Ticket to Ride board game: rules and tips

Ticket to Ride is a railway game in which players compete to build train routes between cities on a map. The original edition shows North America, and many later editions show other regions of the world. Each player receives secret destination tickets, such as connecting two distant cities, and tries to complete them by claiming the routes between. The game has only three possible actions, so children and new players understand it quickly, but choosing which routes to claim and when to block others adds real strategy. Colourful plastic trains on the board make progress easy to see, and the final count of completed tickets often brings surprises.

How to play Ticket to Ride

Each player starts with a set of plastic trains, a few train cards and destination tickets, keeping at least some of the tickets offered. On your turn, you do one of three things. You may draw two train cards, either from five face-up cards or from the top of the deck; a face-up wild locomotive counts as your whole draw. You may claim a route between two cities by playing cards of the matching colour and number, then placing your trains on it. Or you may draw new destination tickets, keeping at least one. Claiming routes scores points immediately, with longer routes worth much more. When a player has only two or fewer trains left, everyone takes one final turn. Then each completed ticket adds its value to your score, while each unfinished ticket subtracts it. In the original edition, the longest continuous route earns a bonus.

Tips for new players

• Keep tickets that share routes so one network completes several of them.
• Claim critical short routes early when only one path exists between two cities.
• Long routes score many points; collect cards of one colour to claim them.
• Only draw new tickets late in the game if you are confident you can complete them.