Ticket to Ride: Europe game review

After we watched the episode for Ticket to Ride on tabletop the in-laws snapped up a copy. So the wife and I picked up Ticket to Ride: Europe. I should have reviewed this a while ago so that the denizens of the internet could have read my review once it was announced to be coming on tabletop but of course I put it off for way too long. Now you can read my review after watching tabletop… I gotta work on my timing.

Game board from the Days of Wonder site

Ticket to Ride: Europe takes the game to a whole new another station. (pun definitely intended) It is more complicated than the original in a few ways.

First off there are tunnels. To claim a tunnel a player pulls the top three cards from the train deck. If any of these cards match the colour or are a wild card the player must play an equal number of extra cards to claim that route. For instance: if I want to claim a three card tunnel with blue cards and I pull a wild and a blue card that tunnel is now a five blue card tunnel. If I do not have the cards I fail to claim the line and play passes to the next player. Planning becomes so much more important this way.

Next there are ferries. These are train lines that go over water ways. These will require a locomotive to get across. In game terms this means you need wild cards. Spaces on these lines will have the image of one or two locomotives letting you know how many wild cards you need.

Cute little train station

Another change is the addition of stations. Stations can be built in any city and they allow a player to share claim of a single line already claimed by another player. This does help when you really need to claim a line to finish a big point route. Each station played costs you 4 victory points so they should be used sparingly.

Of course the biggest difference is the extreme change to the map. There are fewer dual lines between cities. So claiming lines early can be vital in ensuring you can complete your longest routes. However claiming lines to block an opponent is easier and can really up the competition in the game.

The downside to Ticket to Ride: Europe is the use of archaic city names. I would have preferred more recent names to help my nieces and nephews with geography more. The outdated city names aren’t as practical and can be confusing to many players. While this is relatively minor it does cause some drag in the game as players have to search for their cities and/or attempt to pronounce the odd names.

To sum up I think Ticket to Ride: Europe is a great addition to the game line. A few changes to the game have increased the challenge rating and it’s a great change of pace from the base game. While the game isn’t great for the geographically challenged it should be fun for most family/friend game nights. If you love Ticket to Ride grab the Europe version. I think you will definitely choo-choo-choose this game for many game nights.