Why I like Ticket to Ride

Board game aficionados label Ticket to Ride as the "gateway drug" to other games, usually in the same breath as Catan or Carcassonne. "Would ya like a try?" grumbles a friend, unfurling their trenchcoat (read: large backpack) to reveal an array of vials (read: boxes) containing funleaves that offer temporary joys (it's never Monopoly).

And I get why. Ticket to Ride puts you in the shoes of the most aspirational role model, a railway capitalist. You must build routes between locations to score Victory Points, and failure means you must deduct Victory Points. Feeling bold and risky, ready to plop tracks across Romania? Go for the high-scoring cards. Would you rather develop a scattered network as arbitrary and nonsensical as England's own commuter network? Go for smaller cards.

The game is fun because it blends together individual play and competitive ribbing. You can initially treat this as a single-player game where you develop your hand and then lay down the tracks with the mic-drop of steam and steel. But at some point you will be rubbing shoulders with someone who is trying to conquer France and Spain, and you are left with going through Belgium just to reach a pitiful town down south.

Ticket to Ride is a great game, timed perfectly for a Sunday evening. And like any good introductory drug, it makes you think… what else might be out there to line up and try?