Height: 11.7 in - Width: 11.6 in - Lenth: 2.9 in - Weight: 3.2 lbs
Description
October 2, 1900 was 28 years to the day that noted London eccentric, Phileas Fogg accepted and then won a $20,000 bet that he could travel "Around the World in 80 Days". Now at the dawn of the century it was time for a new "impossible journey." Some old friends have gathered to celebrate Fogg's impetuous and lucrative gamble and to propose a new wager of their own. The stakes: $1 million -- and the winner takes all competition. The objective: to see who can travel by rail to the most cities in North America - in just 7 days. The journey begins immediately...
Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure where players collect cards of various types of train cars than enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. Includes a detailed board, game cards, help cards, rules, train miniatures and more.
Amazon.com Review
Join your friends in a race to claim railway routes across North America! Ticket to Ride, an award-winning strategy game, challenges players ages eight and older to complete multiple train routes connecting major cities. As miniature trains begin to populate the board map of North America, secret city-to-city rail connections are completed or hopelessly blocked by merciless competitors. Providing an enticing mixture of strategy and luck for groups of two to five players, Ticket to Ride squeezes the journey of a lifetime into a mere hour or less.
Designed for two to five players, this highly-strategic board game will have players vying for train routes. View larger. |
Secret Rail Destinations Keep Everyone Guessing
All the action takes place on a detailed, color-illustrated board map of North America. Newbies will want to dedicate 10 to 15 minutes to the well-organized instruction manual, then pass out miniature trains, train-car cards, and destination tickets to each player. Game play is straightforward and consists of only three possible moves per turn: drawing an additional train-car card, drawing a destination ticket, or building a train route. The train-car cards are color-coded to match specific railway routes, so the basic idea is to collect multiple cards of the same color and then claim a route to score points. Destination tickets present an added challenge by assigning secret routes such as "Seattle to Montreal" and awarding bonus points for completion of these routes. Because the tickets are kept secret, each player's plan for railway domination won't be revealed until the end!
Ride the Rails in Less than an Hour
Because Ticket to Ride only requires two players and can be played in less than an hour, opportunities abound for trying different strategies. While your success relies somewhat on the luck of the draw, part of the fun is trying different strategies like drawing extra destination tickets, discarding difficult tickets, or vying for the longest continuous route (worth 10 points).
Surprise Winners and Reversals of Fortune
Once the miniature trains are played out, each player's destination tickets are revealed. Because an incomplete route can result in a loss of as many as 22 points, last-minute reversals of fortune are commonplace, and victory is never guaranteed.
While those who are already familiar with the more intricate European version of Ticket to Ride might be disappointed by this simpler version, beginners are sure to find it a wonderful introduction to the Days of Wonder board game series. Purchase of the game includes access to online game play, where additional maps and game variants await.
What's in the Box
One board map of North American train routes, 240 colored train cars (including additional replacement cars), 144 illustrated cards, five wooden scoring markers, one rules booklet, one Days of Wonder online access ticket.
Hatch elaborate plans on how to secure railway domination! View larger. | 
The game features real-life locations across the North American continent. View larger. |
Customer Reviews
Fun, but didn't hold our interest for long - Sep 03, 2010
This game is easy to learn and quickly fun, but we didn't stay into it very long and don't see us playing it long term. I can see this forgotten within a year unfortunately.
We enjoy a game where there is some amount of conversation after the game about the strategies used and reasons for some decisions. We don't find ourselves doing that much.
We like it for from 2 to 4 players, thinking 5 is too many. The game does change quite a bit with different numbers of players, which is nice (variety).
We think it has the right mix of luck and skill. It can initially seem too luck based (draw bad cards), but you realize there are strategies to deal with that.
Quick to set up and put away, and well made. Quick to play (less than an hour).
I suspect people who find Settlers of Catan and Dominion fun but too involved might like this.
