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Ticket to Ride

Alan R. Moon · Days of Wonder · 2004

Collect colored train cards and claim railway routes across a map to connect cities and complete secret destination tickets. The tension of deciding when to claim a route versus collecting more cards creates a simple but engaging risk-reward loop.

Players

2–5

Time

60 min

Ages

Difficulty

Light

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Why you'll like it

One of the most accessible modern games ever designed
Beautiful map and train components
Scales perfectly from 2 to 5 players
Multiple map expansions add years of variety
Perfect for families and non-gamers

How it plays

In Ticket to Ride, players build train routes across North America. On your turn you do one of three things: draw two colored train cards, claim a route between two cities by playing cards of the matching color, or draw new destination tickets.

Destination tickets are secret goals, such as connecting Los Angeles to New York. Completing them earns bonus points at the end, but any you fail cost you points. As the map fills up, routes get blocked, and you may need to find a longer way around.

The game ends when a player is almost out of trains. You score for routes, completed tickets, and a bonus for the longest continuous route. It's a modern classic and one of the easiest games to teach.