with just your wife?
check out TTR nordic countries (2-3 players).

Or get the switzerland map. That way you can always pull out the normal board when there are more people around.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

Wraith — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:51:21 +0000

by Wraith

CoffinDancr wrote:
My wife and I are getting more seriously into gaming. We've been playing and loving Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne (with most of the expansions).

You're loving Settlers but are worried that TTR is too simple? The two are of similar complexity.

Carcassonne isn't a strategic brain-burner either. Sure, with most of the expansions in there are a lot of rules to remember, but I haven't found that the strategic choices really get much more difficult.

TTR may not be to your taste, but I wouldn't bet that the simplicity of the rules would be what causes you to dislike it. Remember, great strategic depth can come from very simple rules.

(Not that I'm saying that TTR has great strategic depth, before people jump on me about that. I'm just pointing out that the correspondence is not strong.)

Session: Ticket to Ride:: Making Tracks or: How to Worry and Play Agressive

RowdyRodimus — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:17:54 +0000

by RowdyRodimus

My parents aren't big on board games. To them a game of Monopoly or Scrabble is as far as they'll go. When my latest order came in consisting of thirty pounds of cardboard and plastic among five games, they thought I was crazy.

One of those games still caught their eye when my brother and I were playing. I didn't think anything of it, but my mom kept asking questions about it. Finally, Tuesday night my dad came into my room and asked if I would show them how to play "that train game" as he called it. I finished up with what I was doing and I was on my way to teaching Ticket to Ride.

The game started off slow as I keopt having to explain to them the rules for the destination tickets, draw pile and the grey tracks. Once I got them into the rules, I kept showing them how to find the best ways to get to their destinations.

Big mistake.

Slowly, they kept finding ways to block my path. I hadn't introduced that to them on their first game, but they figured it out for themselves. I was behind by 25 points to people who had never played the game before.

As the game wound down both my mom and dad started making six train connections for fifteen points each. Out of desperation I decided to try my luck at the destination cards on my final turn.

Alan Moon must have been on my side.

I drew three cards that I had connections for. Considering that the blocking my parents had done during their turns, I had exactly ZERO of my original destination tickets done.

Once the tickets were added up (and my original two subtracted) and the longest train ticket was handed over to my dad, I had eeked out a win by one point while my oparents had tied.

I really should never underestimate my parents, they always seem to surprise me.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

Eric Brosius — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:47:11 +0000

by Eric Brosius

Just wait until you play a cutthroat opponent. You'll feel like bashing them over the head with the board. The nice thing about this game is that it works well for two groups: casual gamers and highly competitive gamers.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

Paul65 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:50:30 +0000

by Paul65

Personally I enjoy TTR. It's not a brain burner, more a case of getting in each others way. It's a light game, but I'm happy to have a range of games. Sometimes its good to just be able to play a game for the social aspect.

If it is just you & your wife, TTR doesn't really play well as a 2 player. But if you are looking at playing with friends, family, children, ..., then TTR is a good game. If you've made the inital investment of TTR, then you could get TTR Switzerland, which is a 2-3 player map.

Another thing with TTR is that there are lots of fan generated maps, some of which are quite good.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

elfrododumbo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:52:21 +0000

by elfrododumbo

I have to agree that this game is simple but only compared with other games.
It is, in my view, a good game and it has a bit of strategy involved. So, with three players you can suss out what the other players are trying to achieve and try to block their plan.
As a two player game..emmm, it is a filler !
I think that the T to R :Europe is more entertaining than T to R :USA, but I like both.
As for Around the World in 80 Days...I found it quite boring with two players, but it is great with more.
Horses for courses I suppose.

Regards.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

maxdevis — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:29:45 +0000

by maxdevis

gamesgrandpa wrote:
Given the games you already enjoy, I would strongly recommend TtR: Europe

it depends,
are you planning on playing a lot with just your wife?
check out TTR nordic countries (2-3 players).

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

Verkisto — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:28:12 +0000

by Verkisto

It's a good game, and has a simple design, which some folks interpret as a bad thing. I enjoy it, as does my wife. With two, though, you should pick up the 1910 expansion and play using the Big Cities variant. It forces you to be all up in each others' kitchens, and makes the game much more interesting and competitive than the base game with two players.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

gamesgrandpa — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:07:58 +0000

by gamesgrandpa

Given the games you already enjoy, I would strongly recommend TtR: Europe, rather than the original version. It is a bit more challenging, but also a bit more forgiving, with an option for overcoming blocked routes.

You might also check out Around the World in 80 Days, one of my favorite games. It probably plays best with at least 4 players, however. The rules are simple, but the game is much fun.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

ackmondual — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:06:28 +0000

by ackmondual

Simple is in the eye of the beholder. For one of my groups, they consider TtR too heavy. They mostly play Uno, Fluxx, and dice games. On the other extreme, they consider TtR too light. They prefer the likes of heavier eurogames and train games like Agricola, and Age Of Steam, etc. I'd say TtR is on par with Carc. Comlexity-wise, Dominion and TtR are about even, but Dominion has more choices in moves. I'd rate Settlers having a bit more complexity than TtR.

Not sure what else to say, other than don't let the simplicity of the rules fool you. Just b/c Settlers has a 4 page rulebook + a 10 page almanac, or how dominion has all those types of action cards, or how Carcassonne has all those illustrated exmaples of scoring features, esp. farmers, doesn't mean you shouldn't give TtR a chance. There's just less variety of moves to make is all

Remember, there are other maps for TtR. Those other maps also feature additional gameplay mechanics, much in the same way that Seafarers also feature different scoring and specific rules with specific scenarios, and Carc expanions aren't just extra and different tiles. There are also addiotnal features like Princess & Dragon, Inns + Cath, etc.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

kkrieger — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:32:50 +0000

by kkrieger

Ticket to Ride is a game with simple rules but that doesn't mean it isn't fun.
I first got Ticket To Ride after playing lots of Settlers, Puerto Rico, and Carcassonne. The first time I played it with the group, I was not really impressed and thought it was too simple, not enough thinking.

So, I didn't play it for a while. Then, one night I decided to play it again with different opponents this time. We LOVED it!

What was the problem on our first play? We didn't play aggressively enough. By aggressive I mean taking extra tickets, trying to build long segments, keeping trains in a continuous route, and blocking (if you can).

