Ticket To Ride: Europe
This month's game of the month is Ticket to Ride: Europe (although all the Ticket to Ride games are amazing!). For those who haven't played Ticket to Ride before, we'll just give you a quick rundown of what the game is about and how it works. (If you've played it before, feel free to skip on down to the next section, where we tell you why we chose this game to be our game of the month!)
In Ticket to Ride: Europe, all players are given train destinations which they must travel to and from to accumulate points. As the train conductor, each player must plan which destinations they travel to firstly and which routes are the most efficient. The gameplay is mostly tactical and all about the timing of your train placements, as other players' trains might block your route if your are not careful!
Why Ticket to Ride: Europe?
To be frank, Ticket to Ride: Europe is one of those games that you just keep coming back to - at least we do! It's got a pretty straightforward set-up, and has a good balance of being easy to learn whilst incorporating tactical thinking. It's also pretty fun creating really long train-and-carriages!
It's got tactics...
As we mentioned, Ticket to Ride: Europe requires some tactical thinking and rethinking. You must choose the best routes to take, decide how you will place your trains across that route, and take into account other elements such as longest track rewards, track segment points, etc. Sometimes you might have a perfect plan, and then someone else comes along and places their trains right bang in the middle of your route! Certain spots on the map also get pretty busy pretty quickly (especially Western Europe)!
It's got suspense...
Perhaps because of all the blocking and route-crossing that takes place, the game can become very suspenseful! Timing here is key - wait too long to place your trains, and someone else might go where you had planned on going. Place too soon and everyone has an easy shot at figuring out where about you intend to go next, and swoop in before you!
Not to mention the 'gamble' routes - boy are they tense! You really have to play the game to understand the nerve-racking suspense that you feel when you choose to place your trains on one of these spots!
It's in Europe!
We are a UK business, so of course we like the fact that this Ticket to Ride is in Europe! Although it would have been nice to have one or two more UK cities included. Maybe that's one of the reasons they made Ticket to Ride: London!