Ticket to Ride, or as my nephew calls it the train game board game, is a classic in the board game scene. It is an easy-to-learn game, but still fun for the more experienced player. Over the years several expansions and versions have been released. In this article we breakdown all the Ticket to Ride expansions and versions on the market today to help you decide which is the best Ticket to Ride version for you.
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Ticket To Ride: United Kingdom & Pennsylvania
- Technology cards that upgrade trains
- Invest in stocks
The United Kingdom map is one of the more complex expansions. This variant is set in the 19th Century during the industrial revolution. During the game players can choose to upgrade their trains using technology cards. By upgrading trains, you can build on different routes. But don’t be too keen on technology; too much focus on upgrading to the highest technology makes you fall behind on your network.
The Pennsylvania map adds shares to the game. When completing a route, a player can choose to invest in a company, that can be worth a lot at the end of the game. This variant adds a lot of strategy.
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Original, Award Winning
- Play against Alexa!
It’s great for beginner and experienced table top games alike and can provide seemingly endless amounts of fun and is a great place to start. If you are wondering which Ticket to Ride you should buy first, you cannot go wrong with the original that started it all!
This version is even compatible with Amazon Alexa. No rule book necessary! Just say, “Alexa, launch Ticket to Ride” and she’ll walk you through the game from beginning to end. You can even play against Alexa! How cool is that? NOTE: You will need an Alexa speaker device and the Echo Dot found here is the cheapest way to get started. (And yes, it does more than play Ticket to Ride, but who cares?)
If you like the Original and the US map, Days of Wonder released a special 10th Anniversary Edition that includes new designs and illustrations, an oversized map and custom trains and tin storage boxes. The oversized everything (including the trains) make it tough to use the pieces on other versions in the Ticket to Ride series but we think it’s worth checking out anyway!
And if you are really hardcore, you can pick up the 15th Anniversary edition here that features more a collector’s appeal with translucent train cars and an included booklet on the history of the game! Cool for collectors if you are into that kind of thing!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Simplified Rules for Kids
- Fast paced!
Everything from the plastic trains to the cartoon style art has been used specifically for a younger audience. First Journey is the absolute best way to get kids off the video games and on to board games!
There are two versions of First Journey depending on where you live or what maps you prefer. There is the USA version found here and there is a Europe version found here. We recommend getting both! (They’re that good!)
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 30 minutes
- New dynamics
- Two maps included
This version of Ticket to Ride includes two oversized maps. There is a World map and a map of the Great Lakes. That, in addition to the new game dynamic of boats, adds to the replay value of this version of Ticket to Ride.
You may find that Rails and Sails is a little more complicated than the other versions of Ticket to Ride because it now has two sets of pieces (boats and trains), two sets of cards and the additional dynamic of building harbors. If you consider yourself an expert at Ticket to Ride and are looking for another challenge, then this is the version for you!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- More ways to play
- True to the original
It includes 181 new large format cards (the same size as Ticket to Ride Europe). There are 35 new destination tickets and other suprises in addition to a complete replacement deck for the original game in the larger format.
In addition to the new cards, there is also a new rulebook which teaches three new ways to play the game including the game’s namesake: the 1910 rules! Click below to learn more about it, and we think this best option for those who already have the original Ticket to Ride but want to inject some new energy into their game nights!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Three new map variants
- Warehouses and Depots added
With 55 new destination tickets included plus the original 46, Europa 1912 allows for playing three new variants of the Europe map: Europe Expanded (19 additional routes), Big Cities of Europe (which focuses on tickets to 9 major European cities), and Mega Europe (which utilizes all 101 destination tickets).
In addition to the new cards, this expansion also introduces the concept of Warehouses and Depots which add yet another layer of strategy and complexity to an already fantastic version of Ticket to Ride. You can click below to learn more about these new game elements, but trust me if you are a long time player of Ticket to Ride: Europe, then getting this expansion is an absolute, no brainer!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- New map
- New dynamic with terrain cards
That’s right! This expansion introduces Terrain cards that are drawn just like Train cards and players can use these to double the value of their routes! This adds an interesting new dynamic to the game that makes this version of Ticket to Ride worth picking up!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Best for 2 - 3 players
- Standalone version
Further, in Nordic Countries there are a lot of different types of train cards and railway routes, such as tunnels and ferries. This makes the game more varied and keeps it interesting in the long term.
And note that the Nordic Countries expansion can be played as a standalone game, so it doesn’t require the Ticket to Ride base game.
- Players: 2 - 3
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Huge map
- Teamwork
This expansion has a huge map of Asia and is designed to play with up to 3 teams of 2 players. But there’s a twist. The players in a team don’t know the destination cards that the other team member holds. This makes it a lot harder to complete routes and is a great challenge.
Further the Legendary Asia map has mountain routes, that are more expensive, but also worth more victory points in the end.
- Players: 2 - 6
- Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
- Toll bridges
- Fast pace
The main selling point of this expansion is the toll bridge mechanic. If you want to build on a route, you have to pay toll. If you are the first on the route you pay the bank, but if there’s already someone else on the route, you have to pay that player. Toll tokens are worth victory points at the end of the game.
What we like most about this Ticket to Ride expansion is that it enforces quick building, because you rather pay your tolls to the bank than to a fellow player. This leads to some exciting and fast paces Ticket to Ride games.