What Ticket to Ride does well is minimize the choices for a player (thus making it easier for new players) while making those choices tense. The early game does start slow (most people just collect train cards), but once players start building routes the tension builds.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

dkeisen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:28:43 +0000

by dkeisen

Ticket to Ride is in fact pretty simple and is not the game for me. Not an unreasonable choice for you to buy when starting into the hobby, but if it doesn't seem interesting to you then no need to push it. Plenty of other options for games to buy and a whole website here discussing them.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

ramkitty — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:27:50 +0000

by ramkitty

you can try ticket to ride online for free at the days of wonder site. I would say that the first ttr is a little boring. I enjoy the nordic game but some of the others such as marklin or europe add a little more to the base game.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

B Weage — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:20:20 +0000

by B Weage

Carcassonne is also a simple gateway game. If you were just to read through the Carcassonne rules, you might be asking where the strategy is, and is it much of a game. All you ever do is play a tile, and then maybe put a meeple down. The meeples never even move. So no chess like development, movement to occupy important areas, etc. From only the rules, it is hard to tell that there is even a game there until you actually play it. It looks too simple.

Try thinking about what you would think of Carcassonne, from the rules alone - as compared to how you know it plays. This might help. Though best, of course, is to play a few games of Ticket to Ride before you buy for yourself. Also - the various TtR offerings each have a slightly different feel. All allow for significant blocking, but some encourage it more than others.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

iklinck — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:11:09 +0000

by iklinck

You might look at getting TTR: Europe instead. It's got a few more rules.

Or, it might not be the game for you...

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Too simple?

laxnbakpakr — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:59:38 +0000

by laxnbakpakr

it is most definitely a gateway game. That being said once people start blocking each other there is a bit more strategy than you'd assume at first glance.

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Too simple?

CoffinDancr — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:57:00 +0000

by CoffinDancr

My wife and I are getting more seriously into gaming. We've been playing and loving Dominion, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne (with most of the expansions). Ticket to Ride is a game that has gotten a lot of praise and is very popular. My concern after looking at the rules is that it looks too simple. There just doesn't seem to be that much starategy to the game. Am I missing something, or is the game meant to be simple and enjoyed as a gateway game?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

ZackStack — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:11:28 +0000

by ZackStack

ackmondual wrote:
I'd like to propose Ticket To Ride: Candyland

That would be mighty fine... but TTR: Sodor Island (the home of Thomas the Train) would be an unstoppable marketing juggernaut.

New Image for Ticket to Ride: USA 1910

josephc4 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:13:02 +0000

by josephc4

Bay Area Games Night - Cafe Express - Webster, TX - Meetup.com

]]>

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

solove — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:01:15 +0000

by solove

chris1nd wrote:
Is there perhaps a simpler destination-type game anyone is aware of? Easier board, fewer cards, etc?

How about TransAmerica?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

chris1nd — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:49:06 +0000

by chris1nd

Is there perhaps a simpler destination-type game anyone is aware of? Easier board, fewer cards, etc?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

ackmondual — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:38:55 +0000

by ackmondual

I'd like to propose Ticket To Ride: Candyland

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

bkpihl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:30:05 +0000

by bkpihl

I play with 5 and 8 year olds boys. Double routes are open to all players even though technically you can only use with 4/5 players. We have sets of colored paper tents to show the 5 year what cities to connect.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

francisca — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:28:59 +0000

by francisca

My very soon to be 7 year old plays as is, with the only rule being "no cutting off John's routes, if you can help it".

chockle wrote:
Yeah, we've played with new to boardgames kids by doing the:
* One face up Ticket card at a time. When they connect, they immediately get the points for it, hand it in, and take another Ticket face up.
* And no deductions for unfinished Ticket at the end.

Very good ideas, right there.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

chockle — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:13:36 +0000

by chockle

Yeah, we've played with new to boardgames kids by doing the:
* One face up Ticket card at a time. When they connect, they immediately get the points for it, hand it in, and take another Ticket face up.
* And no deductions for unfinished Ticket at the end.

They'll easily get it. Once comfortable with that, let them watch you play a "real" game with secret Tickets. And watch their faces when you show them what happens at the end to players with unfinished Tickets!

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

bnorton916 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:08:46 +0000

by bnorton916

I haved played this with when my 2nd daughter my five.

She would get her tickets and then we would take the black trains and mark out where she needed to go.

Everyone else(parents and older sister) had to work around her.

Worked out pretty well.

Bill

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

solove — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:06:38 +0000

by solove

We play this with our 6 year old daughter. We just play with Destination cards face up and give her hints. She's happy to be playing one of 'our' games.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

The Lone Gamer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:54:07 +0000

by The Lone Gamer

Try playing it, and see what they have trouble with. Modify rules to mitigate those problem, e.g. one destination ticket at a time, destination tickets face-up, common destination tickets that everyone competes to finish first, cooperate to complete most routes in fixed number of turns, etc.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Kid's verion of TTR?

laxnbakpakr — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:41:45 +0000

by laxnbakpakr

no kids version. Depending on the 6 year old they may be able to play. The destination tickets might be tough but the collecting of cards and claiming a route might be within their grasp.

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Kid's verion of TTR?

chris1nd — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:34:54 +0000

by chris1nd

Is there a children's version of this game available?

I have a 6 year old that plays kid's games and would like to break into this game.

New Image for Ticket to Ride

sightreader — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:13:35 +0000

by sightreader

All Aboard and Ready to Go!

]]>

or
http://student.agh.edu.pl/~pszczudl/T2R/1.jpg

First thing i thought when i saw those was - "hey it can be a great expansion to T2R".
This is how it works:

or
http://student.agh.edu.pl/~pszczudl/T2R/2.jpg

As You can see in the photo there is a plane marker in charlestown and saint louis. So You can connect those two cities. More importantly is how you do this. There are two logical ways through Atlanta or through Raleigh. This doesnt work as a station, because it is a plane !!!.
To conect via Atlanta You have to discard:
2 cards of some color
+ 1 card
+ another two cards of same colour.
You dont score for it, but you have to discard cards.
To connect via Raleigh yo have to discard:
2 cards of same color
+3 balck cards [Nashville - Raleigh]
2 cards of same colour.

Im sure you know what is it all about .

This is a great way to avoid frustration when somebody took your routes and you already have your train cards collected. In my opinion it is well ballanced because you have to discard all cards needed [not like in stations where it is 1,2 or 3 cards of same color].