The on-line version is great because it is so convenient. It shows you the cities you need to connect which is really handy. It is I think $10 per person for a life-time account. When it's just my husband and I we prefer to sit with our laptops and play that way.
ALSO - you can try it before you buy it that way. You can make an account for free and play 5 games.
Good gateway game - Aug 31, 2010
This is a great gateway game. If your looking for something not too difficult in order to introduce players into euro style board games, this wouldn't be a bad place to start. It's easy to get up and running and not too heavy on strategy but doesn't completely rely on luck of the draw. I think it would be great for family and friends alike.
Loads of Family Fun - Aug 21, 2010
This game is great. After playing teams the first few times even our first grader can play on his own. It is a good way to learn strategy and a fun way for a family of 5 to spend the evening. Don't let the kids open and close the board though; it rips easily. All ages can enjoy this game: kids, teens, young and older adults. We look forward to buying the rest of the series since each game has a tweak in the strategy.
The Europe and Marklin Editions are superior but the original is still a good game - Aug 12, 2010
The USA version of Ticket To Ride is fun but frustratingly cutthroat; I would not recommend getting the base set without the Days of Wonder Ticket to Ride 1910 Expansion, which offers three superior variants, more tickets (routes) and regular sized playing cards to replace the tiny ones included in the base set. The main problem with the base set is that whoever builds the big northern routes usually wins, exacerbated by the awarding of a "longest route" ticket worth bonus points. The 1910 expansion offers you the choice of eliminating the longest route bonus and awarding a "most routes completed" bonus instead, or using both of them, or neither. That helps tailor the win condition to best suit the group. However, I still prefer the Ticket to Ride Europe with the Days of Wonder Ticket to Ride 1912 Expansion because of it provides more interesting challenges (ferries and tunnels) and adds stations players can use to get around being cut off in completing their routes. These stations can easily be used in USA or other versions. Europe still has the "longest route" bonus points award but this is easier to get for everyone because if you have to use a station to complete a route ticket, it no longer counts toward your getting the longest route award. Another excellent option over the USA version is the Days of Wonder Ticket To Ride - Marklin (Germany) version that adds passengers you can use to score crazy bonus points that add a whole new strategy to the game; unlike the stations in Europe, however, the passenger mechanic is not easily integrated into other editions. Another nice thing about Marklin is that it offers the most balanced map with a near equal distribution of long and short routes which are split up on the left and right sides of the vertical map. With Marklin, completing a ton of short routes is just as viable a win strategy as long routes in the USA base sets. Both Europe and Marklin also split your initial ticket allotment into long (blue-backed) and short (brown-backed) routes; you get to choose how many of each you want to do--unlike the USA base set, which is totally random in its ticket distribution (long routes are harder to complete but offer more bonus points to win than short routes). I also enjoy the Ticket to Ride Switzerland Map Expansion for its extremely challenging map and Days of Wonder Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries Board Game. In my opinion, the original USA edition is initially fun but that fun turns to frustration once you realize the easiest way to win is to just build the long northern routes. While that is addressed by the 1910 Expansion, I still prefer the maps and additional challenges provided by the Europe and Marklin editions. No matter which version you pick, if you know how to play one, the others are easy to pick up, and the rules of all editions are fast and easy to learn in about 5 minutes. Ticket To Ride is, in my opinion, the best light strategy (or "gateway") game on the market to bring family and friends together for 30-60 minutes of competitive fun. One final note: Days of Wonder is releasing a new and improved 2nd Edition of Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries in September 2010, so don't get ripped-off by the current online sellers trying to snag a small fortune for the out-of-print 1st edition.
Excellent game. - Jul 22, 2010
I've played this roughly a dozen times now, with groups ranging from 2 to 5, and it's been fun every time. Probably my favorite board game.
