Tabletop Tuesday - Ticket to Ride Europe

Welcome to another edition of Tabletop Tuesday - Your exploration into games of dice, cards, luck and more of the tabletop world.

Making a return in cross-country continental adventures - The game of locomotives now trekking across Europe in Ticket to Ride Europe.

Players: 2-5
Time: 45-90 minutes
Genre: Strategy


As you can likely infer from the name, Ticket to Ride Europe takes the core fundamentals of the original Ticket to Ride, but presents such on a new worldly stage with new routes and strategies to consider.  There are a few new key additions though that make this a compelling edition to own aside from the fun new venue.  One such feature are tunnels, which carry the risk of requiring extra train cards to complete.  When attempting to place tracks across a tunnel, players must flip over "X" number of train cards from the deck per the length of the tunnel. Any train cards flipped that match the color of the trains being used to build the tunnel demands an extra train card of the same color be used to build the tunnel, representing the tunnel was longer than expected.  As such, it would be wise to have a few extra cards in your hand as insurance, but it's not necessary if you're trying to beat someone to the punch in claiming the route; A very compelling risk versus reward mechanic.

The European locations may take some more considered time to become familiarized with.

The other new compelling feature is the addition of train stations.  This new structure allows players to use other player's built tracks connected to the city towards the completion of tickets (though these tracks don't count towards the longest route award).  This presents another tantalizing action / option to consider per each player's turn as only one train station can be placed per city, and each player only has so many train stations to be placed.  On top of this, any unused stations provide points at the end of the game, so players must be mindful what will end up being more beneficial.  This nifty mechanic offers some much appreciated saving grace for those demoralizing blocked routes, while still also offering a great deal of new strategy as to many means now in achieving the same goals.  This game is recommended for those who prefer a friendlier version of the original and a little more nuance to the same compelling light strategy and forward thinking mentality.  And of course as was before, train enthusiasts.  Choo choo!

If you have any questions about Ticket to Ride Europe, let me know in the comments.  Otherwise, look forward to future installments of Tabletop Tuesday.  And happy gaming!