IMPORTANT: When there is a station in a city you cant place an airport there.
IMPORTANT1: In situation showed in photo You are only in Saint louis and Charleston - You are NOT in the cities that lie on the road!!!
IMPORTANT2: Longest route doesnt apply.
You can change those rules. Its about fun not about limitations

PS: Carcasonne followers markers will work just fine

Hope You like it and have fun playin it. Please comment

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Strategy - A Complete Strategic overview

ijmorris — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:44:45 +0000

by ijmorris

So, I decided to respond to this thread 'cause it has the most thumbs ups on it.

I generally play only 5 player games of ticket to ride, because as I have found, to my dismay, any fewer generally involves a whole lotta luck centered around which tickets you are randomly dealt at the very beginning. I have, however, identified what I believe to be the 4 or 5 absolutely primary fundamentals to winning consistently at 5 player TTR.

Let me preface this by saying the one largest misconception above all, I believe, is that you need to complete tickets to win. This is patently false. I regularly win without completing any. Here's why:

1) The single most important thing to do, above all, is to be the player that ends the game. This not only generally means the other players haven't achieved all their objectives, but also, in essence, gives you an extra turn!!

2) I completely agree that playing longer tracks is key. Avoid playing tracks that are shorter than three trains. They score fewer points per train (PpT as I acronymize it) but, more importantly, cause you to have to play more turns to end the game. That is bad. This specifically brings up one point of refutation for many strategies I've seen displayed: you don't need to, and often shouldn't, try and connect your tickets through the shortest route possible. If you do so, you generally score fewer points and take more turns to do so. That is bad.

3) There are actually certain colors that are more important than others, primarily because the longer tickets require them. In order of importance, I see it thus: White, Black, Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Purple/Pink & finally Red. When faced with a choice of which card to take, use this as a very basic guide. Taking a card someone else needs is just as important, and sometimes more so, than taking one you may need.

4) Taking new tickets is not necessarily important, as I believe you don't need to complete them to win. However, if you do, wait until as close to the end of the game as possible. If you have built a good, long route that connects a few major cities (LA, NY, MIA, SEA, VAN, PHX & MON being the primary ones), you will likely gather one or two more fully completed tickets at the end. Even more likely near the end because, as others take additional tickets, they likely leave the ones for routes you are playing on!!!

5) Having the longest route is akin to having the VAN-MON 20 point ticket instantly added to your pool. You add ten points to your score but, even more importantly, you keep your competition from having the additional 10 points!!! Usually, this is the player with the second or third-highest score, also...EXACTLY the player you are competing against for victory!

Anyway, just my thoughts

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Opening Move

jedimusic — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:31:14 +0000

by jedimusic

Portland-Seattle
OR
Houston-New Orleans
OR
Los Angeles-Phoenix
OR to a lesser extent,
Omaha-Kansas City

Depends on which tickets I have that also need it, and how many same color train cards I have in my opening hand. The others might be candidates for a second move.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Opening Move

chrisjwmartin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:59:15 +0000

by chrisjwmartin

Diis wrote:
anything worth playing, no matter how light, is worth winning and crushing your hapless opponents into the ground and dancing over their pitiful, crying, prostrate forms after you've humiliated them.

Especially if that game involves little plastic trains in happy rainbow colors.

Ahh, that takes me back to last Wednesday night. 4th place: c. 78; 3rd place: c. 81; 2nd place: c. 105; me: c. 160. Good times.

The best player I know spends his first two turns taking tickets. He usually beats me by the same kind of scoreline as I beat my opponents above. But I don't have the gumption for that.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Opening Move

brinksw — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:42:19 +0000

by brinksw

Diis wrote:

If you think a strategy article on TTR is odd, just remember anything worth playing, no matter how light, is worth winning and crushing your hapless opponents into the ground and dancing over their pitiful, crying, prostrate forms after you've humiliated them.

Especially if that game involves little plastic trains in happy rainbow colors.

Diis

First off- this is awesome ;)

Second- I generally try to collect lots of train cards and then lay lots of track. (Unless I'm playing 2 or 3 player, in which case I go for the potential choke points along my routes)

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Opening Move

Phrim — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:26:54 +0000

by Phrim

Generally, my "opening move" is to take more tickets, because you're usually not given enough points worth of tickets to win the game from the get-go, and the longer you have your tickets, the easier it is to plan.

As for first claims, I'd argue for Houston to New Orleans. This is an easily-grabbed choke point that a large number of tickets seem to steer you though. It you don't get it and you're planning on traveling along the south side of the board, it's pretty annoying to have to go around. There are a few other easily-grabbed spots that people often end up wanting to go through (L.A. to Phoenix, Atlanta to Nashville); these also might warrant an early grab if it's within the natural path of your tickets. Houston to New Orleans is definitely the most important of these, though.

If I don't need one of these "priority one" spots, I'll generally start playing near where others have already placed (I'm often the last person to start playing trains). Don't want to be shut out of a place where I need to be, after all.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Strategy:: Re: Opening Move

barneyg — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:09:09 +0000

brinksw — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:24:30 +0000

by brinksw

I sure like the online/offline version when I've got a few minutes to kill @ work ;)

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

barneyg — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:44:52 +0000

by barneyg

AstroLad wrote:

The only caveat about the Swiss map is be sure you like drawing a lot of destination cards. That's what the Swiss map is all about. Not really my thing personally, which is why Nordic Countries has largely replaced it on my table.

I agree. The Swiss map itself is great, but the tickets should be reworked to give greater importance to cities outside the Geneva/Zurich corridor. On the other hand it's much cheaper to buy the Swiss expansion as opposed to Nordic countries, which is the same price as a full game.

That said, I disagree that the 2p game on the USA map has no tension whatsoever. That's how it's going to feel like if you either play (a) in a cooperative fashion, or (b) a multi-player solitaire. If you take the view that blocking is part of the game then I feel the USA map is better than the Swiss map (haven't played Nordic enough with competitive people to compare) because of the added strategy dimension of drawing cards (e.g. face up vs. face down locos vs. alternative uses for each color). It's the reason why the USA map is used for almost every online 2-player tournament/championship even though the Swiss map is also available online. To better understand how that tension works, just go online and watch a 2-player game between two good players (look for games called "1400+" or "1500+" or something similar).

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

AstroLad — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:01:36 +0000

by AstroLad

DancerInDC wrote:
I'll throw in another vote for the Swiss map - that will make things very tense and exciting for a 2-player game.

I prefer the original map with 4 players.

