no ticket

actually, i'm lucky in that i do have a ticket...  a ticket to ride that is!

ticket to ride is a quick to learn card management game where your hand of cards help you build train routes across all of north america.  the challenge comes in that taking time to build a better collection of cards to claim routes gives your opponents the opportunity to claim the very route you want!

playing this one with me was adam, dave, jacob, and jeff. we got a bit of a late start due to a wedding i couldn't miss (congrats mike and mikey!) but wound up rollicking along pretty quickly.  unfortunately, that meant that i couldn't post this until the next day (as we wound up playing games from 9:30pm until about 3 in the morning!).  so there should be two posts for 03 april!

here we are after the first few rounds.  dave (red), jeff (blue), and adam (black) have started working the middle american routes, while jacob and i watch...

this is early in the middle game.  i'm still not on the map very much (i'm playing yellow), but notice that dave and jeff have started battling for the midwest, adam is working a midwest north/south route and claiming a nice long route from sault st. marie to montreal.  meanwhile, jacob (green) has started an unopposed run up the west coast. 

here are jeff and jacob looking so serious as they consider their next few moves...

...and here is dave mugging for the camera looking like he's caught a face full of cinders and dirty steam from a smokestack!

 

here's the end of the game.  it was a close run thing thing up until the end, with most everyone thinking they had a victory, but it was my last two routes (duluth to toronto and charleston to miami) and the fact that I had all of my destination tickets completed that put me over the top for the win and the longest route.  

all-in-all, it was a great game, and fun was had by all.  the general consensus is that ticket to ride is a great, lighthearted game that is easy to learn, challenging to play, and just cutthroat enough.  

next game up is rio grande games' race for the galaxy, a card game that chronicles your efforts as one of earth's colonies to settle the galaxy and build your galactic empire!

indiana jones and the last crusade is property of paramount pictures.  ticket to ride is property of days of wonder.  all other images are mine!