Chris Reed
Guest
Ticket to Ride is one of those timeless games that is a must-have for any board game fan. It's celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, which makes it one of the older modern classics that's still in heavy rotation. The game is revered around the world. It has won major international awards, including the highly coveted Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) award the year it came out, and continues to be held in high regard by gamers worldwide.
Due to its ease of play, Ticket to Ride can be played across generations, making it a great board game for families to play together. It also has educational appeal because it explores multiple countries and cities in a unified way. I’ve personally used it as a tool to help my kids learn about major cities worldwide while also keeping them engaged in this fun game of train merriment.
Ticket to Ride's concept is simple enough: take your trains and connect them on routes across the board as you work towards fulfilling your own secret objectives. The game advances by collecting colored cards to use as resources for getting trains to place on your secret objective routes. You can use the color for the route shown on the board or swap out that color for a rainbow locomotive (or other rainbow-type transportation cards in other versions of the game) to help complete a route.
Each player has a set number of train tokens to pool from in hopes of placing on the game to complete their routes and score points. The game is over when someone runs out of placeable train tokens. Points are then tallied based on completed and incompleted routes and special goal objectives.
Now that you know the basics of the game, let’s examine what’s available and potentially worth buying.
Contents: destination tickets across the US, longest ride goal objective, train cars
Ticket to Ride (unofficially the USA version) brings train rides across the US. This game is the easiest of the standalone games to play. Other editions add other elements that make the game more challenging (even without expansions). If you’re going to learn the base game and want it to be the easiest, this is the way to go.
Of course, after you play and go back to reality you might be disappointed that train rides across America aren’t as abundant or as fast in reality. We can dream that as our American dream someday, though, right?
Contents: new destinations across Europe, tunnels and ferries added to the game
Ticket to Ride Europe shows you the joy of traveling by train is far more abundant in other parts of the world. Travel across Europe on various trains, going across the continent and spanning multiple countries on your journey. Ticket to Ride Europe also incorporates ferries and tunnels. You’ll have to strategize a bit differently if your routes require one of those.
Contents: themed map, new strategy with rainbow locomotives, ferries, tunnels
The Nordic Countries version of Ticket to Ride is aimed more toward smaller groups, good for sessions when you need a suitable two-player board game, or three-player board game. Like the European version, this version has tunnels and ferry routes. However, this version is different from the two original counterparts. In Nordic Countries, the rainbow train cards, which could be used as a wild to replace a train anywhere on the board in other versions, can only be used to replace cars used with ferries or tunnels.
Contents: double-sided board with two different ways to play, routes across continents, tourist bonus, train cards and ship cards, harbors
This version of the game adds many complexities, starting with two different playable board sides. One side allows players to travel across continents, and the other has players playing across lakes. Players who take specific routes to their destinations can receive a tourist bonus. Players can also create harbors to help them get across to their destinations. At the end of the game, these harbors add big points to the people who created them.
This version of the game is the longest to play in the Ticket to Ride series. It takes double the amount of time to play it than its counterparts. This one will take a patient group for all of the added mechanics and time it takes.
Ticket to Ride Legends of the West is the legacy version of the game, and it's good enough to land on our list of the best campaign board games. It is a massive undertaking that will take groups on a journey of twelve games. It’s an incredible way to experience the magic of this franchise. If you have a dedicated group, it’s worth a playthrough. After you’ve played through it once it is still playable afterwards, but some of its allure and mystique will vanish as is the case of many legacy-type games.
Even though I think the original versions and several iterations are already kid-friendly board games, three versions are specifically catered to kids and are available for folks to enjoy. These games take half the time as the other versions and have simpler rules.
Contents: Simplified American map with shorter routes, Golden ticket challenge
Take the Ticket to Ride (USA) version and make it even simpler and shorter, and you have First Journey. It’s a standalone, quick-playing board game that will give kids a lighter experience, perfect for kids with shorter attention spans.
Contents: Simplified European map with shorter routes
Take the Ticket to Ride Europe version and make it even simpler and shorter, and you have First Journey Europe. It’s another standalone game that takes a shorter amount of time and will give kids a lighter experience than the all-ages editions.