The only caveat about the Swiss map is be sure you like drawing a lot of destination cards. That's what the Swiss map is all about. Not really my thing personally, which is why Nordic Countries has largely replaced it on my table.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

mrorwell — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:06:41 +0000

by mrorwell

BillJ1967 wrote:
...or that *other* perhaps not wonderful...but satisfying feeling when you see your brother-in-law's face as you cut off his last possible connection into Los Angeles. :devil:

We have an online gaming group that meets almost every night. There are folks in 5 different cities in 2 states. When we game, we connect via a Skype conference call.

You can't SEE the look on their faces, but you can certainly HEAR the annoyance in their voices. Is it as good as being there live? No... but, then again, I'm not in the car for two hours just to get to the game table!

A side note.... if anyone does try Skype, don't download the latest version... they "improved" it. The interface is far more cluttered and sound quality has degraded. Look for an older version (no later than 3.8) online. It's available from many sites... but don't forget to check for viruses!

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

DancerInDC — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:54:41 +0000

by DancerInDC

I'll throw in another vote for the Swiss map - that will make things very tense and exciting for a 2-player game.

I prefer the original map with 4 players.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

cferejohn — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:55:50 +0000

by cferejohn

Hivemind wrote:
Don't forget that with 2 players the double (and triple if they exist) routes all become singles. This makes is a lot easier to block someone.

Yeah, and I seem to remember this is pretty easy to miss in the rules. This is true with 3 players as well.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

Hivemind — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:33:05 +0000

by Hivemind

Don't forget that with 2 players the double (and triple if they exist) routes all become singles. This makes is a lot easier to block someone.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

AstroLad — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:30:44 +0000

by AstroLad

The basic map is terrible for two. Nordic Countries is absolutely amazing for two, and especially three.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

bwingrave — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:21:27 +0000

by bwingrave

You could also get the USA 1910 expansion, which includes a variant for 2-3 players.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

EuroHobbes — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:40:30 +0000

by EuroHobbes

Or try adding 20 trains from another color to each player, makes it more tense.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

BillJ1967 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:32:11 +0000

by BillJ1967

It might also be a logistics issue. When playing online, it *is* nice that the computer handles the color cards, tickets, and scoring.

On the other hand, you don't get that wonderful feeling when the room is in awe of your transcontinental connections :)

...or that *other* perhaps not wonderful...but satisfying feeling when you see your brother-in-law's face as you cut off his last possible connection into Los Angeles. :devil:

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

Cinnibar — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:18:48 +0000

by Cinnibar

astroglide wrote:
msdespondent wrote:
The game for 2 players had no tension whatsoever.

Try blocking.

Do not try.

Do.

:sauron:

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

astroglide — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:11:46 +0000

by astroglide

msdespondent wrote:
The game for 2 players had no tension whatsoever.

Try blocking.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

iklinck — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:49:04 +0000

by iklinck

I'd say it's better with more than two players, but I definitely prefer the "live" version to playing online...

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: TTR is more fun online

Mousey — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:00:22 +0000

by Mousey

Yes, Nordic Countries or Switzerland is a better game for 2 players.
The Maps are smaller you there is a bigger chance you cut eachother off.

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: General:: TTR is more fun online

msdespondent — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:56:16 +0000

by msdespondent

I recently played TTR online using a trial account and enjoyed it immensely. Which is why I decided to try out the game at a board game cafe this evening. I played the original USA map with my boyfriend. But I have to say, it isn't much fun at all. In fact, I was quite disappointed. The game for 2 players had no tension whatsoever.

Will Nordic Countries or Switzerland be a better game for 2 players?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: My girlfriend's first game of TTR, with a hilariously dramatic ending

mentis — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:16:54 +0000

by mentis

Nerje wrote:
my girlfriend, who on a good day is staunchly opposed to any sort of fun

Seriously? Or do you just mean board games? If the former, then I think you should think about how committed you want to be to this relationship.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: My girlfriend's first game of TTR, with a hilariously dramatic ending

fusag — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:48:38 +0000

by fusag

Nerje wrote:
my girlfriend, who on a good day is staunchly opposed to any sort of fun

You have my condolences.

File: Ticket to Ride:: Rules -humoristic Spanish version MAP-"Renfe"

Er Murria — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:15:45 +0000

by Er Murria

Rules -humoristic Spanish version MAP-"Renfe" for Board Game: Ticket to Ride ]]>

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: Re: My girlfriend's first game of TTR, with a hilariously dramatic ending

malteh — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:41:33 +0000

by malteh

reading you report reminds me of how i loath this game.

Session: Ticket to Ride:: Sessions:: My girlfriend's first game of TTR, with a hilariously dramatic ending

Nerje — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:30:46 +0000

by Nerje

I have a hard time justifying my addiction to games to my girlfriend, who on a good day is staunchly opposed to any sort of fun and on a bad day... well you don't really want to know what a bad day entails. Either way, it was with some trepidation and excitement that I brought home my new copy of Ticket to Ride and asked if she wanted to play. She reluctantly agreed.

She made it pretty clear that she will never play a game twice if she didn't win the first time but I'll be damned if I wasn't going to take up an opportunity to humble her and remind her who wears the pants in this relationship. So I sat back, watched her figure out her routes, let her get a bit of a lead and planned a method of stealing the win from under her nose.

Things went a little pear-shaped when she took New Orleans-Miami, a crucial link in my longest route plan. I should have realised that she didn't even need it - she just saw a perfect opportunity to ruin my night. Unperturbed, I played on - I still had nearly all of my destination tickets filled and was confident that I could get the win. As it turns out, she linked up along the east coast and got the longest route card at the end of the game.

When it came to the final tally, we added hers up first. She came to a respectable 109 points, quite a good result for a first-timer. She had a beaming smile on her face, and it gave me quite a delight knowing that I could wipe it off with a landslide in destination-ticket points.

As I added them all up, I came to the total of 121 points. I had one last destination card to reveal. With a great dramatic gesture, I laid it down: "Winnipeg to- to- oh, f*#@"

I'd totally forgotten to grab Winnipeg! With a groan and a sigh, I counted my piece backwards around the board edge, and came to a rest on...

109 points.

Damn.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

ackmondual — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:44:45 +0000

by ackmondual

kentreuber wrote:
I've combined the base TTR game + Switzerland board + 1910 and Mystery Train expansions into one box.

TTR Nordic + TTR Europe fit in another box.

This is all assuming that you're not terribly attached to box inserts.

Others may be into inserts, but if they can't get past that, they'll probably have to grab me anyways to figure out the rules.

I ended up combining Marklin + Switzerland since Marklin has more components. That plus Switzerland which has the least since it comes with no trains (cars) nor train cards.

