Ticket to Ride

Collect coloured train cards, spend matching sets to claim railway routes on the map, and connect the cities printed on the destination tickets in your hand. A turn is one of three things: draw cards, claim a route, or take new tickets. That is the entire game, which is why a table of newcomers is playing properly within five minutes. The tension comes from the board. Everyone can see the routes worth taking, so the double track you were saving is usually gone by the time you can afford it. Long routes score far more than short ones but cost cards you may need elsewhere, and every destination ticket you fail to finish is subtracted from your score at the end. It holds up as a family game and as a two player race, and it is the game we hand to people who tell us they do not like board games. Two to five players, age eight and up, thirty to sixty minutes.