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Simple gameplay
- Fast paced
This is a standalone version of Ticket to Ride and is significantly faster paced than the original Ticket to Ride. The simple rules and gameplay are designed for games to take 15 minutes or less which is great for families, tournaments or other gatherings where short but exciting games are needed! That doesn’t mean that Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam is only for beginners though. Expert players will enjoy devising strategies for this version of Ticket to Ride just as much as they do for the longer variations in the Ticket to Ride series!
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 10 - 15 minutes
- Simple gameplay
- Fast paced
This is a standalone version of Ticket to Ride and is significantly faster paced than the original Ticket to Ride. The simple rules and gameplay are designed for games to take 15 minutes or less which is great for families, tournaments or other gatherings where short but exciting games are needed! Players connect bus routes across the city to win and are penalized for routes they can’t complete. Fast paced and fun to keep the whole family engaged!
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 10 - 15 minutes
- Two new maps
- Unique scoring additions
This is a double sided board with the backside of the board sporting a map of Switzerland! Cluttered like India, players attempt to not only connect cities within Switzerland but also connect routes to neighboring countries. This map results in much quicker games.
If you are looking for new maps to liven up your game night, this version of Ticket to Ride will provide hours of entertainment and is worth checking out!
- Players: 2 - 3
- Duration: 15 - 30 minutes
- Competitive co-op elements
The bullet train works as follows. All players build together on the bullet train route and it can be used by everyone to reach their destinations. This unique competitive co-op mechanic is strategically super interesting: are you going to get victory points, but help your opponents, or are you freeloading on the labor of others, but risking a penalty in the end for not helping to build the bullet train?
The Italian map is more traditional, with the addition of ferries to travel cheaper over water and the option to connect region’s to score more points. It’s nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
- Classic Ticket to Ride
- Features Tunnels, ferries and stations
- Standalone
- Playable by Alexa
In Ticket to Ride: Europe you can use ferries, tunnels and stations. Ferries make routes more expensive, and tunnels add a chance element to the game, making it uncertain how expensive a route is going to be. And stations can be built within someone else’s route, making it easier to finish your destination cards.
Although the original Ticket to Ride is a great game as well, we prefer Europe over the original. The few extra element complete the game in our opinion.
What’s also great about Ticket to Ride: Europe is that it’s not just an expansion, but can actually be played as a standalone without getting the original Ticket to Ride.
And another fun bonus is that you can play Ticket to Ride with Alexa. She can both help new players by explaining the rules, but she can also play herself, and she is pretty good!
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Standalone version
- Passengers added
The game rules also add the concept of Passengers which are a cool little addition but some players, myself included, feel like the addition loses the ease of play that I have come to love with the Ticket to Ride series.
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Card game version
- Standalone
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Ticket to Ride in just 15 minutes
We like to play games early in the morning right before going off to work. However, most of our favorite games take at least half an hour. Not Ticket to Ride: New York. This standalone mini-expansion is there for you if you are busy-busy-busy, but really want to play Ticket to Ride.
The iconic yellow cab’s replace the trains and the map is of a city, instead of a whole country, but other than that it’s Ticket to Ride just as we know it.
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 15 minutes
- Adds passengers
- Players: 2 - 5
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
- Lay tracks first!
The France maps drops players right into the middle of French Impressionism and the Industrial Revolution with one unique rule: you have to build the tracks before you build the routes! While some players claim this significantly slows down gameplay, it does provide a unique element of strategy as your opponents can claim the routes that you spent so much time trying to build in the first place!
The Old West map is my favorite of this version of Ticket to Ride. Not only are you trying to claim routes but the game puts an emphasis on “owning” the cities themselves and earning points when opponents build routes into your cities. You can learn more about it by clicking below, but the Old West map makes this expansion worth picking up by itself!
- Players: 2 - 6
- Duration: 30 - 60 minutes
Which is the best Ticket to Ride version?
Personally, I love Ticket to Ride: United Kingdom and Pennsylvania. The added elements to the game make for some interesting strategies that differ from the original game. There are multiple ways to beat the your opponents which always makes for more interesting competition and replay value.
If you are looking for a version of Ticket to Ride that is more closely aligned with the original gameplay, I would recommend getting Ticket to Ride: France and the Old West. Mainly for the Old West map as the France gameplay with laying tracks is not my favorite.
Which Ticket to Ride should you buy first?
If you are 100% new to the Ticket to Ride series, you should absolutely get one of the base games first. Either get Ticket to Ride (USA) or buy Ticket to Ride: Europe.
These versions are the original gameplay and rules and will have you set up nicely to play other expansions and versions later. As seen above, you are going to need one of these two versions to play a lot of the Ticket to Ride expansions anyway so you are going to want to have one of these at home as soon as possible.
Is Ticket to Ride Europe better than the original?
That completely depends on the player, where they are from, which map they like better and so on. I personally prefer the USA map from the original because I live here and recognize all the destinations. Others prefer Ticket to Ride Europe because it has bigger cards. The decision is ultimately up to you and you can’t go wrong with either one. Just buy both if you are having trouble deciding!
Which Ticket to Ride is best for two players?
We like Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries. We think it is the best version of Ticket to Ride for two players due to the small map that allows for competitive games with smaller groups of players.
Wrapping Up
The popularity of the Ticket to Ride series has taken off in recent years and with it comes a lot of versions and expansions to capitalize on that success! Which is great for us, because we love the game and want to keep playing it! Hopefully you can read through our breakdown of all the Ticket to Ride versions out there and buy one for your next game night!