Europe and NC took a bit of tinkering to get it to fit just right, but even then there's enough leeway.

I'll see how this works out.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

esok — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:03:54 +0000

by esok

I put four boards and cards into the USA box: USA (with 1910 cards), Switzerland, Europe, and Nordic. I put the seven different sets of trains in the Switzerland Box. These two boxes together are not too bulky. My wife can now play purple with any of the games. If we play Europe she just uses the black stations. (I'd love to get purple and white stations.)

Marklin gets its own separate box (it has yet to be played since I got it in a math trade).

New Image for Ticket to Ride

Er Murria — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:48:19 +0000

by Er Murria

Spanish version MAP-"Renfe"

]]>

New Image for Ticket to Ride

cuskaira — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:01:31 +0000

by cuskaira

Castilla y León Version Map

]]>

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

kentreuber — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:09:17 +0000

by kentreuber

I've combined the base TTR game + Switzerland board + 1910 and Mystery Train expansions into one box.

TTR Nordic + TTR Europe fit in another box.

This is all assuming that you're not terribly attached to box inserts.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

seppo21 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:26:43 +0000

by seppo21

When I go to my parents' house for the holidays, I frequently combine everything into two boxes. All of the boards fit into one box (if I remember correctly) and the cards and stuff go into baggies in the other box. It seems work out nicely.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

jeRm! — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:45:00 +0000

by jeRm!

I would put Marklin and Europe together and Switzerland in the Nordic Countries box. That way you have a 2-5 player box and a 2-3 player box. I would even try to stuff TTR and 1910 in the first box though it may be a bit big at that point.

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: General:: combining Ticket To Ride games into fewer boxes. Suggestions?

ackmondual — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:14:37 +0000

by ackmondual

I've actually already went ahead and combined Ticket To Ride, Ticket To Ride 1910, and Aquaretto into the single Aquaretto box. It's worked out well, as both boxes are practically the same dimensions. The box is noticeably heavier with both games and the 1910 add-on in there, but it's been nice to cut the amount of space required for both games by half. Plus, whatever extra workout I get from toting a heavier bag couldn't hurt.

I'm thinking about combining Marklin, Switzerland, Europe, and Nordic Countries into no more than 2 boxes. At large gaming outings, I'll have to deal with the issue that casual gamers look at the boxes and likely won't be aware that many of them are combined into one box. I've seen people stuff all expansion boards into the single, base game box. The top sticks out quite a bit, but otherwise, all is fine. I figure it's the same deal with TtR.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Selecting TTR expansions

ackmondual — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:12:18 +0000

by ackmondual

My biased opinion is to get all of them. I myself wasn't going to get any of them since someone else in a large gaming group setting already owned it, but I wanted to play it more and more. Back then (2006/2007), didn't know that it was playable online on DoW's site. I ended up getting TtR + 1910 to save on shipping, and also since I started off with the 1910 add-on. Later on, there were several copies of TtR available, so I wanted to spice things up with other versions of the game, so I got Switzerland, Marklin, Europe, and Nordic Countries in that order. I played Europe f2f before Marklin b/c I was lazy and didn't feel like reading the rules.

I'm glad I got all of them, but but truly, the variety of tastes in boardgaming won't mean others will do the same thing.

The deal with TtR 1910 is that 1) some people like the larger print cards better for shuffling and general handling/usage and 2) the cards from their TtR base game got so worn from years of play that they were due for a replacement.

But for me, it goes beyond that. 3) It also adds 3 modes of play.... 1910 game, Big Cities, and what I believe is the most popular one since it's closest to the TtR base game, the Mega Game. 4) Mega Game puts more emphasis on destination tickets since there are more of them, plus more overlapping in the routes. 5) Globetrotter bonus. Some say you can just stick in this bonus into the base game, but for those more purists, the 1910 destination tickets are designed for the GT bonus (most # of comlpeted destination tickets) in mind.

With the base game, I'd say ignore it if you can already play it on the Xbox 360. Don't know how elegant it works with hotseat multiplayer given there's hidden info in train cards and dest tickets, but that will save a good chunk of cash

You already have Europe. I'd say it's a fine selection. The tunnels, ferries, and train stations add nice flair to the game IMO, and the latter-most is unique to Europe

Marklin may be a good 2nd and last choice. Sending passengers aroudn to collect VP chits does add flair to the game. It is indeed somewhat similar to Thurn & Taxis, but with the benefit of still being easier to teach, but taking up to 5p. Otherwise, I suppose you could forgo this and just get T&T

Switzerland has a big con in where it's designed for 2 to 3p only. Harder to get games in with less max # of players, but given you have 3 sons, that means one of you sits out or the game is a no-go.

Also, some people may find the pace of game too unusual and unlikeable. Specifically, there is much more focus on drawfest of Dtickets and hoping to score big there through luck.

Otherwise, as someone else pointed out, since it's an expansion in terms of gameplay mechanics AND in having a prereq that you own anotehr version of TtR

Nordic Countries is both hard to find and expensive. It also only does up to 3p. However, it does combine some of the best features of TtR Switzerland + TtR Europe along with several new material.

isaacc wrote:

So, I finally purchased a Ticket to Ride game and I and my three sons had a great time. They're non-gamers and part of the XBox generation and yet they asked to play several times; Wow! We had an amazing game night.

Ticket to Ride was out-of-stock so I instead bought a copy of Ticket to Ride: Europe. I'd like to add another TTR game but I don't feel the need to complete the series. I'd rather save the money for other games. After having searched these forums, can you tell me if the following makes sense.

I guess I should have researched before buying because Ticket to Ride seems to be the better starting point in terms of expanions. Based on what I have read, Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 seems to be a must-purchase. However, it expands only Ticket to Ride. So, I'll pick up the base game and 1910. Along with Europe I'll be set as I have described it in this post. The other expansions use different maps but are essentially the same game; of course, with some minor play differences.

Also, is Ticket to Ride: The Card Game good as a bus ride TTR purchase?
.

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

Magrot — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:03:57 +0000

by Magrot

I've stated elsewhere that I only read the beginning and end of reviews. But not this one bud! I read the whole thing and loved it thanks!

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

JohnRayJr — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:01:07 +0000

by JohnRayJr

I like the format. I think this is perfectly fine as the first TtR, though. Nordic Countries is even better. The base game does nothing at all for me.

New Image for Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion

skeil — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 08:49:39 +0000

by skeil

I love rolling dice!!