Contents: spooky-themed map with haunted destinations, haunted carriages instead of trains, simpler rules
Out of all of the younger versions of the game, Ticket to Ride Ghost Train is my favorite… probably because they don’t have a version like it in their adult counterparts. (Come on Days of Wonder, you can make adults a version like this for us, too.) This one offers a quirky spooky theme to the game changing not only the destinations and the board but the transport route too. Like the other two kids versions, this one goes by quicker too which is good for kids and adults alike who want a shorter gameplay experience of the franchise of games. I used this game to teach some beginner friends how to play other versions of the base game in my review of Ticket to Ride Paris.
A couple of different expansions can be added to some of the base games. They are about half the cost of the original game they go with, and they give you another fresh set of the original cards in addition to some new ones and variations on how to play the base games they are connected to. If you have played the base games multiple times already and are looking to spice things up, these two expansion add-ons are worth considering.
Contents: 33 new destination tickets, a Globetrotter bonus card for finishing the most tickets, new rules variants
Note: This expansion is not a stand-alone game. You’ll need a copy of Ticket to Ride (USA) to play this.
If you already own the base game with the US destinations and want to change the game up a bit, this expansion can be a fun way to mix things up.
Contents: 55 new destination tickets, a Globetrotter bonus card for finishing the most tickets, new rules variants, new routes to the original 46 destinations in Ticket to Ride Europe
Note: This expansion is not a stand-alone game. You’ll need a copy of Ticket to Ride Europe to play this.
If you already own the base game with the European destinations and want to change the game up a bit, this expansion can be a fun way to mix things up. The expansion adds ways to play what they call Big Cities Of Europe, Europe Expanded, and Mega Europe. Each of those will have different objectives and rules.
Map Collections are stand-alone maps which allow you to play around a city. Map games may use different types of transportation outside of trains, depending on their area's popular transit modes. There are a lot of them to choose from!
The map collections are fun, focusing on different, often more hyperlocal areas. However, their packaging can also be a bit confusing.
While you can buy some map destinations independently, some game versions have two area maps in the box. The pairing doesn’t always make sense. For example, the map of Japan also includes an Italian map. The United Kingdom also includes a Pennsylvania map. If it sounds confusing to you, you’re not alone. I am still scratching my head about it to an extent myself.
Ticket to Ride cities: Paris | Amsterdam | London | New York | San Francisco | Berlin
Ticket to Ride maps: Asia | Heart of Africa | Poland | Berlin | Nederland
Games that have multiple versions in the same box: Japan (contains Japan and Italy) | United Kingdom (contains the United Kingdom and Pennsylvania) | France (contains Ticket to Ride France and Old West) | Japan (contains Ticket to Ride Japan and Ticket to Ride Italy) | India (contains Ticket to Ride India and Switzerland),
There are several ways to play Ticket to Ride Digitally. Here are three different ones you can experience a few editions of the game you can currently play in digital form.
A note before going into these is that the current Steam version of the game is different from another that might be seen on Steam but is no longer available for download. Ticket to Ride: Classic Edition, developed by Days of Wonder (the board game company that created the physical game) and Twin Sails Interactive, was discontinued in September of 2023. Players who bought it but hadn’t already downloaded it before October 2nd 2023, were also unable to download or install it even if they already owned it.
Ticket to Ride Classic Edition included several different expansions that are not currently available in the newest iteration. All online play of the game was removed. Folks who already own the game and its expansions can still play the game on their own accord on their computers with asynchronous play if they wish. The game being discontinued in this way caused an uproar of frustration from many players who had the Classic Edition of the game. I personally am frustrated for not having gotten the previous edition of the game. My brother did and even had a copy he could have gifted me with the expansions (one of which was Japan which is a cool one, in my opinion), but we were unable to do so due to this change.
The below version is a newer and completely different version, which I can attest is quite enjoyable regardless of the Classic Edition not being an option for most folks anymore.
The newest version of the digital version is done by Marmalade Studios. A digital version of Ticket to Ride's base game on Steam costs $14.99, and an expansion called Ticket to Ride-Round the World Ticket is available for $34.00. There are also a few expansion packs that include individual expansion portions of the game if you are not interested in getting the Round the World Ticket pack. You can buy the Nordic Expansion for $7.99. The Europe Expansion is $9.99. Ticket to Ride USA 1910 Ticket Pack expansion is $3.99. Ticket to Ride- India Expansion is $7.99.
