Ticket to Ride is, undoubtedly, one of the most popular gateway games in the world. Designed by Alan R. Moon, the game was first released in 2004 and has, since, spawned dozens of variations on the original U.S. theme and gameplay.
The game is relatively simple to learn yet holds challenges in knowing what goals to choose and finding the most efficient route to attain the goal. There also can be blocking by opponents if they discern the route you are trying to build.
One of the things that has made the game such an evergreen is the ever evolving additional boards and mechanics on each one. While the game will never reach the complexity of 18xx train games, later versions have shown an attempt to emulate some of their mechanics such as train company stocks and different technologies.
This guide gathers together all of the various releases of Ticket to Ride from around the world and gives some background info on how each varies from the original.
The Big Boxes
Ticket to Ride
The original and best selling of the series. Released in 2004, it became another hit for Days of Wonder who were known for high quality components for easily accessible games.
The game revolves around a map of the U.S. with routes of different colors connecting the major cities. At the beginning of the game, each player is given three destination tickets showing two cities on the map. Each player chooses either two or three and will try to build a route between these cities.
Five train cards are then revealed, each with a specific color (and some wild cards). Players draft either two single color train cards or one wild card from those shown. A player may also take a blind draw off the top of the deck as a choice. These cards are collected until a set that matches the length of the track between two cities.
Once a player has the correct set of cards, they are played and a series of trains is placed along the route to claim it.
During the course of the game, you can also acquire additional destinations, drawing three new goal tickets and keeping, at a minimum, one.
At the end, players will have points for each route built (depending on length), the destination tickets completed (and lose points for those not finished), and a bonus for having the longest route.
Ticket to Ride: USA 1910
One of the complaints with the original game was the small cards that were included. Days of Wonder fixed the situation with USA 1910 which not only provided a set of full size goal tickets and train cards, but also added new tickets to play three variants.
- 1910 uses the original set of rules for Ticket to Ride with the addition of a Globetrotter bonus at the end of the game, given to the person who completed the most tickets.
- Big City uses just the 35 brand new Big City tickets with one end of each route being in one of the main destinations on the board.
- Mega uses all of the available route tickets and both the longest route and globetrotter bonuses.
Ticket to Ride: 10th Anniversary
In 2014, Days of Wonder released the 10th Anniversary edition of the original game. Included were all of the tickets from both the original and the USA 1910 editions. The board was 50% larger than the original and the trains were molded in five distinct forms, each depicting a different train car, and were painted. Each set of trains were housed in their own metal tin.
Ticket to Ride Europe
In 2005, a European version of Ticket to Ride was released that added new elements to the game.
- Tunnels added an element of chance by making a player draw three cards from the top of the deck. If one or more of the cards matched the colors being used for the route, an additional card of that color (or a locomotive) had to be played.
- Ferries had special marks within the route to indicate that locomotive cards (multicolored) had to be used. This could be for all of the trains for the route or just a portion.
- Train Stations were extra points at the end of the game; however, a player could use them on a city to which only an opponent connected to use their route.
- Long routes traveled between distant cities with one long route card being included in the initial four dealt to each player. Two of the four must be kept.
The bonus for the game is longest route.
Ticket to Ride: Europe 1912
Four years later, Days of Wonder followed the lead of the original Ticket to Ride and released Ticket to Ride: Europe 1912, a small box of new cards and playing pieces for the game. Three new variants followed the 1910 box:
- Europe Expanded added 19 new routes to the original 46.
- Big City of Europe focused on tickets to nine major European cities.
- Mega Europe uses all of the available route tickets.
Each player also receives one warehouse and five depots. At the beginning of the game, they place a warehouse on one city. Whenever a player takes a train card, they also take one from the top of the deck, unseen, and places it in any player’s warehouse. If a player connects to one of the warehouse cities, they may take all of the cards in that warehouse by giving up one of their depots. Any unused depots at the end of the game score that player ten points each.
Ticket to Ride: Europe – 15th Anniversary
The 15th anniversary edition of Ticket to Ride: Europe was released in 2021 and contained all of the tickets from both the original and the Europe 1912 editions (warehouses and depots were not included). The board was 50% larger than the original and the trains and stations were molded in five distinct forms, with the trains each depicting a different car, and were painted. Each set of trains were housed in their own metal tin.
Orient Express
This is a mini expansion for Ticket to Ride: Europe, adding seven new route tickets to the deck that represent the route of the Orient Express.
