Ticket to Ride

1 Game Overview

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure. Players collect sets of colored train cards and use them to claim railway routes connecting cities across a map (the original version uses the USA).

Longer routes earn more points. But the real strategy comes from Destination Tickets — secret route cards that give you bonus points for connecting specific city pairs, or penalty points if you don't complete them by the end of the game.

It's one of the best introductory "gateway" games ever made: easy enough to teach in 15 minutes, deep enough to play for years.

2 What's in the Box

• 1 board map (USA)
• 240 colored train cars (48 per player, 5 colors)
• 110 train cards
• 30 destination ticket cards
• 5 scoring markers
• 1 "Longest Continuous Path" bonus card

3 Setup

1. Lay the board in the middle of the table. Place scoring markers for each player on the start space (1) of the score track around the edge.
2. Give each player 45 train cars of their color and a matching scoring marker.
3. Shuffle the train cards. Deal 4 face-down to each player. Turn 5 more face-up in a row next to the draw pile.
4. Shuffle the destination ticket cards. Deal 3 to each player. Each player must keep at least 2; discard unwanted ones face-down to the bottom of the destination ticket deck.
5. The player who has traveled the most by train goes first. (Or just the youngest player.)

4 Your Turn Options

On your turn, you must do exactly one of these three actions:

Option A — Draw Train Cards

Draw 2 train cards. You can draw from the 5 face-up cards (replacing each you take immediately from the draw pile) or from the top of the draw deck. You can mix and match (take 1 face-up and 1 face-down, etc.).

Exception: Wild (Locomotive) cards face-up count as 2 draws. If you take a face-up wild, it's your only draw for this turn.

If 3 or more of the 5 face-up cards are wilds, discard all 5 and reveal 5 new ones.

Option B — Claim a Route

Spend matching train cards to claim a colored route between two cities on the board. Place your train cars on those route spaces. Score points immediately (see scoring below).

Option C — Draw Destination Tickets

Draw 3 destination ticket cards from the top of the deck. You must keep at least 1. Discard unwanted ones face-down to the bottom of the deck. Destination tickets are kept secret until end-game scoring.

5 Claiming Routes

To claim a route, play the exact number of cards matching the route's color and length. For example, a 4-segment blue route requires exactly 4 blue train cards.

Gray Routes

Gray (uncolored) routes can be claimed using any single color — but all cards played must be the same color. You choose which color.

Wild (Locomotive) Cards

Locomotives are wild and can substitute for any color. You can mix locomotives with any color cards to fill a route.

Double Routes

Some city pairs have two parallel routes. In a 2–3 player game, only one of the two routes between the same cities can be claimed by any player. In a 4–5 player game, different players can each claim one of the parallel routes.

Route Scoring

• 1 car route = 1 point
• 2 car route = 2 points
• 3 car route = 4 points
• 4 car route = 7 points
• 5 car route = 10 points
• 6 car route = 15 points

6 Destination Tickets

Destination tickets are the heart of Ticket to Ride. Each ticket names two cities and a point value. If you've connected those two cities with a continuous chain of your own train cars by the end of the game, you add the points to your score. If not, you subtract those points.

Connectivity is transitive — you don't need a direct route, just an unbroken chain of your own trains from one city to the other, regardless of how many routes it passes through.

7 End Game & Scoring

Triggering the End

When any player places their last train car (or has 2 or fewer remaining), finish the current round so everyone has had the same number of turns, then play one final round. The game ends after that final round.

Final Scoring

Points you scored during the game (from claiming routes) stay. Then add or subtract:

• + All completed destination tickets
• − All incomplete destination tickets
• +10 to the player with the longest continuous path of trains (the Globetrotter bonus)

The player with the most points wins. Ties are broken by completed destination tickets (most wins), then by longest route.

8 Strategy Tips

• Balance tickets with trains. Taking too many tickets spreads you thin. 2–3 well-chosen tickets that share routes is better than 5 scattered ones.
• Claim critical bottlenecks early. Routes through cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York get crowded. Don't wait.
• Watch the card pile. If you can see what colors others are collecting, you can guess their routes and block them.
• Long routes are efficient. A 6-car route gives 15 points for 6 cards. Four 1-car routes give 4 points for 4 cards. Longer is almost always better.
• Don't neglect the Globetrotter bonus. 10 extra points for the longest path can swing the game. Keep your route connected.
• In 2-player games, block aggressively. With only 2 players, cutting off a parallel route can cripple your opponent.