I have played the new Ticket to Ride and its World Ticket expansion and found them to be quite fun. As stated above, the Ride Around the World Ticket opens several different expansions to the mix, including the USA 1910 Ticket Pack, Europe Expansion, Nordic Countries, and their newest map: India. They released an India expansion in June. The system itself looks great even though some bugs are still in the game occasionally. I found placing trains to be a bit difficult to do at times on my computer. I also had an issue where when I was initially installing the game on my computer, it didn’t work until I had a physical mouse vs. just my laptop’s trackpad. Those issues were admittedly a bit frustrating and hopefully will be worked on more as time progresses because, as I mentioned, the game is otherwise done fairly well.
You can play the digital versions single-player versus AI, online against other players around the world, pass and play (trading off turns on a single device for folks playing games on a physical train or other form of transport, for example), and asynchronously. I’ve played a majority of my games vs AI on my phone and my computer. I have primarily enjoyed the experience, minus a few times when placing trains was a bit wonky with controls. In particular, I enjoyed the newer editions of maps they’ve added. I look forward to seeing more of the ones that aren’t there yet.
Playing the game will also provide progression on a leaderboard that ranks players for individual “seasons” about a month in length. This can add another layer for folks who want to be competitive with others, whether they are competing for single-player rankings or online rankings. The leaderboard will also show statistics and Hall of Fame results, which can give players a better idea of how they’ve done throughout a “season.”
The community around the game in this iteration is also very positive. They have an online community Discord server that encourages players to connect and share their positive experiences, report bugs, and collaborate with gaming events. I found that experience to be a really nice edition to this game personally.
My digital gaming group has played both the base game of Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride Europe on Board Game Arena. The versions we’ve played over there have been very user-friendly in their interface. You can play both versions on Board Game Arena if one person in your board game group has a premium subscription to the site. We are currently playing Ticket to Ride Europe, and if you’re in my board game group, I swear I will take my turn after I’m done writing this!
Board Game Arena premium costs $3 a month or $36 a year. You’re billed upfront for the year when you go premium, and you'll have access to both editions of Ticket to Ride.
Tabletop Simulator has three versions of Ticket to Ride available: the original, Ticket to Ride London, and Ticket to Ride Japan. These games do not have scripting, so they play differently to an extent. Tabletop Simulator is a physics-based virtual gaming simulator. Some games have scripting, which helps newer gamers with gameplay. Unfortunately, since the versions of Tabletop Simulator are not available to be played with scripting, it’s not recommended to play these versions unless you know someone familiar with the game already and familiar with physics-simulated style games.
Ticket to Ride is a timeless, award-winning franchise of board games that players across generations can enjoy. The core two versions of USA and Europe are solid games to add to your collection. However, multiple other maps are also available in the collection, as several introduce new concepts and layers to enhance the experience. The Ghost Train variant, while a kid's version, also may appeal to fans of horror board games regardless of age.
For the most part, outside of the kid's games, these games take a bit more time to complete, whether you are doing the games virtually or in person. Ticket to Ride’s USA digital version on BGA was the longest game for my personal digital board game group to complete last year. It’s become a bit of an ongoing joke, considering how long it took to complete. While I’m excited about Rails and Sails, I am admittedly a bit nervous about how much longer it would take to play if a digital version ever became available, let alone a sit-down game in real life. That version is also significantly more expensive than the other maps. I’d recommend several other available maps to explore if your group has limited time and wants to change up your experience.
Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous.
Due to its ease of play, Ticket to Ride can be played across generations, making it a great board game for families to play together. It also has educational appeal because it explores multiple countries and cities in a unified way. I’ve personally used it as a tool to help my kids learn about major cities worldwide while also keeping them engaged in this fun game of train merriment.
Ticket to Ride's concept is simple enough: take your trains and connect them on routes across the board as you work towards fulfilling your own secret objectives. The game advances by collecting colored cards to use as resources for getting trains to place on your secret objective routes. You can use the color for the route shown on the board or swap out that color for a rainbow locomotive (or other rainbow-type transportation cards in other versions of the game) to help complete a route.
