Game page
Ticket to Ride
The default answer to 'we want a proper board game and none of us play board games'. It has held that position for twenty years for good reasons.
By Scooter M. · Published · Last updated
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Games we claim to have play-tested: 0. Every gift guide in this category implies a shelf of played games behind it. We do not have one, and we would rather say so. What we do instead is on this page: the publisher’s own player count, playing time and age band for every pick, cited to the publisher; a live price rather than a remembered one; and a plain answer on who should skip each game.
The short answer
Ticket to Ride is a route-building board game. Days of Wonder states 2-5 players, ages 8+, 30 to 60 minutes. You collect sets of colored train cards and spend them to claim railway routes across a map of the United States, trying to complete destination tickets held in secret.
What it actually is
On your turn you do one of three things: draw two colored train cards, spend a set of matching cards to claim a route on the map, or draw more destination tickets. A claimed route is yours; nobody else can use it. At the end you score for routes built and for destination tickets completed, and lose points for tickets you did not finish.
Three possible actions, and one of them is “draw two cards”. That is why it can be taught in about two minutes to people who have never played anything.
Why it is the standard recommendation
Because it is simultaneously simple enough to explain in two minutes and substantial enough to feel like a real board game. Very few games manage both. The map, the little plastic trains and the box size also do something a card game cannot: they make it look like a proper present when it is unwrapped.
It is also unusually forgiving of a mixed table. A first-time player who just builds long routes will do reasonably; an experienced player thinking two tickets ahead will do better. Nobody is humiliated.
How long does it take?
Days of Wonder states 30 to 60 minutes. At two players it is at the short end; at five it is at the long end and slower still if anybody deliberates. Add ten minutes for a first play.
What age is it for?
Days of Wonder states 8+. There is no reading during play beyond city names, and the arithmetic is counting train cards, so the floor is about planning rather than literacy.
Who should skip it
Groups of six or more - the box stops at five, and no variant changes that. Also skip it for someone who wants a fifteen-minute game, and for a table where somebody takes it badly when their route is taken. Route-blocking is a real part of the game and new players often experience it as personal.
Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe?
Days of Wonder states identical figures for both: 2-5 players, 8+, 30 to 60 minutes. Europe adds tunnels, ferries and train stations, and the stations in particular soften the sting of being blocked. If the recipient owns neither, Europe is marginally the better first game; if they are nervous about rules, the original is two rules simpler.
Appears in
- The best board games for 4 players - best overall
- The best board games for Christmas gifts - best overall Christmas gift
- The best board games under $50 - best gift in the band
- The best board games for families - best first big box
- The best board games for grandparents - best to share with a grandchild
What we would buy for this
Chosen from the same registry as our roundups, on the publisher's own figures and a live price.
Ticket to Ride
Days of Wonder · A household that owns no board games at all
The default answer to 'we want a proper board game and nobody here plays board games'. You collect colored cards and use them to claim railway routes across a map of the United States. That is the whole idea, and it is enough.
#ad We do not hold a current price for this product, so we do not show one. How we make money.
What it actually is
A route-building game. You gather sets of matching cards and spend them to place little plastic trains along the lines between cities.
What the publisher states
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 2-5 | Days of Wonder, published game page |
| Age | 8+ | Days of Wonder, published game page |
| Playing time | 30-60 min | Days of Wonder, published game page |
Read from the publisher’s own page. Where a publisher does not state a figure, there is no row for it here.
What is good about it
- One of the shortest explanations of any full-size board game: collect cards, claim routes
- Two to five players from one box, and it is decent at every count in that range
- The map and the trains do a lot of the work of making it feel like an occasion
What is not
- Someone can take the route you needed, and new players take that badly
- At the 60-minute end it outstays its welcome with restless players
- The plastic trains are small enough to lose under a sofa
Who should skip it
Skip it for a group of six or more - the box stops at five - and skip it for someone who wants a fifteen-minute game.
How it scored as a gift
- Easy to explain9.0
- Works for non-gamers9.6
- Group size range8.6
- Repeat plays9.0
- Feels like a gift9.8
Gift fit 9.5 / 10. That is our editorial judgment of how safe and well-aimed this is as a present, read off the published specifications - not a verdict on how good the game is, and not a test result. It is deliberately not marked up as a rating in this page’s structured data. How we pick.
How these were picked
We have not played these games and we do not pretend to have. What we did was read each publisher’s own page, take their stated player count, playing time and age band, check that every pick genuinely fits the constraint in this page’s title, confirm it is still being sold, and pull a live price rather than a remembered one. Every figure here names the publisher it came from, so you can check it yourself in about a minute.
How we pick sets out the full method, including what would change a ranking.
Questions people ask
+−How many players is Ticket to Ride for?
Days of Wonder states 2-5 players for both Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Six or more is not possible with the base box.
+−How long does Ticket to Ride take?
Days of Wonder states 30 to 60 minutes. Two players sits at the short end and five at the long end. Allow an extra ten minutes for a first play while somebody learns the rules.
+−Is Ticket to Ride good for beginners?
It is the standard recommendation. There are three possible actions on a turn, one of which is drawing cards, so it teaches in about two minutes - and it still feels like a substantial board game rather than a card game.
+−Should I buy Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe?
Days of Wonder states the same 2-5 players, 8+ and 30 to 60 minutes for both. Europe adds train stations, which reduce the pain of being blocked; the original has slightly fewer rules. Either is a good first purchase, and buying both is unnecessary.