Ticket to Ride

What you need

• Ticket to Ride base game: map board, 240 colored train cars (45 per player × up to 5), 110 train car cards (8 colors + locomotives), 30 destination tickets, scoring markers

Setup

1. Unfold the board. Deal 45 train cars + 1 scoring marker per player in your color (place marker on the '0' of the scoring track).
2. Shuffle the train car deck. Deal 4 cards to each player. Place 5 cards face-up next to the deck — this is the market.
3. Rule: if the face-up market ever contains 3+ locomotives, discard all 5 and refresh.
4. Shuffle destination tickets. Deal 3 to each player. Each player secretly keeps AT LEAST 2 (discard 1 if you want).

How to play

1. OBJECTIVE: Score the most points by claiming train routes, completing your secret destination tickets, and holding the Longest Path bonus.
2. TURN ACTIONS (pick exactly ONE): (A) Draw 2 train cards, (B) Claim a route, or (C) Draw new destination tickets.
3. (A) DRAWING TRAIN CARDS: Take 2 total from the face-up market and/or the deck. Special rule: taking a face-up locomotive counts as BOTH picks (you draw only 1 card that turn). You cannot take a face-up locomotive as your 2nd pick.
4. (B) CLAIMING A ROUTE: Discard train cards matching the color and length of one open route between two cities, then place your trains on it. Gray routes accept any single color. Locomotives are wild — they substitute for any color.
5. Route length scores: 1=1pt, 2=2pt, 3=4pt, 4=7pt, 5=10pt, 6=15pt.
6. Double routes (two parallel tracks): in 2-3 player games only ONE of the pair can be used; in 4-5 player games both can be claimed but a single player cannot own both.
7. (C) DRAWING TICKETS: Draw 3 new tickets, keep at least 1, return the rest to the bottom of the deck.
8. END TRIGGER: When any player has 2 or fewer train cars left at the end of their turn, EACH player (including that one) takes ONE final turn, then the game ends.
9. FINAL SCORING: (1) Add up route points during play. (2) Reveal all tickets — completed tickets ADD their point value, uncompleted tickets SUBTRACT their point value. (3) The player with the single longest continuous route (chain of connected trains) earns the Longest Path bonus (+10 in USA base game).

Host tips

• Strategy board game — read the rulebook once before hosting.
• Use the in-app Scorekeeper to track running totals.
• Tap 'Ask AI Judge' if a rules dispute comes up.

Snack & drink pairings

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