If you’re new to the game (or just terrible, like me) an introductory video in the Android version explains all of the rules. Curiously, it’s a video for the version, making references to double-clicking showing all of the action on a monitor. The id version of the game gets its own dedicated video, so I’d imagine something Android-friendly will be popping up soon enough. y down rail routes to claim points dominate the map. The game’s rules are simple: you need to connect cities by rail, plotting routes across the map. At the start of the game every player chooses up to three destination tickets: these link two cities, are worth a number of points—s Angeles to Miami nets you 20 points, for example. Each turn you can pick up a pair of colored railcar cards, or draw a new destination ticket if you’re feeling gutsy. Cities are connected by colored rail lines of varying lengths—you’ll need five train cars for a track with five segments, so on. Drop railcars onto the tracks that correspond to their color (grey tracks will accept any color), you’ll eventually complete your route. Sounds simple, right? And it is, until you introduce that onerous human element. The number of trains are limited: once a player only has two trains left, everyone else gets one last turn before the game is over points are tallied. You’ll get the points on your destination ticket when you successfully complete it, but you’ll also get extra points for having a longer route. Fail to complete that route, you’ll lose that number of points—that makes cross country routes especially dangerous. Only one player can claim a set of tracks, so winning is less about planning an efficient, pleasant journey for your passengers, more about cutting off your opponent’s rail line. Ticket to Ride on Android comes with the U.S. map, but you can pay extra for maps of other countries. I like to imagine I’m a 19th century robber baron plopping railcars across the board seemingly at rom, all the while cutting off opponents in a Machiavellian scheme that sees my rail company as the only successful one. The reality is that I run out of trains long before completing that treacherous Seattle to New York trip, presumably spend the rest of my years sleeping in freight cars, lamenting my misspent wealth cursing my nemeses. This is probably why I don’t play board games very much. That said, when I have to play a board game these days I’ve started to feel that digital is often the way to go. You’ll lose that tactile feel of cardboard plastic, there’s something to be said about gathering around a table with some chums, arguing over rules hurling accusations of chicanery face to face. But the lack of setup cleanup time is just the icing on the cake: Ticket To Ride’s multiplayer offerings let you play with up to two to five people who own the app, it’s fast seamless. Better still, it’s cross-platform, so you can compete against fans who own the game on Android, iOS, or Steam. Being able to immediately compete against thouss of players is a strong shot in the arm for a game that was just released this morning, I’m sure seasoned vets will appreciate swarms of doe-eyed newbies to crush under their heels pad their E ranking. Things aren’t entirely rosy. I tested the game on my Nexus 7, while everything moved at a fine clip, board games are (as expected) a little more appealing when played on my larger id—folks with bigger Android tablets shouldn’t run into any issues. I also noticed that a few of the animations present on the iOS version are missing here, while they’re simply minor flourishes—things like tickets being stamped once you complete a route—it’s lamentable. The iOS version hles multiplayer matches by linking to your GameCenter account, but you’ll need to register for a Days of nder account on Android. Sadly, the Android version of Ticket to Ride is built for Android tablets has no pass–play mode. The most egregious fault here is the lack of a pass play mode. I’d often set up pass play games on my id to introduce the game to friends who either didn’t own an id or had never played it before, I’ve found it’s one of the best ways to get folks hooked on a new experience. I sorely hope it’s included in an update sometime soon, as expecting friends to shell out $7 on a whim—or only playing against the C when you don’t have an internet connection—is a bit of a downer.
