A New Game

While Shauna and Tom were here last weekend, we had a chance to try out a new board game that Tom had recently bought. It was called "Ticket to Ride" published by Days of Wonder.

The basic goal in the game is to complete various train routes between US cities. You get points based on how good you do at completing routes and how difficult the routes were to complete. This game was a blast and it really has a laundry list of things to like about it. It's primarily a strategy game, but there is enough luck woven into it that the smartest person at the table won't dominate and win every game. My proof... Tom didn't win until the 4th game. It was super easy to understand. We were playing after less than 5 minutes of going over the rules. It is not a super adversarial game, which is a plus if you have an overly competitive group of people playing. To win you really need to focus on building your routes and not concern yourself with thwarting someone else's plans. So, this is a really good game for people who get their feelings hurt during games that are a bit more cut-throat. Finally, it's not like Monopoly or some other games that take 2 days to play. Depending on how many people are playing, you can usually kick out a game in 30 to 60 minutes. I have to give this game 2 thumbs up and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of gaming. It says it's for people ages 8+, and I think I would agree with that. It's simple enough that a kid could understand it fairly quickly and all of us 20 and 30 somethings were enthralled with it too. Check it out!