Each player has a set number of train tokens to pool from in hopes of placing on the game to complete their routes and score points. The game is over when someone runs out of placeable train tokens. Points are then tallied based on completed and incompleted routes and special goal objectives.
Now that you know the basics of the game, let’s examine what’s available and potentially worth buying.
The Base Games
Ticket to Ride
Contents: destination tickets across the US, longest ride goal objective, train cars
- MSRP: $54.99 USD
- 2-5 Players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 8+
Ticket to Ride (unofficially the USA version) brings train rides across the US. This game is the easiest of the standalone games to play. Other editions add other elements that make the game more challenging (even without expansions). If you’re going to learn the base game and want it to be the easiest, this is the way to go.
Of course, after you play and go back to reality you might be disappointed that train rides across America aren’t as abundant or as fast in reality. We can dream that as our American dream someday, though, right?
Ticket to Ride Europe
Contents: new destinations across Europe, tunnels and ferries added to the game
- MSRP: $59.99 USD
- 2-5 Players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 8+
Ticket to Ride Europe shows you the joy of traveling by train is far more abundant in other parts of the world. Travel across Europe on various trains, going across the continent and spanning multiple countries on your journey. Ticket to Ride Europe also incorporates ferries and tunnels. You’ll have to strategize a bit differently if your routes require one of those.
Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries
Contents: themed map, new strategy with rainbow locomotives, ferries, tunnels
- MSRP: $59.00 USD
- 2-3 Players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 8+
The Nordic Countries version of Ticket to Ride is aimed more toward smaller groups, good for sessions when you need a suitable two-player board game, or three-player board game. Like the European version, this version has tunnels and ferry routes. However, this version is different from the two original counterparts. In Nordic Countries, the rainbow train cards, which could be used as a wild to replace a train anywhere on the board in other versions, can only be used to replace cars used with ferries or tunnels.
Ticket to Ride Rails & Sails
Contents: double-sided board with two different ways to play, routes across continents, tourist bonus, train cards and ship cards, harbors
- MSRP: $89.99 USD
- 2-5 Players
- 90-120 minutes
- Ages 10+
This version of the game adds many complexities, starting with two different playable board sides. One side allows players to travel across continents, and the other has players playing across lakes. Players who take specific routes to their destinations can receive a tourist bonus. Players can also create harbors to help them get across to their destinations. At the end of the game, these harbors add big points to the people who created them.
This version of the game is the longest to play in the Ticket to Ride series. It takes double the amount of time to play it than its counterparts. This one will take a patient group for all of the added mechanics and time it takes.
Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of The West
Ticket to Ride Legends of the West is the legacy version of the game, and it's good enough to land on our list of the best campaign board games. It is a massive undertaking that will take groups on a journey of twelve games. It’s an incredible way to experience the magic of this franchise. If you have a dedicated group, it’s worth a playthrough. After you’ve played through it once it is still playable afterwards, but some of its allure and mystique will vanish as is the case of many legacy-type games.
Kids Versions
Even though I think the original versions and several iterations are already kid-friendly board games, three versions are specifically catered to kids and are available for folks to enjoy. These games take half the time as the other versions and have simpler rules.
Ticket to Ride: First Journey
Contents: Simplified American map with shorter routes, Golden ticket challenge
- MSRP: $34.99 USD
- 2-4 Players
- 15-30 minutes
- Ages 6+
Take the Ticket to Ride (USA) version and make it even simpler and shorter, and you have First Journey. It’s a standalone, quick-playing board game that will give kids a lighter experience, perfect for kids with shorter attention spans.
Ticket to Ride Europe: First Journey
Contents: Simplified European map with shorter routes
- MSRP: $34.99 USD
- 2-4 Players
- 15-30 minutes
- Ages 6+
Take the Ticket to Ride Europe version and make it even simpler and shorter, and you have First Journey Europe. It’s another standalone game that takes a shorter amount of time and will give kids a lighter experience than the all-ages editions.
