I normally stay away from the map packs despite my love for “Ticket to Ride”, mainly because I find them to be very expensive. I had to make an exception in this case, as this one features the very state in which I live…Pennsylvania. I was interested to see just what cities would be included and if I could indeed see my house from afar…unfortunately but not surprisingly, I couldn’t. As a quick disclaimer, I’m going to opt to keep this article brief as I’ve already gone over how to play “Ticket to Ride” in my previous review. Rather, I’m going to highlight what you’re getting and what I think.
First off, it’s important to stress that this is NOT a standalone game. You do need either “Ticket to Ride” or “Ticket to Ride: Europe” in order to play this, as the trains are not included.
This expansion contains:
- Map of United Kingdom (2-4 players)
- Map of Pennsylvania (2-5 players)
- New Train cards & Tech Cards (United Kingdom)
- New Stock Share Cards (Pennsylvania)
- Tickets & Rules for each Map
The board is double-sided, for those of you who are curious. Both sides feature new rules that bear mentioning:
PA & UK
Ferries – Special routes linking two adjacent cities across a body of water. To claim a route, a player must play a locomotive card for each symbol along that route (along with the cards of the proper color).
PA
Stock Shares – When a player claims a route, they can also take the top stock card from any of the railroads listed along that route. The person with the most shares in each railroad receives points, though the person in second receives a few points too.
A 15 point Globetrotter bonus is awarded to the player(s) who completed the most Tickets by game’s end.
2 Player Variant – Whenever a player takes a stock share, they choose another for a third dummy player. At the end of the game, the dummy player’s cards are shuffled and half are revealed, which are then counted when calculating majorities.
UK
Players only use 35 trains instead of the usual 45.
At the start of the game, each player receives a Locomotive in addition to their 4 Train Cards.
-Any 4 cards can be played as a Locomotive
-When 3 or more Locomotives appear among the available face-up cards, do NOT discard them.
Technology cards – Players start the game without technology and can only claim 1 and 2 space routes in England. At the beginning of a player’s turn, before taking a regular action, they may discard locomotives to buy ONE technology card. The technology cards will tell you how many locomotives are required to buy it. There are optional, advanced technology cards players can include as well.
There is no longest route or globetrotter bonus.
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The Review
While I did find this map pack to be expensive, I did enjoy the new “toys” it brought to the table. I like the idea of technology on the UK map as it gave me a sense of progression, like I was playing an RPG and starting out with a level one character who needed some serious buffing. I often spent time trying to figure out which ones to buy and which routes needed which tech cards to be completed. On the other hand, the PA stock card idea can’t be ignored either. Like “Stockpile” and “Acquire”, you’re trying to obtain a majority shareholder bonus in order to earn something good at the end of the game, be it currency or points. Since I enjoy stock market themed games, I took to this mechanic featured on the PA map immediately.
Bottom line…if you enjoy “Ticket to Ride” as much as I do and have the spare change, I’d say grab this one. It would be nice if these expansions were only $15 or so and at times, I feel like this particular brand/line of games is price-gouging me. Still, it’s fun to play, so if you don’t mind the price tag then you’ll probably want to have it. For families of five, you’ll be able to play the PA map, though not the UK one (unless you don’t mind breaking the rules and the board getting crowded).
Final Verdict: 7/10
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