Best board game EVER! - Jul 19, 2010
I just had to get this for my birthday! I'm in my 20's but this game is appropriate for all ages. All of my friends find this game addicting and fun. The product itself came in great condition. I would use this seller again.
fun game for parents and children together! - Jul 17, 2010
I bought this game in order to have some non-digital fun with my older children. We have a great time every time we play! We discuss strategies, organization, and indulge in a bit of harmless trash talk. I recommend this game to anyone who has older kids/young adults.
All aboard! - Jul 16, 2010
While researching games I stumbled upon Ticket to Ride, it sounded interesting and I thought I would give it again. It has become one of our favorite games to play.
"Train game?" is a question we often here when we have company over. The game is easy to learn and lots of fun to play. It gives you a chance to try different strategies each time. It is also fun to make up little stories as you go along, such as why you are connecting two cities, what you think is going on in each city and paying attention to the "hubs" forming on your map.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys board games that make you think and plan out your next turn.
The Ticket To Ride series is captivating - Jul 13, 2010
We started playing the European Ticket to Ride a few months ago. We got hooked the first night. It was a little complicated so it took a while to understand the ramifications of our decisions. After a month or so, we bought this version, the original Ticket to Ride of U.S. and Southern Canada. It is less complicated and has smaller cards...both features that I like very much. My advice is to buy this version first to see what it's all about and work your way up to the European version. We're going to buy the Scandinavian version to see what it's all about. The thing that pleases me most about these games is that you are in competition with yourself. Decisions you make have definite impact on your outcome. I truly have no interest in "winning" the game...I just want to be able to complete the routes that I choose. Even the "heavy" competitors in our group have calmed down and approach the game with less desire to "beat everybody". Even though our group started with the European version, we are all very taken with the simpler U.S. version and play both versions equally...depending on our fatigue factor. You have to have patience in the beginning and play one game with no interest in outcome in order to focus your attention on the decisions. Buy it, you'll love it.
Great fun! - Jul 09, 2010
This is a great game. The one I ordered on Amazon was sent to my dad for Father's Day. He loves it too. The entire family is all hooked.
GREAT family board game! - Jul 03, 2010
Our family LOVES to play board games and we have lots! I don't believe we have ever had one that they have played this much. Our kids range in age from 10-26 and they all enjoy it--along with parents!
Fun, fast moving game - Jun 09, 2010
This game is really easy to learn and lots of fun. It works best with three or more players. It moves along pretty quickly and requires a good combination of strategy and luck. We really enjoy it!
Great game, but go with the Europe version - Jun 05, 2010
Ticket to ride is a great game with excellent game mechanics. In each turn you can do one of three things: get train cards, get destination tickets, or claim a route. As a result, the turns are rapid-paced which helps to keep players engaged. Sometimes I will finish my turn and go to get a glass of water only to find that the other players have taking their turns and are waiting on me.
The game has a couple of shortcomings that keep it from being rated as 5-stars. The playing cards are smaller than standard playing cards, which is a bit of a pain considering the amount of shuffling you need to do in the game. There is also a small number of destination tickets. However, both of these shortcomings can be overcome with the USA 1910 expansion pack Days of Wonder Ticket to Ride 1910 Expansion which has standard sized cards and more than 2x the destination tickets. I view this expansion as necessary for the game.
This is a very fun game. However, if you are on the fence between Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride: Europe Ticket to Ride Europe, I would go with the Europe version. It adds a couple new rules/features that really enhance the gameplay, namely ferries (where a locomotive/wild card is needed to complete a route, tunnels (where there is the element of chance that you may need up to 3 extra cards to complete the route -- after all tunnels do sometimes have construction delays), and train stations (where you can lose points to build them, but you can count and opponent's route to help you finish a destination ticket). Like I said Ticket to Ride is an excellent game, but Ticket to Ride Europe just steps it up an extra notch without going overboard.
Excellent game - May 25, 2010
Can't say anything more than has already been said. Just chiming in that this is an excellent game.
My sons, nephews and I are fans of the Mayfair EuroRails games, but those take *much* longer (2-4 hours) to play and thus don't appeal to many others (e.g. my wife). This is similar in concept, much shorter in duration to play and easy to understand. My wife really liked it, which is quite a statement in itself.
