Ticket To Ride - Asia

You’ve heard of Ticket To Ride, right? It’s the king of the gateway games, by publisher Days of Wonder. You and other players compete to lay train tracks to complete ‘tickets’. Ticket To Ride: Team Asia and Legendary Asia is – surprise, surprise! – set in Asia. This comes with new destination tickets (for the Asian cities). This is more than a geographical relocation to the enormous continent, though. Unlike the base game, this board is double-sided, which means there’s two new different ways to play.

On one side of the board is ‘Team Asia’, which accommodates four to six players. In this version, players compete against each other in two-person teams. You sit next to your partner at the table, because you’re going to share cards! You have your own hand of train cards as per normal, but you share a wooden cardholder, too. This holds not only cards for both you and your partner, but also some joint-tickets! When you draw new cards, you gain one for yourself and have to add one to the cardholder. You and your partner’s scores get combined. The ‘hidden’ information aspect makes it a fascinating alternative.

On the flip-side is the ‘Legendary Asia’ map (designed by François Valentyne). This is closer to a traditional, competitive game of Ticket To Ride. There is the addition of dangerous mountains, though. When you claim a mountain route, you have to discard a train from your supply. You earn extra points doing this, but could that train go to better use elsewhere? Does it speed up the end-game? There’s also a 10VP bonus to the player that links the most cities together within one of their network of routes. It’s another clever little twist to the Ticket To Ride series.

Ticket To Ride Team Asia and Legendary Asia is an expansion. To play this, you’ll also need to have Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe.

Play Count: 2-6 players
Time: 30-60 minutes
Age: 8+