Ticket to Ride vs Carcassonne

If you're gonna choose train cards, you can either pick two from the cards that are revealed or two random ones. It's not all luck of the draw because...

For games when he has a hand of cards in his wooden tray, his opponent typically draws cards for him, and discards for him. He’ll say “third from the left, fourth from the right, middle, etc.”

We have to clean each one individually with Windex and wipe each of them individually, then let each one sit out individually to dry. This sort of takes care of the dirt and stickiness, but the lamination should be better, especially how everything else keeps clean. We haven't needed to clean them again since the one time. It would be nice if the cards were larger, too

**Calico – [4/10] ** - Simple rules-wise, even elegant. Draft 1 or 3 quilt tiles, and place it in your hex grid. You get points for groups of colors, groups of patterns, or meeting certain pair-requirements. For a quick drafty game, this one seemed to cause way too-much AP, and I didn’t find it particularly fun either

Theme Well, several off-shoots from Ticket to Ride have come. Not to mention an expansions for the original game that adds several smaller routes. So there is evidence that the theme can be slanted, but in Ticket To Ride Europe, game play is the same with some twists, like you can use someone else’s route for your destination’s sake without getting points for the route, and you route requiring tunneling through mountains are more pricey. These off-shoot stand alone games are a good way for Days of Wonder to charge full price for what could have been a less expensive expansion to the existing game

Dice management - king of tokyo: basically yahztee with a touch of strategy and a fun theme. Easy enough that even my kids get it.

Fun game to play. Easy game to teach the kids to play with the adults. Gets kids knowing where major cities are and how to pronounce them.

This game is way easier to start playing and enjoying vs something like Catan, where new players need a 45min rule reading pow-wow before you begin playing, then 10-20mins of setting the board up, and then 2-3 playthroughs for most before everyone is comfortable with the rules and starts to form ideas about strategy. You can explain basic Carcassone entirely in 10 minutes and begin playing with everyone getting the idea almost immediately, as well as the strategy after 1 playthrough. It's fun, easy, and less adversarial and contentious than many games. Now here is where the issue lies

I am of the opinion that some of these modern classics, (**Small World, Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Dominion, Catan,** etc...**)** are still worth playing today

She lures you in with her serious looking components (hey, it doesn't look like Hungry Hungry Hippos or anything). You think, "ah this is going to be a really nice euro like El Grande, and I am going to enjoy strategizing and scheming to win for 90 minutes..

The setup and play are very hard to understand. Outside of a neat box and concept, this is probably one to stay away from..

WHY DID I BUY: It was cited as being one of the heaviest games, and I wanted to test that. It also reminded me a bit of Terra Mystica, with the player power tiles.

i thought I was disproportionately bummed about it but then we babysat and our friends daughters also commented that their favorite part about the game was the cards and that the smaller size and simpler design was an outrage. So I felt validated. I would happily pay more for those magnificent cards or collectors editions with special art. I did order the extension set which had better cards but still feel that the game should have come with the original, magnificent cards

Not only do I still enjoy it, I prefer it to Barrage, the 5 or so Lacerdas I've played and all Rosenbergs. It remains an incredible tight euro, with some very cutthroat moments, every decision is meaningful, and with a really accessible set of rules. In essence, a paragon of good design. It deserves to be mentioned along with Tigris and Euphrates, El Grande and Carcassonne as classics that still hold up and that haven't been "bettered" by more recent games

There's something about the texture and weight of plastic pieces that makes them vastly inferior to their wooden counterparts. If Ticket to Ride came with wooden trains, I think my enjoyment of it would increase tenfold.

I’d say we are looking for something just a bit heavier than the splendors/carcassonne but id really like something that still plays in under an hour, or even better, 45 minutes.

It is not a quick game, so plan to spend at least an hour to play, depending on how many players you have (and how quickly they make decisions). If you play often, consider purchasing the expansion pack! Highly recommended.

**Cockroach Poker** 1 x 6p - an all time favorite for light bluffing games for big groups. I get stressed out by **Werewolf** and **Chameleon** style games where you have to actively remember special roles and construct a lie. But **Cockroach Poker** lets you choose to tell the truth as well and others still have the option to call your truth out. It's kind of in the realm of low pressure bluffing games along with **Sheriff of Nottingham**

Technically my Dads, but he bought Ticket to Ride 10th anniversary edition as our first proper board game. This meant we were children when we started to play this which, coupled with the fact that we didn't sleeve it means the cards are pretty dirty and worn. Which is slightly disappointing as that game is not cheap, we could have made a decent chunk of change if only we'd have thought to sleeve it. Edit: 10th not 15th

Years ago we replaced our base game with the 10th Anniversary edition, which adds two mini-expansions: The River (12 tiles) and The Festival (10 tiles). The Traders & Builders expansion contained a handy cloth drawstring bag to hold the landscape tiles from the base game and all expansions. We have played the base game and expansions almost every week over the years, and the wear is showing on the tiles. They are still usable for sure, but the edges are fraying and the tiles sometimes stick together when pulling them out of the bag

If I were to nitpick, I would definitely say the cards are oddly small and thus can be hard to shuffle and handle- especially at the start of each game, when you'll end up spending 15 minutes just trying to mix them up as much as possible. But it's a small price to pay for such a fun game. Overall, Ticket to Ride has quickly become a family favorite, and it is definitely one I'd highly recommend! A 5 out of 5!

It's also a good means to itself. That is, you could do just fine buying the contents of the big box and no other expansions. The only downside to the big box is that the box is, well, big. It's really big