Ticket to Ride: New York does its iob

I have read (but I don’t actually know if it’s true) that Ticket to Ride: New York was designed as a convention demo and only went retail due to demand. Even if that’s not true, it is a fun story.

I actually picked up a very lightly used copy a couple years back (so lightly that the cards were were still wrapped) but only recently got it on the table.

I’m assuming that anyone reading this knows how to play Ticket to Ride. If you don’t, close your browser window and go play Ticket to Ride. That will be a better use of your time than reading my blog.

The idea behind the city line of Ticket to Ride is a shorter, smaller version of the game, one that takes ten to fifteen minutes to play.  The boards are smaller (I want to say a third the functional size of the big boards) and you have fifteen cars instead of forty-five. Huh, that number supports my one-third estimate.

The only addition to the basic Ticket to Ride rules that everyone should know and love in New York is tourist attractions. Certain locations are marked with a penny and you get a bonus point for connecting to them.

I went in with two negative expectations. I was expecting that the games would be so short that sifting through tickets wouldn’t be a viable strategy. And I was expecting that the points from tourist attractions would be too small to make a difference.

What I hadn’t considered was that the routes and the tickets would both be smaller. So no one burns through their cars so fast that drawing more tickets is the equivalent of losing a turn. In fact, sticking with only your starting tickets looks like a losing strategy. 

And that’s because my fear about the tourist attractions does seem to pan out. The bonus points you get from them aren’t as much as pursuing tickets or even longer routes.

Looking at the other city games, New York doesn’t seem as polished. The map has more bottle necks and the bonus feature is meh. After playing it, I ordered the London map because the district bonus scoring (effectively having bonus tickets printed on the board) seems more of an actual game changer.

Still, at the end of the day, Ticket to Ride: New York succeeds at its most important goal. It feels like playing Ticket to Ride.

I will admit that ten years ago, a fifteen-minute Ticket to Ride would have just seemed cute. As a parent, it’s now a much higher deal. Being able to get in a game on a school night and feel like I’ve actually played a game is huge for us.

Taking another look at Target shelves

I periodically check out the game shelves at Target. While I have grown used to seeing designer games at Barnes and Nobel, it is fascinating for me to see what Target will take a chance on.

The last time I looked, I was surprised by some of the things I saw. Century:Spice Road was pretty surprising. We are looking at family weight games but I view those as one of the bedrocks of the gaming industry. And they are also what got me into designer board games.

However, here’s a few things that really struck me on my last look.

Shadows in the Forest... is that a remake of Waldschattenspiel? A game that was a grail game when I first started collecting because open flame was a major component. And it’s in Target with an electric candle? (Well, I guess I can add my own live candle if I wanted to)

 Voltage is a game I bought when it first came out almost ten years ago. It was one of a couple games that Mattel (!) put out, presumably feelers to see if their market was ready for designer games. It’s still in my collection and I think it’s a nice, almost Balloon Cup game. I just never thought I would ever see it in print again, let alone in a place like Target.

Ticket to Ride:New York is something I didn’t even know existed until I saw it at Target... and I still don’t know how I feel about it. I love short games but Ticket to Ride condensed down to fifteen minutes might be cutting out too many choices.

That said, I’d have bought in an instant in my hording days but I’d get more out of it now either as a ‘the kid’s asleep, let’s game’ or introducing a preschooler to Ticket to Ride. I’d rather have New York than First Journey.

I’m not sure how I feel that three of my top ‘really need to buy’ games  are available at Target (Kingdomino, Santorini (which a friend bought for me), and Azul, by the way) are all available at Target. That really dings my gamer rep :P However, I think that it also says a lot about designer games becoming more and more mainstream in the United States.

Which isn’t the first time this has happened to me. When I started watching Doctor Who in the mid-80s, it was an eccentric thing to do :D