Board Game: Ticket to Ride - Europe

We were going to play Monsterhearts on Sunday, but then there was a death in a player's family, so we chose to do board gaming instead.

The Game: Ticket to Ride - Europe
The Publisher: Days of Wonder
Time: An hour, roughly
Players: Me, another couple of people, Sarah, Michelle

Game Play: Everyone starts with a bunch of little trains, and some destination cards indicating which cities to connect. One route is long (spanning much of the continent) and the others are shorter; long ones are worth more points but are harder to connect. You get several train cards, which come in six different colors plus multicolored locomotives, and you need to collect them to lay down routes. A route might have four black sections, so you'd need four black cards.

That's a really disturbing smile. 

On your turn, you can pick up train cards or lay down routes, but not both. You can also take more destination cards, but that's risky later in the game, because any destination cards in your hand at the end of the game represent points lost.

Further wrinkles: You can build stations on cities, which allow you to use one train in or out of the city (but not both) not in your color. Also, some routes require you to draw three cards and, should any of them match the color you're using, play additional cards, which takes some planning. End of the game, you get points for completed routes and having the longest continuous route.

A few turns in. 

Opinions: I've play this game, and its predecessor, pretty extensively, and I really enjoy it. It's definitely got a big strategic component, but it doesn't require you to think lots of moves ahead. And it's fun speaking in bad European accents when you play this version (no idea if Europeans do the same when playing the American version).

I actually managed to win this one, too, by one freaking point, so that was pretty cool.

If I have a complaint...um. I guess there are a lot of fiddly bits to the game, and if someone sneezes, you'd better hope you can remember where everything was. But that's pretty much it. It's easy to understand and play, and pretty addictive, IMO.

Finished board. Note my black marker, just ahead of Sarah's yellow.

Keep? Hell, yeah.