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‘Ticket to Ride’ by Alan Moon
For the second week running the venue is Spiller’s place. And for the second week Kendall finds himself the chauffeur, courtesy of Dicken’s bad back. Spiller isn’t exactly hovering at the door, but the wait isn’t too long this time. And so to the penthouse which sits above Spiller’s computer empire. Neatly laid out is the board to ‘Samarkand’– a starter before the main course.
The rules are briefly revisited, and then it’s off to the Nomad camps and Bazaars of Tamurlane’s capital. For those of you who have yet to encounter this minor classic, please see the review filed under ‘S’.
This game lasts about forty minutes, during which time there is much huffing and puffing as the frequently rolled ‘random’ dice consistently proves fickle. In the end Kendall rolls a ‘5’ and gleefully marches into a town to sell the match-winning commodities. Dicken comments that the game felt a couple of turns too short. Spiller and Kendall disagree.
Time for ‘Ticket to Ride’. This was bought for Spiller’s recent birthday and it had a first play-through last week with Dicken running out a comfortable winner. After a couple of hiccups the rules were correctly interpreted, the consensus being that the game is simple and tightly organised, with enough decision making to keep interest high. Components are very good. Nominally the game is about a bet to travel around USA on trains, but in reality this is a game based on several strong systems. Anyone who has played ‘Clippers’ will sense a similarity in the board layout, although the actual method for filling up the spaces is very different.
Each player starts with three route cards (e.g. New York to Miami), but may discard one. If a route is completed by game end, it provides a bonus. If it is not completed it gives a penalty. This factor may be decisive in winning the game (and more routes can be added to the hand), but it is probably possible to win by simply completing connections between individual towns. A one space connection scores 1, a six space connection scores 15 – you can work out the incremental pattern between.
Dicken starts. In his hand he has four ‘carriage’ cards. That’s not the actual name as they include freight and locomotives. The locomotives are wild and the rest are colours. A connection must be completed with cards of the same colour. Some connections on the map are colour specific, some are grey (any colour). Dicken picks up two more cards – this is one of his options. He takes one of the five face-up cards and elects to take his second from the top of the pack (now where have you seen that before?).
Kendall’s turn. He lays two orange cards, exchanges them for two of his playing pieces (yet more carriages) and puts them on map between Nashville and somewhere else. He scores two points.
Spiller picks up two cards, one of which is the first of his many locomotives. The luck rides with Spiller.
And so it continues. Ample supplies of beer and pringles are picked up en route. A very pleasant experience – and the game’s not bad either.
Highlights include:
- Spiller and Dicken correctly guessing Kendall’s route and blocking him.
- Kendall managing to find the connections he needs via Oklahoma city.
- Spiller picking up yet more locomotives
- Dicken building giant circles in the East and West
- Kendall collecting another route card
- Spiller building a long, snaking track, 39 carriages long – and worth 10 points at game end.
Spiller gets down to his last two carriages, signaling the start of the last round. Spiller collects his 10 points for longest route to leave him a bogey ahead of Dicken, with Kendall still in the guard’s van. Routes are revealed and (hey!) Kendall is suddenly a winner by 5 points. Four completed routes gave him 27 points bonus. Spiller is crestfallen "I thought I’d got that won!" Dicken and Spiller both only completed two routes, declining to take more and this proved to be the telling factor on this occasion.
A good game (‘Spiel des Jahres’) which is well produced and will sell. Little to do with railways, but then what’s new.
Time for a chat. Kendall explains to Spiller about the ‘Emporium’. Spiller suggests setting up a web-cam, filming games nights and selling the videos under the title ‘Adult fun and games’. Now there’s an entrepreneurial spirit.
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