Ticket to Ride: Märklin
Märklin was the third big box version of Ticket to Ride with the map depicting Germany along with links to bordering countries. Each of the train cards illustrated a different Märklin Toy Company toy train.
Märklin upped the ante on the complexity of the game:
- There were two separate decks of destination cards, one for shorter routes and one for longer routes. Cards are drawn in any combination.
- Some routes left Germany to end in a outlying country.
- There are triple routes; however, only one can still be taken in 2 or 3 player games.
- There are seven train routes.
- Locomotive +4 cards which can only be used to claim routes of four or more in length.
- Merchandise tokens of various types are placed on the cities around the board.
- Passengers are new figures which can be placed on a city when a player connects to it. Later, a player can move one of his passengers to the next city along a route to take one of the merchandise tokens (or move along an opponent’s route by using a passenger card which is also new to the set). Merchandise tokens give a varied number of points.
There is a ten point bonus at the end of the game for completed tickets.
Ticket to Ride: Märklin is out of print and has been replaced by Ticket to Ride: Germany.
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
The Nordic Countries version of Ticket to Ride was specially designed to be playable as a two or three player game. This allowed for much tighter game play and increased the chances of blocking other players.
Covering the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the game incorporated the original Ticket to Ride rules along with the ferries and tunnels from the Europe edition.
In this version, you are allowed to take locomotives (wild cards) for both of your selections; however, they can only be used to build ferries, tunnels and a single nine train route.
There is end of game scoring for the most tickets completed.
Zug um Zug: Deutschland
After the Märklin edition went out of print, there was an outcry in Europe to continue to offer the game which led to the Deutschland edition being made available in Germany and Austria. The game kept the long and short route concept from Märklin but did away with the passengers and merchandise tokens.
In another divergence from Märklin, the Globetrotter bonus at the end of the game is worth fifteen points.
Zug um Zug: Deutschland 1902
Passengers return in this expansion for the Deutschland game but they are no longer placed by the players or travel along routes. Various colored passengers are placed on each of the cities and are collected by the first person to connect to it.
At the end of the game, a bonus is awarded for the most tickets along with ten points for the most of each color passenger and five points for the second most in each color.
Ticket to Ride: Northern Lights
The Northern Lights base game was produced only in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway and opened up the game for two to five players by completely reworking the routes. Additional locomotive cards were also added to the train deck to improve chances of drawing them because of the large amount of ferry routes.
Brand new to the game were end-of-game bonus cards with four out of eleven chosen for each game.
Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails
Possibly the single biggest change to the Ticket to Ride series, Rails & Sails allowed players to build routes around the world with both trains and boats.
To achieve this, there were two types of routes, rectangular for trains and oval for ships, along with two separate decks for trains and boats (wild cards were limited to the trains decks). Players were able to draw from either of the decks on their turn. In addition, some ship cards have two ships which allows you to claim either one or two ship spaces. Ship/train swaps are also possible with the loss of one point per swap.
In the tickets deck, there are some that have more than two cities shown. Players must build the complete route to score the points.
Each player also receives three harbor tokens which can be placed on any connected city with the playing of two train and two ship cards of the harbor’s color. Bonus end-of-game points are awarded for every ticket that player has completed from that harbor city. Be careful, though, as you lose points for every harbor not placed.
A second map is also included for playing the game on the Great Lakes.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey (U.S.)
A few years ago, some of the most popular games of the modern board gaming era have brought out simplified, kid friendly versions, from Catan to Everdell.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey takes the basic concepts of the game and strips down the rules to allow those as young as six to enjoy the experience. The board has fewer cities to the original and cards are simply dealt at the beginning of the game, two routes and four trains. On a turn, you can draw two train cards (there is no “market” as in the adult version of the game) or claim a route by discarding the appropriate cards and putting down trains.
When a player completes a ticket, they simply turn it up in front of them. There is no hidden information on the current score. In addition, if a player has a route card that they cannot complete, they may skip a turn to turn it in their tickets and draw two new ones.
There is also a coast-to-coast ticket that counts as a completed route if a player connects the east and the west coast.
Unlike regular Ticket to Ride where you play until someone has two trains left, First Journey immediately stops when a player completes their sixth ticket and they are the winner. If someone places their last train before anyone gets to six tickets, they are the winner.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey (Europe)
The European market received the First Journey treatment with their own kidcentric version. The rules are the same as the USA version with the only difference being the simplified European map.
Ticket to Ride: Ghost Train
Ghost Train is a third kid’s oriented version of Ticket to Ride, this one is set in a spooky town and the trains are replaced by parade floats. The bonus card is for a route that connects the Dark Forest with the Seashore which gives you a trick-or-treat bonus.