]]>

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: UK map - Update/ticket expansion to original board

kenmeyers — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:16:41 +0000

by kenmeyers

Hi everyone, I've posted a significant new update to the original and very popular UK map created a few years ago by David Millard and posted here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/464636.

The NEW VERSION I created, after several months of tweaking and test play (and interaction with the original author) can be found here: http://home.comcast.net/~ken.meyers/t2r-uk/

Updates include improved color distribution, route tweaks to improve access, and a significantly larger set of tickets, a la USA 1910 expansion.

We are a major TTR family (own and abuse all 5 official editions) and I think you'll find this is a very high-quality update.

Enjoy, and comment away...

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

DancerInDC — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:52:36 +0000

by DancerInDC

Love the game, and love the review! Agree with you on all points - this is a great next step for TtR lovers that want something more intense.

One of my game groups recently had 2 rooms playing trains - a group of 4 were playing the original, while 3 of us played Swiss. Frequently the other room would should out comments like, "Are you guys ALIVE in there?" While they were happily chatting away, we were staring at the board with furious eyes, desperately trying to outwit each other. The other folks had a fun game. We had a nasty fun game. :devil:

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: TTR variant: Cycle to Ride: Vancouver, BC map

Sanity — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:49:34 +0000

by Sanity

I've been working on a similar varient for both New York City (subway system) and Phoenix, AZ. (city bus + light rail)

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

thinwhiteduke — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:19:17 +0000

by thinwhiteduke

Just like the Choose Your Own Adventure books I read when I was a kid, I scanned through, found the result I most wanted in the review, then went back and made sure that my choices brought me there. I've never cheated while reading a review before.

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

AstroLad — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:07:18 +0000

by AstroLad

I agree with most of your general points, but I just think Nordic Countries is very similar, but better in every way, at least for my tastes.

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

ejcarter — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:26:31 +0000

by ejcarter

I thumb you for the effort. Thumb thumb thumb.

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Reviews:: Re: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

cold_fuzion — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:04:48 +0000

by cold_fuzion

I like this. Neat idea.

Review: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Choose Your Own Adventure review of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland

ragingoptimist — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:57:51 +0000

by ragingoptimist

You're debating about that trade offer you just received, offering you TTR: Switzerland in exchange for Munchkin with 17 expansions. As you ponder the trade you begin to think, "I tend to play Ticket to Ride..."
A) frequently with just one or two other people usually, but I may play with more on occasion. Go to 2.
B) With 3 or 4 other people only. Go to 1.
C) never, as I've never played it before or I don't like to play it. Go to 1.

1)This game won't win over anyone that doesn't like TTR, and it is most definitely NOT a good game for newbies to the game. It only plays with 2 or 3 people, and the game is very cutthroat and aggressive. Players that like a kinder, gentler game will not find it here.

2) I begin to think of what happened in the last game I played.
A) It was an evil game, with everyone jostling for position and being a jerkface. A good time was had by all as we ruined other players' plans. Go to 3.
B) A somewhat mean game, but one of the players felt hurt that others were cutting her off. "Why are you being so mean?" my young daughter declared before crying after I cut her off from completing any ticket, pushed her to the ground, and laughed in her face. Go to 1.
C) A relaxed, friendly game, and that's how we like it. Go to 1.
D) Too spread out. I had hardly any interaction on the huge USA map, and the lack of tension was a disappointment. Go to 3.

3) The level of complexity that I desire in TTR is...
A) As simple as possible. TTR is a simple game, and if I wanted something meatier I'd play that instead. Go to 1.
B) I could take or leave something more complicated. Go to 4.
C) Too simple. Add some layers of complexity before I get bored. Go to 5.

4) You should consider picking this up, but it isn't essential. It is a bit more complicated, a lot meaner, and a tighter game than the base game. It's a toss up for you.

5) This is a needed expansion for you. A well designed board, tight competition, and great interaction combine for a very satisfying game.

You may have noticed that most of answers eventually lead to a Don't Buy result. This isn't because it is a bad game. It's a wonderful game. However, it is only a wonderful game for the small subset of TTR players that want a vicious, 2-3 player, tight, more complicated game. This is NOT a gateway game, although the base game is my favorite gateway. Think twice before picking it up, but it is a lot of fun for those that it appeals to.

New Image for Ticket to Ride

josephc4 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:30:35 +0000

by josephc4

Bay Area Games Night, Cafe Express, Houston, TX

]]>

New Image for Ticket to Ride

josephc4 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:29:30 +0000

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: The Catapult Expansion!

MikEvaD — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:40:41 +0000

by MikEvaD

I've heard if this does well, they'll release a Zooloretto catapult expansion.
....It has something to do with hurling baby pandas. ;)

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: The Catapult Expansion!

InfoCynic — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:51:31 +0000

by InfoCynic

Hilarious! 2 :thumbsup::thumbsup: from me!

Reply: Ticket to Ride: Switzerland:: Sessions:: Re: A game in peaceful switzerland.....

yellek — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:59:39 +0000

by yellek

When I first got Switzerland my wife beat me five straight games. After that I began to figure it out and it is now about fifty fifty.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: The Catapult Expansion!

thepackrat — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:18:51 +0000

by thepackrat

Well, it would depend on whether you're talking about a tunnel under a mountain or an underwater tunnel. Screaming should be taken as a given, but you should concentrate on the rock/water :)

If inspiration strikes, I'll try to post some examples.

B>

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: The Catapult Expansion!

boltongeordie — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:08:39 +0000

by boltongeordie

thepackrat wrote:
Tunnels have no special scoring but require appropriate sound effects.

:D

I am struggling to imagine what sound effect would be appropriate to a train being knocked out of a tunnel by another train and sent flying half way across a continent. Naturally, it would involve a sizeable amount of screaming but beyond that I am at a loss.

Could you post a sound file?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: Re: The Catapult Expansion!

thepackrat — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:10:27 +0000

by thepackrat

And a 1 GG reward to the first plausible session report by someone playing TTR: The Catapult. Please follow up to this thread with a link.

B>

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: Variants:: The Catapult Expansion!

thepackrat — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:12:53 +0000

by thepackrat

Ever thought that Ticket to Ride didn't have enough randomness? Maybe you wanted to share in the innocent delight of a two-year-old knocking down a pile of bricks? In any case, the Ticket to Ride: Catapult Expansion is for you!

It's simple to play and can be simply constructed from materials found around any house. All you need to play are three things. 1) A wooden or plastic flexible ruler 2) a copy of one of the Ticket to Ride games, and 3) no need for self respect!

