I am a huge fan of the Ticket to Ride Board Games. When new gamers ask for a board game recommendation for their family, my first answer is always Ticket to Ride. I truly believe this is a game that every family should own!
Here is a link to the original Ticket to Ride game on Amazon.com. The game has over 4,000 Customer Reviews, and has a 5 star rating. If your family does not have a copy of the original game, Ticket to Ride is a must own in my humble opinion.
What is Ticket to Ride?
Ticket to Ride (TTR) was originally released in 2004. It is a simple Railway themed game in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. It’s an elegant, face-paced game that is easy to teach and learn. And there is just enough meat here to appease most hard-core gamers as well.
The game won the coveted Spiel des Jahres, the coveted Award for Best Board Game of the year in 2004. Over 3 million copies of the game have been reported sold.
Several other versions of Ticket to Ridge were released over the years. The editions below all are complete games (with maps, cards and train cars).
- Ticket to Ride: Europe (2005)
- Ticket to Ride: Marklin (2006) .. map of Germany
- Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries (2007) – a 3 player version
- Ticket to Ride: Deutschland (2012)
- Ticket to Ride: 10th Anniversary (2014)
- Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails (2016)
- Ticket to Ride: Germany (2017)
- Ticket to Ride: New York (2018)
- Ticket to Ride: London (2019)
Additionally, many new maps have been released over the years. These are simply new maps and cards. There are no plastic train cars in these boxes. You are required to own a complete Ticket to Ride game to enjoy these maps:
- Ticket to Ride: Switzerland (2007)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 1 – Team Asia & Legendary Asia (2011)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 2 – India & Switzerland (2011)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 3 – The Heart of Africa (2012)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 4 – Nederland (2013)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 5 – United Kingdom & Pennsylvania (2015)
- Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 6 – France & Old West (2017)
What is Ticket to Ride London?
Ticket to Ride London is an adventure in which players race against each other to claim bus lines connecting districts in the United Kingdom. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Players can also earn points by completing their destination tickets. And unlike other versions of Ticket to Ride, players can also earn points by connecting all locations in one London District.
Ticket to Ride London is a smaller and simpler version of the base Ticket to Ride Based Games. Ticket to Ride London can be played in about 10 to 15 minutes. The original Ticket to Ride takes 30 to 60 minutes to play. TTR London is for 2-4 Players, Ages 8 and up! Ticket to Ride London also retails for less than half the price of the Base Set TTR game.
Ticket to Ride London is being sold exclusively at Walmart right now. The prices is about $20. It is not known how long this exclusive license runs, but I would be it will be at least through the 2019 Holiday Season.
What’s in the Box?
- 1 board map of London transportation network – with an early 1970’s vibe.
- 68 plastic Buses (17 in each color)
- a few spare buses for each color
- 44 Transportation cards – 6 green sport cars, 6 blue milk trucks, 6 yellow submarines, 6 orange sport cars, 6 pinks sport cars, 6 black taxis, and 8 “Wild” Double Decker buses.
- 20 Destination Ticket Cards
- 4 Scoring Markers
- 1 Rulebook
The Box is 9″ x 9″. The board map of TTR London folds open to be 17″ x 13″. The map of the original TTR base game is about 3 times larger than the London board.
How does TTR London Play?
Game play is nearly the identical to all other Ticket to Ride Games, although it is scaled back to play quicker on the smaller board. And players are placing London’s Double Decker buses on the board to claim routers instead of train cars.
The last major change with TTR London is that the board has “Districts”. The districts are numbered 1 through 5, and you will collect bonus points if you can connect all locations in that district. Using the example on the map here, if you connect to all four 2’s, you collect 2 additional points at the end of the game.
Here is a quick overview of Ticket to Ride London game play. I don’t have all the rules here, just an overview. The rules are super simple though. 😉
Players draw 2 Destination Tickets to start the game, and players have to keep at least 1 of them, but you can keep both. Each player starts with 17 double-decker buses.
On a turn, players either:
- Draw two transportation cards from the deck or the display of five face-up cards (Note: You are only allowed to draw 1 face-up Wild Card bus)
- Or claim a route on the board by discarding cards that match the color of the route being claimed
- Or draw two destination tickets and keep at least one of them.
When you claim a route, you score points on the board track just like you do in a regular TTR game:
- 1 point for a route 1 bus long
- 2 points for routes 2 buses long
- 4 points for routes 3 buses long
- 7 points for routes 4 buses long
Unlike other versions of Ticket to Ride, there are no routes longer than 4 buses long.
Play continues until one player has 2 or fewer buses left in their supply. Each player including that player gets one last turn.
Final Scoring is as follows:
- Players should already have points from claiming routes
- Add in points for all completed destination tickets
- Subtract the value for uncompleted destination tickets
- Add in bonus points for Districts Connected (explained above)
There are no bonus points for longest route (like in the original game). The only bonuses are from the Districts.
Likes and Dislikes & Final Thoughts
Likes:
- 1970’s London theme – The artwork on the box, the board, and the cards has a fantastic early 70’s vibe. The artwork pays homage to Austin Powers, James Bond, the Beatles, the Avengers TV series (not the superheroes), and more.
- High Quality Components – The board, the pieces, and the cards are all very well made. Nothing is cheesy. The box insert is also a nice design. The pieces and the board all fit snugly back into the box.
- Easy to Teach / Easy to Learn – This is a very easy game to teach people. The directions says ages 8 and up, and this feels about right to us.
- Great Rulebook – The rulebook is in full color, and explains the game quite well.
- Fast Paced – The box says 10-15 minutes to play a game, and this feels about right for 2-3 players. I think the game actually takes a few minutes longer for 4 players, but it’s still way faster than a standard Ticket to Ride Game.
Dislikes:
- Too Simple? – This game might be a little too simple for many gamers.
- Too Short? – This game is intended to be short. And with 2 players, you really can be done in 10 minutes.
- Cramped Board – Claiming Routes can get really tight when playing with 4 players. We’ve experienced a few 4-player games where one person doesn’t complete their routes. That makes for a disheartening experience. This version seems a bit more cutthroat compared to the games with larger maps, especially with players going for districts to get bonus points.
Final Thoughts
This is an excellent version of Ticket to Ride. This mini version of Ticket to Ride plays quickly, but still offers some of the same depth and experience of the original TTR game. You are still faced with the same tough decisions you make in the original game:
- Should you top deck an unknown card or draw from the face-up cards? If you top deck, you might get a Wild Card, or 2!
- Should you grab another destination ticket? Always a tough decision if you have finished your destination/s early.
- Should you block your opponent/s? It’s very mean, but can be effective.
- Should you go for districts? A decision you’ve never faced in Ticket to Ride before
- Should you simply try to make routes, and grab points?
I think this would be an excellent entry game into the Ticket to Ride series for new gamers and younger players. The mechanics here are very easy to teach, and for new gamers to grasp.
This also would make for a great travel game. The box is only 9 “x 9″x 2”. This can easily be thrown in your suitcase or duffle bag, an played in a hotel lobby.
Days of Wonder first ventured into this quickplay series of Ticket to Ride games in 2018 with Ticket to Ride New York. I think Ticket to Ride London is wee bit better than TTR NY. Ticket to Ride London’s board is slightly larger than New York’s, and offers more routes and more buses/cars.
The only real downside to TTR London is that you may not need this game. There’s nothing really new here. TTR London plays faster and travels easier than one of the base games. But do you really need it in your collection? My wife loved it, so we bought a copy. We then proceeded to play several games in the hotel lobby at GenCon. You do get a whole lot of game here for $20! Highly Recommended for newbies and younger players!