Ticket to Ride: Ghost Train
Contents: spooky-themed map with haunted destinations, haunted carriages instead of trains, simpler rules
- MSRP: $34.99 USD
- 2-4 Players
- 15-30 minutes
- Ages 6+
Out of all of the younger versions of the game, Ticket to Ride Ghost Train is my favorite… probably because they don’t have a version like it in their adult counterparts. (Come on Days of Wonder, you can make adults a version like this for us, too.) This one offers a quirky spooky theme to the game changing not only the destinations and the board but the transport route too. Like the other two kids versions, this one goes by quicker too which is good for kids and adults alike who want a shorter gameplay experience of the franchise of games. I used this game to teach some beginner friends how to play other versions of the base game in my review of Ticket to Ride Paris.
Ticket to Ride Expansions
A couple of different expansions can be added to some of the base games. They are about half the cost of the original game they go with, and they give you another fresh set of the original cards in addition to some new ones and variations on how to play the base games they are connected to. If you have played the base games multiple times already and are looking to spice things up, these two expansion add-ons are worth considering.
Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 Expansion
Contents: 33 new destination tickets, a Globetrotter bonus card for finishing the most tickets, new rules variants
- MSRP: $21.99 USD
- 2-5 Players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 8+
Note: This expansion is not a stand-alone game. You’ll need a copy of Ticket to Ride (USA) to play this.
If you already own the base game with the US destinations and want to change the game up a bit, this expansion can be a fun way to mix things up.
Ticket to Ride Europa 1912 Game Expansion
Contents: 55 new destination tickets, a Globetrotter bonus card for finishing the most tickets, new rules variants, new routes to the original 46 destinations in Ticket to Ride Europe
- MSRP: $21.99 USD
- 2-5 Players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 8+
Note: This expansion is not a stand-alone game. You’ll need a copy of Ticket to Ride Europe to play this.
If you already own the base game with the European destinations and want to change the game up a bit, this expansion can be a fun way to mix things up. The expansion adds ways to play what they call Big Cities Of Europe, Europe Expanded, and Mega Europe. Each of those will have different objectives and rules.
Map Collections
Map Collections are stand-alone maps which allow you to play around a city. Map games may use different types of transportation outside of trains, depending on their area's popular transit modes. There are a lot of them to choose from!
The map collections are fun, focusing on different, often more hyperlocal areas. However, their packaging can also be a bit confusing.
While you can buy some map destinations independently, some game versions have two area maps in the box. The pairing doesn’t always make sense. For example, the map of Japan also includes an Italian map. The United Kingdom also includes a Pennsylvania map. If it sounds confusing to you, you’re not alone. I am still scratching my head about it to an extent myself.
Ticket to Ride cities: Paris | Amsterdam | London | New York | San Francisco | Berlin
Ticket to Ride maps: Asia | Heart of Africa | Poland | Berlin | Nederland
Games that have multiple versions in the same box: Japan (contains Japan and Italy) | United Kingdom (contains the United Kingdom and Pennsylvania) | France (contains Ticket to Ride France and Old West) | Japan (contains Ticket to Ride Japan and Ticket to Ride Italy) | India (contains Ticket to Ride India and Switzerland),
More Ways to Play
There are several ways to play Ticket to Ride Digitally. Here are three different ones you can experience a few editions of the game you can currently play in digital form.
A note before going into these is that the current Steam version of the game is different from another that might be seen on Steam but is no longer available for download. Ticket to Ride: Classic Edition, developed by Days of Wonder (the board game company that created the physical game) and Twin Sails Interactive, was discontinued in September of 2023. Players who bought it but hadn’t already downloaded it before October 2nd 2023, were also unable to download or install it even if they already owned it.
Ticket to Ride Classic Edition included several different expansions that are not currently available in the newest iteration. All online play of the game was removed. Folks who already own the game and its expansions can still play the game on their own accord on their computers with asynchronous play if they wish. The game being discontinued in this way caused an uproar of frustration from many players who had the Classic Edition of the game. I personally am frustrated for not having gotten the previous edition of the game. My brother did and even had a copy he could have gifted me with the expansions (one of which was Japan which is a cool one, in my opinion), but we were unable to do so due to this change.
The below version is a newer and completely different version, which I can attest is quite enjoyable regardless of the Classic Edition not being an option for most folks anymore.
