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Quick specs
- Set-up time under 5 seconds
- best ease-fun ratio
- from 1 to 6 (or more) players
- Minimal waiting time
What makes a good travel game?
The most important requirement for a good travel game is that the setup is really easy with as few accessories as possible. Accessories will get lost and especially when playing in a moving vehicle, parts will get hussled. Also important is that the game is compact and easy to take along. Especially when traveling with minimal luggage, you only have room for a small, light box. Lastly, it is a plus if the game allows for a variable amount of players. It is really annoying to not be able to play the game, because you couldn’t find a fifth player to join.
Railroad Ink: a short introduction
Railroad Ink is a relatively new addition to the roll-and-write category. The goal of the game is to draw road and railway routes on your board, to connect exits and make long routes. Each turn four dices picturing different road and railway symbols are rolled to determine which routes the players can draw. After the dice are rolled, all players simultaneously puzzle to draw the optimal route network on their own board. After seven turns the game ends. The players receive points for how many exits they connected and their longest railway and road, and get points detracted for incomplete routes.
Why Railroad Ink is the best travel game
Sounds really simple, right? Then why do we think Railroad Ink is such a good game? First it meets all requirements for a good travel game: the setup is extremely short. You hand out the erasable boards and a marker to the players. That’s it. The game is really compact, it comes in a small box and consists of only a few boards, marqers and dices. And you can play it on your own or with up to six people.
Second, the game is really fun and highly addictive. Railroad Ink is a puzzle game with infinite replay value. You can play it over and over, without getting bored. It is quite meditative to draw roads and rails in the best possible way.