Ticket to Ride Board Game: A Complete Purchasing Guide

Everything you need to know about the train-laying mega-hit.

By Adam Wells

It’s not unusual to walk into a board game store and be overwhelmed by the sheer number of Ticket to Ride products on shelf. Some are stand-alone, others expand on the base Ticket to Ride game, and they all have their own quirks. It’s hard to know where to begin or — if you already own and enjoy Ticket to Ride — what to try next.

But we're here to help! Below are our picks for which version of Ticket to Ride to buy, the best (and worst) Ticket to Ride expansions, along with a comprehensive guide of what to expect from every Ticket to Ride product.

Stand-alone Games

Ticket to Ride - A Classic Still Worth Owning

The greatest strength of the original North American Ticket to Ride map is that it’s just Ticket to Ride. Every other Ticket to Ride game introduces their own twist to the formula and — while they’re often enjoyable because of those twists — there is a simple pleasure in just collecting cards and laying train routes. If you find the undersized train and destination ticket cards difficult to shuffle, you can replace them with the larger cards from the USA 1910 expansion.

Ticket to Ride: Europe - The Perfect Place to Start

A fantastic map that adds a handful of new rules to create more interesting decisions. Stations help you complete destination tickets in the hotly contested western portion of the board, high-value long destination tickets encourage you to expand into the more open eastern portion of the board, while ferries and tunnels make it more difficult to complete certain routes. Ticket to Ride: Europe is not only the best starting point for newcomers, it’s one of the best Ticket to Ride maps available.

Ticket to Ride: First Journey - Great for Kids

Kids will enjoy this simplified game as they race to complete tickets and claim the Golden Ticket. Cities have easily recognisable landmarks to help kids find their way across the board and the quick pace stops them from losing focus. First Journey is available with either a USA or Europe map, and there are no major differences between the maps.

• Price: $28
• Players: 2 - 4
• Play time: 15 - 30 minutes
• Ages 6 and up
• Exclusive to Target stores in USA

Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries - Great for Two Players

Most Ticket to Ride maps can scale down for two or three players, but Nordic Countries is one of the few where that’s a good idea. Designed specifically for smaller groups and focusing on what has made other Ticket to Ride games successful, this is a well-balanced map that’s great for couples or other board gaming duos.

Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails - The Biggest Game Yet

If you’ve ever want Ticket to Ride to be bigger, Rails & Sails includes the two largest maps so far: the Great Lakes and... The World. The addition of ships slows the game down dramatically as you collect train and ship cards from two separate decks to complete lengthy routes, but whether that’s a good thing or bad thing depends on how long you want your sessions to last.

Ticket to Ride: Germany - Passengers Change the Game

Why have a rail empire if nobody rides it? Collect passengers from cities before your friends do in this competitive map that encourages fast play.

• Price: $40
• Players: 2 - 5
• Play time: 30 - 60 minutes
• Based on the out of print Ticket to Ride: Märklin and Germany/Austria region exclusive Zug um Zug: Deutschland
• English-localized re-release titled Ticket to Ride: Germany coming August 2017

Map Collections

The following smaller-box map expansions do not include any train cards or tokens and require the components in Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Europe or Ticket to Ride: Germany to play. If you own one of those standalone games these are great, inexpensive ways to expand your Ticket to Ride menu. These small boxes include a two-sided game board, giving you two new maps to play, and usually introduce a unique gameplay wrinkle, too.

Ticket to Ride: Asia - Includes Cooperative Play

Pair up with a friend on the Team Asia map where you have to manage which cards to share and which ones to keep in your own hand. Team play adds a fun new way to play Ticket to Ride and is the only way to play with six people. On the other side of the board is the fast-paced Legendary Asia map where treacherous mountain paths cost you more trains but earn you more points.

• Price: $30
• Players: 4 or 6 (Team Asia), 2 - 5 (Legendary Asia)
• Play time: 30 - 60 minutes (both maps)
• See it on Amazon

Ticket to Ride: Nederland - High-Scoring Fun

You can place trains along double routes to claim toll bridges as your own and collect money from your friends in this high-scoring map. A good map for those who want to shake themselves out of the habit of sitting back and collecting train cards for most of the game.

Ticket to Ride: India - An Inventive Addition

The looping ‘Mandala’ bonus encourages you to circle back on your completed destination tickets in an a way that makes the map feel very crowded, very quickly. Also included is the Switzerland map, a highly-congested map for two to three players that doesn’t quite hit the sweet spot that Nordic Countries does.

• Price: $25
• Players: 2-4 (India), 2-3 (Switzerland)
• Play time: 30 to 60 minutes (both maps)
• See it on Amazon

Ticket to Ride: United Kingdom - A So-So Effort

Initially limited to only making one or two length routes in England, you can develop technology that allow you to build larger routes across other parts of the map. These restrictions take away player choices and make most games play out the same way. The other side of the board is the excellent Pennsylvania map where you claim shares while placing routes in a way that gives you more choices and rewards taking action.

• Price: $33
• Players: 2 - 4 (United Kingdom), 2 - 5 (Pennsylvania)
• Play time: 30 - 60 minutes (both maps)
• See it on Amazon

Ticket to Ride: The Heart of Africa - The Trickiest Map Yet

A frustrating map where the board is divided into different terrain types that require specific colors of train cards to lay routes on, forcing you to compete with your friends for certain colors of cards and encouraging people to hold onto cards they don’t need, only because they know others will want them. Competitive players and those than enjoy tripping others up may enjoy this map.

Other Expansions

USA 1910

Considered by many an essential aesthetic expansion for Ticket to Ride, as it replaces the undersized cards included with the base game with standard-sized ones. However, you should only buy this if you enjoy the North American map and want to spice things up with new destination tickets.

Europa 1912

Similar to USA 1910, this expansion includes a number of new destination tickets for people that enjoy Ticket to Ride: Europe and want more of it. The new Warehouse mechanic gives you and your friends a way to grab a fistful of cards with some careful planning or a bit of luck.

Ticket to Ride: Alvin & Dexter

Monsters lay siege to cities, blocking you from building train routes in this small, somewhat silly expansion. It’s not essential, but it runs just $10 and integrates into any version of Ticket to Ride, so it’s worth a look for anyone looking to add just a small dash of variety to their game.

• Price: $10
• Compatible with all Ticket to Ride games except The Card Game
• Not recommended with First Journey
• See it on Amazon

Ticket to Ride: The Dice Expansion

This expansion not only replaces the train cards for any Ticket to Ride game with dice it also replaces most long-term strategy with luck. Rolling dice are fun, but The Dice Expansion probably detracts more than it adds.

• Price: $12
• Compatible with all Ticket to Ride game except First Journey and The Card Game
• See it on Amazon

Ticket to Ride Digital (iOS/Android/Steam/Kindle)

A faithful digital conversion of Ticket to Ride with pass and play local multiplayer, online player and competent AI players.

Ticket to Ride: The Card Game

An attempt to transplant Ticket to Ride’s gameplay into a purely card-based game that’s not different enough to be interesting and not good enough to play instead of other Ticket to Ride games.

The Bottom Line

You can’t go wrong starting with Ticket to Ride: Europe - it's the perfect place to start. There’s a Ticket to Ride map for all sorts; with Nordic Countries for smaller groups, Nederland if you’re chasing higher scores and Asia for people who enjoy working together.

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