Map Collections
Starting in 2011, Days of Wonder started releasing Map Collections, new maps and destination tickets without the actual trains and other pieces. It was expected that you would combine those from one of the Big Boxes with the new board/cards. In general, each was double sided and included new mechanics for each board.
Map Collection, Volume 1: Team Asia & Legendary Asia
Team Asia and Legendary Asia had two separate designers, Alan R. Moon for the Team side and François Valentyne for the Legendary side.
Team Asia plays with either four or six players in two-player teams with each member of the team having their own set of train and destination cards along with a common set of each. When a player draws two train cards, they place one in their hand and one in the common area. The same goes for taking new routes with the first to the common area and the second, if taken, to their hand. They may also play two train cards from their hand to the common area as a turn.
Team members are allowed to play any combination of train cards from their hand and the common pool; however, they are not allowed to discuss the game in any way. The score is kept for each team, not for the individuals. In addition, at the end of the game, a team will score ten extra points for the longest train while ten extra points goes to the person with the most completed tickets.
Like Europe, Tunnels are included on the map but, instead of three extra cards, four to six cards, depending on the tunnel, are drawn and additional cards must be spent for every match.
In Legendary Asia, like Europe, the maps includes ferries with certain space(s) requiring train cars. Mountains on the board are marked with an X and, when that route is taken, an additional train must be played on the X, scoring two points.
The person connecting the most cities in one contiguous line also gets a bonus ten points at the end of the game.
Map Collection, Volume 2: India/Switzerland
The double sided board for volume 2 of the map collection includes a two to three player map (Switzerland) and a two to four (India).
For Switzerland, there the new city-to-country/country-to-country tickets with scoring for the connection made on the card with the highest value. Not completing either route has the smaller amount deducted from the score.
Locomotive cards can be taken in twos but can only be used to claim tunnels whose rules are the same as the Europe game.
The Longest Train bonus is awarded ten points at the end of the game.
The India board uses the ferries rules from the Europe map. Players initially take 4 tickets and keep a minimum of two.
A new mechanic, the Grand Tour, is added to the game which scores bonus points for connecting two cities with two distinct routes, in essence creating a circular path. Bonus points range from 5 to 40 points depending on how many tickets are included in the route.
The Longest Train for ten points is also included for this map.
Map Collection, Volume 3: The Heart of Africa
The Africa map plays from two to five people and starts with the dealing of one terrain card, a new mechanic, to each player. Train cards are laid out as with all TTR games for selection while two terrain cards are also laid out by that deck.
On a player’s turn, they can choose to draw from either the train or terrain cards available or from the unrevealed deck. When a route is claimed, the player can simply take it for the required train cards or also pay the terrain cost which doubles the points awarded for the route. They are only allowed to get the terrain bonus if they have, at least, as many terrain cards of the type as any other player. Locomotives can be played as a wild terrain card.
Ten extra points are available at the end of the game for the most completed routes.
Map Collection, Volume 4: Nederland
Like Heart of Africa, Nederland only has one map and plays from two to five players.
There are two major changes in the gameplay for this map. First, almost every route contains two tracks and both of them can be used no matter how many people are playing.
Second, money is included in the game for the first time with each player receiving thirty at the start. Every route has a bridge toll which is paid to the bank when built. If there are two available routes, the money for the second that is built goes to the person who first built that section. In a case where a player can’t pay the toll, they must take loan cards which subtract five points at the end of the game.
Money comes into play at the end of the game, too with the player with the most money getting a certain number of points (depends on how many are in the game) with lesser amounts depending on final count. If a player took a loan, they are not eligible for the bonus.
The game can also be played without bridge tolls. In a two-player game, it is recommended that a “neutral” player be auto played if the bridge tolls are desired.
Map Collection, Volume 5: United Kingdom/Pennsylvania
Map Collection 5 was Ticket to Ride’s attempt to add mechanisms from more complex train games, like the 18xx series, without sacrificing the easy to learn aspects of the line.
The United Kingdom map limited the types of plays that could be made until each player acquires technologies. At the start of the game, you can only build on one- and two-length tracks. Locomotive cards are used to purchase new technologies that add longer tracks, larger areas of the map, construction of ferries, additional points and other in-game bonuses. Optional advanced technologies add claiming two tracks on one turn, drawing additional cards, payment of less cards for a route and, for both the most routes and longest train bonuses, taking the risk of big points or big losses at the end of the game.
