Review 1: Ticket to Ride

I didn’t want it to be too long before I issued my first review, however a holiday was needed so after a brief break so here it is.  I’ve thought long and hard over what the first review should be and it was difficult to know how best to pitch it.  Too strategy orientated and people might just think that the reviews will be made up only of war games; too specialist and people might decide that these reviews are just not for them.

So I decided to pick a game that felt right and a number of people won’t have played or heard of before.  ‘Ticket to Ride’ was one of the first games that I got later on in my gaming life but really kick started the move away from the mainstream games that are all well-known and love.  So here goes.  I would like my reviews to follow a similar format and therefore they’ll all be set out as it appears below:

 

 

Name: Ticket to Ride

Players: 2-5

Playing Time: 45 minutes

Suggested Ages: 8 and up

Awards: Numerous – most notably 2004 Spiel des Jahres Winner

Game Setting:

The game is set on a map of northern America, and players attempt to connect cities by laying their chosen colour carriages along pre-determined routes.  Points are scored in different ways and the winner is the person who scores the most amount of points.

Game Play:

Each player chooses a colour and takes the carriages that match that colour.  The players then receive ‘ticket’ cards.  These are secret to the player and are scored at the end of the game.  The tickets show two cities that need to be connected to score the points.

The game progresses as the players take it in turns to carry out one of 3 actions: take two cards ‘carriage cards’ which enable a player to claim a route, take more ticket cards or claim a route.  To claim a route between two cities players lay matching ‘carriage’ cards that match the colours of the route.  

When a player claims a route between two connecting cities the score is applied straight away unlike the ‘tickets’ that are scored at the end of the game; the longer the route the between the two cities the higher the score.  This is also true of the ‘tickets’, the further away the two cities are (i.e. the more interconnecting routes that will have to be laid) the higher the score that can be claimed at the end of the game.  However any ‘tickets’ that are not achieved results in a minus score.

At the end of the game the person who has laid the longest route with the most carriages scores an additional ten points.

The game ends when a player reaches only 2 carriages remaining in their supply, every player then gets one final turn.

My Score:

Game Play:  4/4
Components: 2/2
Replayability: 2/2

Theme: 2/2

Total: 10/10

My Comments:

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game and one that I would recommend to anyone. 

Ticket to Ride is a good example of not judging a game by its box.   I’ve played it with a number of different people of a number of different ages and they’ve all really enjoyed it.   The great thing about this game is that on any turn there are only 3 things that player is going to be  able to choose to do.   This means that playing the game is picked up really quickly.  However the simplicity is balanced extremely well with the planning that takes place whilst people are trying to get the best score possible.

Ticket to Ride is less about trains and train routes but more about making colour connections and joining destinations.  The trains give the game a context.  The game is design in such a way that only the very experienced players would be able to make strategic placements to stop other players getting the ‘ticket’ routes they need.  Having played it a number of times now I think that this really is only applicable for people who have played it so much that they know all of the ‘ticket’ cards.

I have given Ticket to Ride a 10/10 and it is well deserved and well loved by those who I’ve introduced to it.  Easy to learn and relatively quick to play means that it is a family favourite and in my opinion well deserving of it’s award in 2004.  It has, in recent years even started to make appearances in more mainstream shops and I think it will continue to do well.

Give it a try; it’s a fantastic first game for those of you looking for something new.

 

Let The Games Begin

Just before I turn in for the night, I decided to start my first blog.  It seems odd to me to be having a go at it and I’m sure that my daughter, Evie, will be blogging all the time in her version of the future.  For now it’s just me and a first attempt.  In truth, it’s a first attempt at trying something new and almost by coincidence the reason for my blog is about the people reading this blog trying something new for themselves.    

When I was younger, on a weekly basis, I would play board games with my family.  I grew up in a large extended family and it wasn’t uncommon for a game to be out on the coffee table on a Saturday evening with me looking on eagerly, just wishing I could join in.  At the time the games I was playing were fun but the adults games always seemed to have so much more to them than the ones that I’d been playing.  Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s meant that I was in a time when games consoles were only just beginning to have a foothold in the family homes and so board still had an active role in family time.

Many years later my passion for board gaming has not diminished and I now have a collection of over one hundred different board games on range of themes, age ranges and styles. I would add at this point that my collection is nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to all that is available out there.

The enjoyment that I get from gaming is the reason that I wanted to share my collection of games with a wider audience.  I want to dispel the myth that board games begin and end with Monopoly, Cluedo, Scrabble and Operation.  These are good games in their own right but there is a host of games out there that when played show that these games are just the tip of an incredible iceberg.

When I talk to people about gaming there is never a lack of enthusiasm for the aforementioned games but it comes with a slight reluctance toward the unknown.  I guess it’s a fear that I could be trying to persuade people to play something like Dungeons and Dragons or something ‘nerdy’ that could damage someone’s reputation.   These are the ideas I would like to challenge through this blog; not all games are for everyone but everyone will find a game that is right for them.

In believing this I wanted to create ‘The Board Game Compendium’ which, over the coming months, is where I am intending to review as many of my games as I can.  I’ll give them scores, tell you if they have won any awards and give you an overview of the gameplay.  I’ll try to give you a balanced view and my recommendation on what kind of person would enjoy it.   If I can figure it out, there might be photos and links to useful websites.

The scoring will be based on the following:

Game Play:  4pts (Excellent), 3pts (Good) , 2 pts (OK),  1pt (Unsatisfactory), 0pts (Poor)

Components: 2pts (Good) 1pt (OK) 0pts (Poor)

Theme: 2pts (Consistent) 1pts (Intermittent) 0pts (Inconsistent)

Replayability: 2pts (Can’t wait to play again) 1pt (Take it or leave it) 0pts (Will only play again if there’s nothing else to play)

Then I might do a rundown nearer to Christmas of my top games to buy as presents, and perhaps if I’m still blogging next year, a lead up to and review of TableTop Day 2014. There’s nothing like planning ahead when you have all the enthusiasm of something new.  We shall see what happens!

So the question for me is, who I am to have such an opinion that I believe I am in a position to give a recommendation on what’s a good game or not?  Well in truth, nobody.  All I can say is that I like my hobby and I’ve a good few years’ experience under my belt to (if nothing else) type up some thoughts into a blog.

The question for you however is different.  Would you like to come inside and experience a little of the crazy ramblings of a big kid, who just might leave you wanting to give something new a try?