Here's how to play. In addition to the other actions available to them during their turn a user can choose to Catapult the Choo-choo! This must be announced in these exact words. A player choosing to Catapult the Choo-choo takes the following steps.

1. Take 1 train piece from your supply and the flexible ruler.
2. Hold one end of the ruler flat against the playing table surface with one hand and use the free end to flick your train piece onto the playing board. The player may freely choose where to place the ruler.
3. If you miss the board entirely, you receive another two attempts. If the piece hits the board at all it counts as your catapult even if you missed all the pieces. Bounces count.

Once you hit the board, all other players must laugh. Forced laugher is entirely appropriate.

These are your targets: ]]>

The rules for scoring a hit are as follows. Knocking a piece out of place means moving it so that no part of the train piece overlaps the original coloured rectangle on the board.

1. Each train of another player train you knock out of place may give you one card of the colour matching the underlying link. Grey links are good for any colour card. Tunnels have no special scoring but require appropriate sound effects.
2. Each of your own trains you knock out of place costs you one card.
3. If you completely remove another player's link from the board (all trains knocked out of place) it counts for scoring cards and the trains are returned to their owning player.
4. If you hit and move a score marker it is replaced at the nearest score as decided by the player to your left, or their left if they own the marker.

Resolving card loss:

Check the number of cards gained and their colours. Draw and lay out 5 additional face up cards. The catapulting player may now take cards matching the colours of the knocked-aside trains from all 9 face up cards. Any two knocked aside trains allow them to take a locomotive. Cards taken in this way are not replaced until the end of the turn. Once all possible cards have been taken, the player must pay for knocking their own trains aside.

For each of their own trains knocked aside, they must discard one card from their hand possibly including new cards draw. They may choose the cards. If they have no cards left, there is no further penalty.

Put any of the remaining extra five face-up cards into the discard pile and top up the normal 4 face up cards. Finally, replace all knocked-aside trains whose links were not completely disrupted and return trains from completely disrupted links to their owner.

If anyone doesn't enjoy playing this wonderful variant, then they should probably avoid Carcassonne: Jumped the Meeple as well.

For all you folks asking why?, it is my fond hope that the existence of a user-created Catapult expansion for Ticket to Ride will dissuade Days of Wonder from following suit, or at least I'll be able to demand royalties in free copies.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

We never even came close to finishing a game of WIP. We had the map attached to a wall and used pins through the counters. It sure looked cool but there was no chance we'd ever come close to finishing.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

DorianGray — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:41:02 +0000

by DorianGray

Is War in the Pacific even a game? Or a way of life?

Has anyone ever completely finished a campaign game of WiP from start to finish? I think this is one of those things you aspire to do once in your life but never get to. Like Socrates walking around all his life searching for the truth...

This reminds me when I tried to play a Federation and Empire over a course of 6 months or a PBEM Diplomacy game that went on for over 1 year.

:what:

Even I have my limits on "so-called" monster games. They should be called a philosophy... :whistle:

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

Rastak — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:26:48 +0000

by Rastak

DorianGray wrote:
JohnRayJr wrote:
DorianGray wrote:
I wonder if Alan Moon enjoys playing Santa Fe Rails over Ticket to Ride.

Alan Moon's favorite game is Twilight Struggle.

How could he possibly have designed a light gateway game!? OMG yor hed a-splode!

I like Twilight Struggle. I knew TtR wouldn't be Alan Moon's favorite game. Also it wasn't designed by Alan Moon.

Twilight at least has a serious theme with a war-game like feel. While it's not as heavy as Paths of Glory, its still a GMT games classic.

Hell I'd respect command and colors ancients over TtR and that's a bare-bones basic gate-way game too.

Twilight struggle is just a stepping stone to a real game that is satisfying....like War in the Pacific (yes, I played it when it came out....)

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

nexttothemoon — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:44:05 +0000

by nexttothemoon

Lesson 1 in BGG ratings:

When looking at all the various loosely categorized games on BGG such as "Train Games" there needs to be the realization on every users part that the comparisons between games that share a few basic similarities such as "a picture of a train on the box" often ends right there. You have to consider other factors such as game length, number of players, age suitability and the weight (aka depth/complexity) of each game when deciding which games are most suitable for various individuals.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamecategory/1034

According to those BGG ratings Age of Steam and 1830 are the highest rated heavier weighted train games, Railroad Tycoon,Chicago Express and Union Pacific are the highest rated medium weight train games and the Ticket to Ride series are the highest rated lighter weight train games.

That's all the ratings are saying... no epitomes mentioned. And all those ratings go out the window when you realize the only rating that matters is your own and those you play with. Whichever game is best for you and your play group is the epitome for your group.

Everyone has a different ultimate train game... and some people even think they are all crap... every last one of them... from the shiny plastic ones to the 4 hour long "stock market in a box" ones. To each their own.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

E Decker — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:22:04 +0000

by E Decker

"Popcorn! Getcher popcorn right here! Just 5 geekpennies!

Thank you, sir - enjoy the thread.

Popcorn! Getcher popcorn..."

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

Tokeio — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:18:13 +0000

by Tokeio

lorddillon wrote:

On second thought, nevermind - it doesn't matter because THIS WHOLE THREAD IS A FARCE.

I find it interesting that the admin came on here to say that one needs to be careful when one calls another a troll - did the admin even bother to read all of the derogatory things the OP was saying about just about everyone? Sure doesn't seem like it.

I feel chastised for something that I didn't even do, when I was only trying to have a reasonable conversation with an unreasonable person.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Fail whale imo.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

DorianGray — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:17:48 +0000

by DorianGray

JohnRayJr wrote:
DorianGray wrote:
I wonder if Alan Moon enjoys playing Santa Fe Rails over Ticket to Ride.

Alan Moon's favorite game is Twilight Struggle.

How could he possibly have designed a light gateway game!? OMG yor hed a-splode!

I like Twilight Struggle. I knew TtR wouldn't be Alan Moon's favorite game. Also it wasn't designed by Alan Moon.

Twilight at least has a serious theme with a war-game like feel. While it's not as heavy as Paths of Glory, its still a GMT games classic.

Hell I'd respect command and colors ancients over TtR and that's a bare-bones basic gate-way game too.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

lorddillon — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:06:41 +0000

by lorddillon

The Lone Gamer wrote:
timstellmach wrote:
To be clear: The Lone Gamer hit below the belt...