No complaints at all. Love it.
Awesome Boardgame - May 18, 2010
Love this game, my brother in law bought it at Christmas and we played it nonstop. Shortly after, we bought it for ourselves and have introduced it to friends and family. Everyone who plays loves it and wants it for themselves. A fun easy game that you can still visit with while playing. Competitive but not so much that you don't like eachother after the game is over. Would recommend it to anyone!
Great for family game night! - May 13, 2010
This is a fantastic game for family game night. It's easy to play and learn and accessible to gamers and non-gamers. It's a great way to introduce people to "real" board games. If you like this I highly recommend trying out some of the other "euro-games". Check out [...]. It's a great community and a good way to discover and become addicted to a new world of gaming. I never new so many great games existed. BGG blew my mind and now I'm totally hooked. But beware, if you go down this road, be prepared to say goodbye to Monopoly, Life...etc forever.
ticket to ride - May 01, 2010
The game is fun and it doesn't last for hours. The only downfall about this game is that only 5 people can play it. It would be much better if at least 6 could play. We bought the expansion set but haven't used it yet. Even then, it doesn't expand the number of players, just the destinations.
Ticket to Ride is GREAT! - Apr 16, 2010
This is by far one of the most fun games I have ever played! It is competitive, enjoyable and easy to learn. Great game!
Fun family game - Apr 09, 2010
This is a fun family game. The object is to try and complete as many destinations as you can by placing colored train cars on the tracks. Kids can practice planning, strategy, and math skills while having fun too. Slightly more competitive with 2 or 3 players as only 1 set of tracks is used (instead of double tracks in certain areas), but fun just the same.
Better than monopoly for family board game - Mar 26, 2010
Everyone in our family enjoys this - aged 9 through teen years and to the adults. What we love is how we can play together in competition while also working on individual goals. Each player has to try to gather enough of the right colored cards to make train route connection across North America,earning points as your train route grows in length. Players try to block each other. Strategy can be simple for the younger kids or more complex for the adults. It is best played with 3 or more. I like most that 5 can play easily.
Ticket to Ride - US - Mar 13, 2010
Great game for older kids and adults. We've played several times, and it always takes longer than the estimated time given on the game, but it's fun and the time passes quickly.
Ready to climb aboard? - Mar 05, 2010
Was looking for a new board game for family evenings and found it in Ticket to Ride. Rules are simple and straight forward and can be picked up as you go along. The kids (6,9,13) loved it, so did the adults.
By having different tickets (missions) each game, the scope for each player changes every time, so this game will never get boring! We love it!
Be prepared to stay up late. . . so fun!! - Mar 04, 2010
My husband and I have played and average of 3 games per night during the entire Olympics. . .becuase of our love for both, we have been really tired in the morning. Great fun, great stay-home-date-night, and easy to invite people along since you can play with up to 5. Enjoy
LOVE IT! - Feb 25, 2010
I was introduced to this game at Christmas by my husband's family. We played at least once a day (sometime more). It is the best board game ever! It makes you think, but not too hard. I'm not one of those people who likes to think a lot and strategize during a board game. I'd rather play for fun and socialization. This game is perfect because it allows for that strategizing that some people crave, but not to the extent where you have to constantly be thinking and are left unable to have "fun". Every game turns out different, so it never gets boring. I've played it with as few as 2 people and as many as 5 people, and it is a great game either way. My only criticism would be that the location of the cities in not quite geographically correct for all of them (example: Duluth, MN is in mid to southern MN on the board instead of Northern MN), but it gives you the general idea. I now have my own game, so my husband and I can play it together. I can't wait to get the Europe version just to add a little diversity.
Makes you think!!! - Feb 19, 2010
Great game for the family or friends to play. I would recommend to any over the age of 13+ years. It keeps the friends coming back for more!!
