The setting is...set in the turn of the century America. The players represent a club of travelling tycoons with a wager on who could travel the furthest by rail (insert your favorite blustery, vaugely british/rich drivel...). The game play is very simple (almost deceptively so...): You pull your routes (Random 3, keep at least 2...), then you can do 1 of 2 things on your turn. Either draw train cards (only one that's face up if it's a locomotive/rainbow...) or play enough train cards to make a route (from 1 track up to 8...). You get different points per amount of trains played, as well as points for completed routes and if you have the longest continuous connected route. That was longer than I originally anticipated. But, once you get into the game it is crazy, crazy simple to play and replay...
I may have stumbled up why I am not as good at Ticket to Ride as I am at other games (partially thanks to my lovely wife Tara's insight...). Consider: I'm very damn good at Small World (another game for another day...). There are few games that I have played that have more player on player interaction than Small World. It holds the game together, at least for a guy like me. Now, back to Ticket to Ride; there is very little to no player on player interaction from game to game. What Ticket to Ride DOES have is great player on player TENSION, and this is important to making Ticket to Ride unique. In essence, TtR gives each player their own puzzle to complete and they must complete it faster than the other player else too many obstacles get in the way. However, one player cannot do anything PROactive about what the other players do (other than guessing what the other players will do next and taking the cards the other players might want [poker-type players might be quite good at TtR...]...), but must be REactive to the board state as it changes...
It is here where I lose my game playing mojo. I am better (mayhaps even excel at times...) at games where I can pit my skills directly against another player(s...) skills and have sort of a battle of wits and wills during the game. But, in a game where you can do so little against the other players, my skills founder and it shows. I get frustrated that an area can get locked away by the other players and there is NOTHING to be done about it except adapt. Don't get me wrong, adapting strategies is cool with me. I find it to be a necessary skill for a good game player to have. But, when the only thing you can do to 'adapt' is just find a new route to your destination, adaptation doesn't help as much as it would in a game like Settlers of Catan...Now, you may imagine that this is an overly scathing review of TtR, but I find it to be one of the most frustrating games I've ever played and still not figured out yet. It's the challenge that brings me back to it each time. It is so simple in execution; and that is the exact reason of my frustration. I'm at a point in my board gaming career (yeah, chew on that idea...) that a game such as this should be more easily beaten than the luck I've been having. But, this is a game for anyone who has, or wants to, venture out into the wide world of grown-up board games. It's simple to grasp, it's not cutesy, it appeals to many different kinds of people. I recommend this game highly; I just may not want to play it with you all the time...
Grade: A...