Someone will have to explain to me how I hit "below the belt" or "bullied." I thought it was relevant because it contradicted the OP's self-description of preferring deep, hard-to-master, chess-like games. Perhaps I violated some arcane internet taboo. Oh well.

No, you didn't, as far as I'm concerned - I don't know how you could be considered to 'hit below the belt' either - maybe there is some rule I am unaware of? Can someone enlighten us please?

On second thought, nevermind - it doesn't matter because THIS WHOLE THREAD IS A FARCE.

I find it interesting that the admin came on here to say that one needs to be careful when one calls another a troll - did the admin even bother to read all of the derogatory things the OP was saying about just about everyone? Sure doesn't seem like it.

I feel chastised for something that I didn't even do, when I was only trying to have a reasonable conversation with an unreasonable person.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

puck71 — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:19:09 +0000

by puck71

Rastak wrote:
My question is who the heck ever said it was the epitome of rail games?

I think someone has asked this on almost every page of the thread, and he has never answered. For being the title of his thread, it seems like it would have come from somewhere, but he hasn't yet said where he got that line from. I absolutely love Ticket to Ride, and would NEVER call it the epitome of rail games.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: Reviews:: Re: Ticket to Ride as a 2 player game

MikeW2 — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:32:27 +0000

by MikeW2

We get around the country-to-country problem by

a) removing half of the c-to-c cards completely

b) having an agreement that if two (of the remaining four) are received in the original set of destinations :cool:you get then one must be discarded and replaced by the next card (and that rejected likewise if it too is a country-to-country card).

b) hasn't happened yet as the odds are way down compared to the odds of that happening with the original 8 c-to-c cards in the draw pack. (That did happen).

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

The Lone Gamer — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:08:07 +0000

by The Lone Gamer

timstellmach wrote:
To be clear: The Lone Gamer hit below the belt...

Someone will have to explain to me how I hit "below the belt" or "bullied." I thought it was relevant because it contradicted the OP's self-description of preferring deep, hard-to-master, chess-like games. Perhaps I violated some arcane internet taboo. Oh well.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

The Lone Gamer — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:00:09 +0000

by The Lone Gamer

DorianGray wrote:
You're a vengeful piss-poor excuse for a human being.

People calling you a jerk doesn't bother you, but quoting you brings out the venom? Touchy.

DorianGray wrote:
If you actually read the post, I said those were my initial thoughts on the game and I needed MORE plays to get a better opinion. I started that thread for people to help me CLARIFY my concerns with the game.

Actually, you said you regretted buying it and asked what game you should have gotten instead. You made such a big deal about preferring deep, chess-like games, but dismissed this game after one play.

Did you read the design notes, in which Mr. Sivel discusses that he spent fifteen years playtesting and balancing the game?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

JohnRayJr — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:43:58 +0000

by JohnRayJr

DorianGray wrote:
I wonder if Alan Moon enjoys playing Santa Fe Rails over Ticket to Ride.

Alan Moon's favorite game is Twilight Struggle.

How could he possibly have designed a light gateway game!? OMG yor hed a-splode!

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: Ticket to Ride Downloadable Game Questions

The Unbeliever — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:37:03 +0000

by The Unbeliever

PBandJ wrote:
For this Ticket to Ride Downloadable Game on the Days of Wonder site that is $9.99, do you get a computer disk, and than you play off of that on your computer.

No. You just download and run the executable.

PBandJ wrote:
Can you play 2 or more players (physical players at the computer) without going online?

PBandJ wrote:
Can you go against computers on your computer without online play?

Yes

Thread: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Ticket to Ride Downloadable Game Questions

PBandJ — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:30:53 +0000

by PBandJ

For this Ticket to Ride Downloadable Game on the Days of Wonder site that is $9.99, do you get a computer disk, and than you play off of that on your computer. Can you play 2 or more players (physical players at the computer) without going online? Can you go against computers on your computer without online play?

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

PBandJ — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:19:43 +0000

by PBandJ

I haven't bought the game yet, but I have played the online game. Hopefully, pretty soon I will buy the board game. The game is just fun! I don't care if a game is based on luck as long as it's fun. I don't think this game is based on luck though because you can put your railroad anywhere when you have all the color cars.

I'm interested in Ticket to Ride because it's a train game, and you get to build routes from one part of the country to another. There is some Power Plant game, and that game doesn't interest me at all because it's about power plants. I don't care for war games just because I don't care about fighting in a board game.

So, doom to me for liking Dizzy, Dizzy Dinosaur, Haunted Ruins, Monopoly, Sorry!, Ticket to Ride, Rush Hour -Everyday Games, Guess Who?, Clue - a little bit, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Scrabble, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Uno.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: News:: Re: TtR online now unlimited access if you own the game!

mvblair — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:43:11 +0000

by mvblair

I've played 4 times now against the computer with the new system. I dislike the new system. I can't minimize the window without the game freezing and it takes a long time to load. There are just too many animations and silly "bells and whistles" that I don't need. I wish that it were more like the older on-line version.

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

djgutierrez77 — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:19:38 +0000

by djgutierrez77

DorianGray wrote:

Anyway I'm going to concede that TtR may be one of the best gate-way games - certainly a genre I would try to move away from if you're looking for the full gaming experience.

Uh...isn't that the whole point of a gateway game? To help ease the way into the "full gaming experience?"

Reply: Ticket to Ride:: General:: Re: How overrated can this game be? The epitome of Rail games? Gimme a break.

StormKnight — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:09:32 +0000

by StormKnight

Aren't gate-way games by their own very nature prohibited from being in-depth heavy satisfying games?

I would say a gateway game is one that:
* Grabs attention and interest very quickly when one begins to play.
* Is easy to explain.
* Can be enjoyably played even if you don't know how to win.

This does not preclude it from being "in-depth" or "heavy" (whatever those mean) though many may not be.

Also note that there "in-depth" and "heavy" are extremely subjective, and may not even be considered good traits, and "satisfying" doesn't have anything to do with being "in-depth" or "heavy" unless its on the basis of personal taste.

Also, some measures for consideration:

Number of possible choices per turn:
Tic-Tac-Toe: Averages about 5
Chess: Averages about 30
Ticket to Ride: Averages about 30

Theoretical number of board states (not all of these are actually possible to achieve, but it presents an upper bound for comparison):
Tic-Tac-Toe: 19683
Chess: Roughly 1 x 10^50
Ticket to Ride: Roughly 1 x 10^63 (For a 2 player game; this will increase drastically as more players are added)