Because some of the technologies are expensive, the game also allows the trading of four regular train cards for one locomotive.
The Pennsylvania side of the board brings stock ownership to the game. While it isn’t a stock market as in 18xx games, stocks are collected in nine different companies each time a track is built. Next to that track is one or more company symbols allowing you to take a share of one of them.
There are a different number of shares available for each of the nine companies and, at the end of the game, points are awarded for the most, second most, third most, etc. shares. The Globetrotter bonus (most tickets) is also in play for fifteen points.
Map Collection, Volume 6: France/Old West
The France side of this double sided map offers the unique challenge in that most of the tracks have no initial color. When a player draws train cards, they also must take a colored section of track from the pool and place it on an appropriate length uncolored spot on the board. At that point, any player can claim that track by playing the correct color cards.
There are also places on the board where tracks cross without a city at the crossing point. Once one of these tracks has been built (a colored route placed on it), the other(s) are no longer available in the game.
Like some earlier editions, some destination tickets may lead to another country at the edge of the map.
Bonuses for France include both the longest track and the most completed tickets.
Old West includes three city markers for each player, one of which must be placed before the game starts in the city from which your train network will start. You are only allowed one network in the game (simulating the expansion of routes through the west) so, at no point, can you go to some other area of the board and start a new route. For all future routes claimed, you must connect from one of the two destination cities.
When completing a ticket, you may also place one of your city markers on the destination by paying three cards of the same color as the city. If, at any time in the game, a track is connected to a city that is occupied by another player’s city marker, THEY receive the track points instead of you.
Ferries, which require at least partial payment by locomotive cards, are also part of the landscape.
The end-of-game bonus is the Globetrotter for the most completed tickets.
Alvin the Alien is also included in this game for a variant, granting bonuses whenever someone connects to a city where Alvin currently resides.
Map Collection, Volume 6-1/2: Poland
The latest map collection in the U.S. was originally released in only Poland in 2019. Thus, the 6-1/2 number to keep the volumes in chronological order.
Added to the components for this game are twenty cards that represent five countries on the outskirts of Poland. At the start of the game, the five country card sets are separated and placed in point order from highest to lowest.
During a player’s turn, they can claim a route as usual between two cities or claim a route that ends in one of the neighboring countries. If the route connects two countries, across the map, the player takes the top card from the two countries from the bonus card decks. Obviously, those that complete trans-Poland routes first will get the highest value country cards.
The winner is the player who has the most points from their individual routes, their completed tickets and their country bonus cards.
Map Collection, Volume 7: Japan/Italy
The Japan/Italy map collection comes with Bullet Train miniatures for the Japan side of the board and ferry cards for Italy.
The Japan board is highlighted by the building and use of Bullet Trains, which can be included in the routes of any player. To activate a section of the Bullet Train route (remember, you are not claiming it), a player must discard the number of train cards, in the same color, as the length of the route. These routes do not score points but, rather, the player advances a token along the Bullet Train progress track. At the end of the game, the player who contributed the most to the building of the Bullet Train network will get bonus points with additional but lesser bonuses, or even negative points, for others who contributed from greatest to least.
Also new to Japan is a submap of the subway system in Tokyo. Some of the routes will start in a Japanese city and finish at a station on the subway system. To complete this route, the player would have to build from the starting city to Tokyo and then from the main Tokyo subway station to the destination.
The Italy map includes a small deck of ferry cards that are placed on the table by the train cards deck. The map includes destinations in neighboring countries along with 17 separate regions with each city assigned to one through a coat of arms next to it. Each network of trains is evaluated at the end of the game for the number of regions it went through with an increasing number of points for the network that traveled through the most. In addition, the regions of Sardegna, Sicilia and Puglia count as two networks each.
Ferries also work differently on the Italy map. An additional action is included along with draw train cards and claim a route allowing the player to draw a ferry card with a maximum of two ferry cards in hand at any time.
The ferry routes on the map are shown in grey and may have wave symbols on some sections. Those sections are paid for with either a locomotive card at a 1-to-1 ratio or with a ferry card which covers two of the waves.
Small Box Versions
Once upon a time, Days of Wonder would take a small version of Ticket to Ride to conventions for demonstration purposes; however, people really liked the stripped down, 15- to 30-minute version of the game. That led to the creation of Ticket to Ride: New York and, with its subsequent success, a series of small box city games.
Ticket to Ride: New York
Ticket to Ride: New York comes with a small gameboard showing Manhattan, 15 taxis (vs. the regular trains) in each player color, 44 train cards and 18 routes.
