I’m tired. It’s been a long, full day of boardgaming. What did we play? Well, since you asked: 10 Days in the USA; Ticket To Ride–Europe*; Ticket to Ride; Circus Maximus; Cosmic Encounter; Bohnanza; Blokus; and Ace of Aces.
So how does TTR:Europe differ from the original?
First is the distribution of route cards. There are a small number of long, high value routes. You are dealt one of these, and the rest of the long routes go out of the game. You then get two shorter routes, and get to keep two of the three, with what you discard going out of the game (thus no one knows if you kept the long or the short routes). Future route discards stay in the game.
Second are ferries. These take a particular number of colored cards, but there is a minimum number of such cards that have to be locomotives (wilds). Thus, these are a little harder to get.
Third are tunnels. These take the requisite set of cards, but when you claim it, you turn over three cards from the deck. If any is a loco or the color of the set turned in for the tunnel, you need to add an additional card to the set. If you can’t make it, the cards go back in your hand.
Fourth are stations. These little buildings are issued 3 to a player at the beginning and can be placed on any city; doing so counts as your move for the turn and costs 1 card for the 1st station placed, 2 for the second, 3 for the third. You gain 4 points for each station left in your hand at the end of the game. What do they do? When it’s time to score up Destination Tickets, a Station allows you to claim use of ANY claimed route from that station to the nearest city, even one owned by another player.
Last is the board. The board eliminates 5-space routes in favor of 4 and under and several 6’s, with one 8-space route (which is worth 21… and is also a tunnel), and there’s less than half as many double space routes, where two players can claim the same route (9, compared with 22 in the original).
*: Just ordered… only around $26 plus shipping at timewellspent.org!