Ticket to Ride on Steam
The newest version of the digital version is done by Marmalade Studios. A digital version of Ticket to Ride's base game on Steam costs $14.99, and an expansion called Ticket to Ride-Round the World Ticket is available for $34.00. There are also a few expansion packs that include individual expansion portions of the game if you are not interested in getting the Round the World Ticket pack. You can buy the Nordic Expansion for $7.99. The Europe Expansion is $9.99. Ticket to Ride USA 1910 Ticket Pack expansion is $3.99. Ticket to Ride- India Expansion is $7.99.
I have played the new Ticket to Ride and its World Ticket expansion and found them to be quite fun. As stated above, the Ride Around the World Ticket opens several different expansions to the mix, including the USA 1910 Ticket Pack, Europe Expansion, Nordic Countries, and their newest map: India. They released an India expansion in June. The system itself looks great even though some bugs are still in the game occasionally. I found placing trains to be a bit difficult to do at times on my computer. I also had an issue where when I was initially installing the game on my computer, it didn’t work until I had a physical mouse vs. just my laptop’s trackpad. Those issues were admittedly a bit frustrating and hopefully will be worked on more as time progresses because, as I mentioned, the game is otherwise done fairly well.
You can play the digital versions single-player versus AI, online against other players around the world, pass and play (trading off turns on a single device for folks playing games on a physical train or other form of transport, for example), and asynchronously. I’ve played a majority of my games vs AI on my phone and my computer. I have primarily enjoyed the experience, minus a few times when placing trains was a bit wonky with controls. In particular, I enjoyed the newer editions of maps they’ve added. I look forward to seeing more of the ones that aren’t there yet.
Playing the game will also provide progression on a leaderboard that ranks players for individual “seasons” about a month in length. This can add another layer for folks who want to be competitive with others, whether they are competing for single-player rankings or online rankings. The leaderboard will also show statistics and Hall of Fame results, which can give players a better idea of how they’ve done throughout a “season.”
The community around the game in this iteration is also very positive. They have an online community Discord server that encourages players to connect and share their positive experiences, report bugs, and collaborate with gaming events. I found that experience to be a really nice edition to this game personally.
Board Game Arena
My digital gaming group has played both the base game of Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride Europe on Board Game Arena. The versions we’ve played over there have been very user-friendly in their interface. You can play both versions on Board Game Arena if one person in your board game group has a premium subscription to the site. We are currently playing Ticket to Ride Europe, and if you’re in my board game group, I swear I will take my turn after I’m done writing this!
Board Game Arena premium costs $3 a month or $36 a year. You’re billed upfront for the year when you go premium, and you'll have access to both editions of Ticket to Ride.
Tabletop Simulator
Tabletop Simulator has three versions of Ticket to Ride available: the original, Ticket to Ride London, and Ticket to Ride Japan. These games do not have scripting, so they play differently to an extent. Tabletop Simulator is a physics-based virtual gaming simulator. Some games have scripting, which helps newer gamers with gameplay. Unfortunately, since the versions of Tabletop Simulator are not available to be played with scripting, it’s not recommended to play these versions unless you know someone familiar with the game already and familiar with physics-simulated style games.
Bottom Line
Ticket to Ride is a timeless, award-winning franchise of board games that players across generations can enjoy. The core two versions of USA and Europe are solid games to add to your collection. However, multiple other maps are also available in the collection, as several introduce new concepts and layers to enhance the experience. The Ghost Train variant, while a kid's version, also may appeal to fans of horror board games regardless of age.
For the most part, outside of the kid's games, these games take a bit more time to complete, whether you are doing the games virtually or in person. Ticket to Ride’s USA digital version on BGA was the longest game for my personal digital board game group to complete last year. It’s become a bit of an ongoing joke, considering how long it took to complete. While I’m excited about Rails and Sails, I am admittedly a bit nervous about how much longer it would take to play if a digital version ever became available, let alone a sit-down game in real life. That version is also significantly more expensive than the other maps. I’d recommend several other available maps to explore if your group has limited time and wants to change up your experience.
Jennifer Stavros is a contributing freelancer for IGN, covering everything from comics, games, technology, and nerd culture. Follow her on Twitter or watch her on Twitch under the handle @scandalous.