At the start of the game, each player gets two train cards and two route cards of which they must keep at least one.
The rest of the game plays the same as standard Ticket to Ride with the only difference being that there are some spots in the city that are known as tourist attractions, shown with a number one. At the end of the game, regular points are awarded for completed routes and route tickets along with one point for every location that your track touches with a one in it.
Ticket to Ride: London
Ticket to Ride: London is one of the fan favorites as it comes with plastic double decker busses in each of the player colors.
In this version, there are five separate “districts” on the map with the stations in each one designated with a different color and a number between 1 and 5. In addition to the standard scoring, if a player connects all of the stations within a district, they score the number of points shown.
Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam
This time around, the game includes plastic carts to mark the claimed routes and fifteen merchandise cards which come into play with the scoring variation for this edition.
When a player claims a route in which one of the cities shows the cart symbol, they draw a merchandise card and place in face up in front of them. Only one merchandise card is taken per route.
Along with regular scoring at the end of the game, bonus points are awarded to the person with the most merchandise cards with fewer points given to each additional person with cards (i.e., for a four person game, the scoring is 8/6/4/2).
Ticket to Ride: San Francisco
Ticket to Ride: San Francisco ups the ante a bit with twenty plastic cable cars per person along with 21 tourist tokens. These tokens have seven different symbols on them and there are three for each. Five of those symbols are stacked in the cities on the board with red spots which are the tourist destinations (i.e. Alcatraz or the Golden Gate Bridge). In three or four player games, the remaining two stacks are placed on any other locations.
When a player links to one of the tourist locations, they take one of the tokens, as long as they don’t already have it, and place it in front of them so it is visible to all players. If a player links two locations that both have tokens, they can only choose one.
After regular scoring at the end of the game, a bonus is added based on the number of unique tokens that were collected.
Miscellaneous
Dice Expansion
Don’t want to play train rummy? Keep the train cards in the box and play with the Ticket to Ride Dice Expansion.
Included are five basic dice with two sides showing a single track, two sides showing a double track, and one side each of a station and a “wild” locomotive. There are an additional three dice which are blank on five sides with one side having a tunnel symbol.
When playing any of the Ticket to Ride games with the dice, the color of the routes are meaningless. The five dice are rolled with any number of them being able to be rerolled once. The player than can claim routes based on the dice with each single route face being used for single routes (if three single route faces are shown, a three track route can be claimed) and the same for double routes. A station allows the player to draw a destination ticket and choose whether they want to keep it. The red locomotive can be used for any symbol.
This, of course, leads to the question of how a player can claim longer routes. On their turn, they can choose to not use one or two of their dice, to draw single or double route tokens which are saved for future turns. Then, the dice rolls can be combined with turning in tokens to build longer routes.
There are additional rules for claiming ferries, tunnels, train stations and passengers for each of the map variations.
The Card Game
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game was not received well upon its release. Gone are the boards and the new destination tickets show the color of train cards that must be played to complete a route. Getting those cards into play, though, is a rather convoluted set of rules combining a player playing cards from their hands into their “railyard” as sets of one color and optional locomotives or as three separate colors. Play is limited by the colors already in all player’s yards. Cards are moved each turn from the railyard to the player’s “on-the-track stack” from which they are further played to build the routes.
There are also rules for “train robbing” from other people’s yards.
At the end of the game, players can gain bonus points for having the most routes to each of a number of big cities.
Alvin & Dexter
Want to add a bit of the supernatural to your placid train game? The Alvin & Dexter expansion might just be for you.
The two figures are placed in separate cities at the start of the game. Those cities are now considered “in chaos” and players cannot build to them.
During any turn, a player can take an extra step by laying down one or two locomotive cards and taking one card from one of the monster decks. They then can move that monster up to three cities away with one locomotive played or six cities with two.
At the end of the game, any ticket that has a city in chaos is only worth half of its points. Players than total the number of Alvin and Dexter cards they have and the player with the most of each gets bonus points.
Halloween Freighter
No longer available, this was a set of new trains and stations in the color orange.
Milk Tankers
Also out of print, this was a new set of trains and stations in the shape of white milk tankers.
Play Pink
Released to support Breast Cancer Research, the Play Pink set included new pink trains in a unique shape along with pink stations.
Character Score Markers
Character Score Markers are a set of eight wooden markers in different colors and shapes for use with any version of the game.
There are a number of other promos and prizes that have been given out over the years at conventions and tournaments including additional cards and sets of translucent trains along with a number of fan created expansion boards.