How to play Ticket to Ride

The basics

This guide covers the original North America map. Europe and the other maps use the same core turn, then add their own twists.

Setup

1. Pick a color. Each player takes 45 trains in that color and puts their scoring marker on Start, on the track around the edge of the board.
2. Deal starting cards. Shuffle the train car cards and give everyone 4. Then flip 5 cards face up next to the deck. This is the market you'll draw from.
3. Deal destination tickets. Everyone gets 3 tickets and must keep at least 2. Put any you don't want on the bottom of the ticket deck. Keep yours secret.
4. Set the bonus card aside. The Longest Continuous Path card goes next to the board for the end of the game.
5. Pick a first player and go clockwise from there.

Your turn: pick one

You do exactly one of these. No combining.

Colored routes need cards of that color. Gray routes take any color, as long as every card you play is the same color. You can claim any open route on the map. It doesn't have to touch your other trains, though it usually should.

Your tickets stay hidden all game, which is half the fun. Other players can only guess where you're headed from the routes you claim. If you need one key link, say a short route into a busy city, claim it early before your plan becomes obvious. Leave the open, flexible stretches for later.

There's no hand limit. Saving up cards for a few turns, then claiming several routes in a row, is normal play.

Route points by length

This is the table that decides most games. Points climb faster than length, so long routes pay much better per train.

A six-train route is worth 15 points. Six single-space routes using the same trains are worth 6. You only have 45 trains, so spending them on long routes is how strong players pull ahead even when they finish fewer tickets.

The catch is the cards. Six of one color takes time to collect, and someone may grab the route while you wait. The practical balance: build toward your tickets, but take a long route along the way when it fits.

Locomotives

Locomotives are the multicolored cards. They act as wild cards and can stand in for any color when you claim a route. They come with draw limits:

• Face-up locomotive as your first pick: that's your whole draw. You take only that one card this turn.
• Face-up locomotive as your second pick: not allowed. If one appears after your first draw, leave it.
• Locomotive from the top of the deck: a normal draw. You still get your second card.
• Three locomotives face up at once: discard all five face-up cards and deal five new ones.

End of game and scoring

Watch your train supply. When a player finishes a turn with 2 or fewer trains left, every player, including that one, gets one more turn. Then the game is over.

A ticket is complete if your own trains form an unbroken line between its two cities. The path can wander and pass through other cities. For the longest path, count the trains in your longest single connected line. That line may cross itself or revisit a city, but each train is counted only once. If players tie for longest, each of them gets the 10 points.

If two players tie on points, the one who completed more tickets wins. If that's still tied, the holder of the longest path card wins.

Playing with 2 or 3

Some city pairs are joined by two side-by-side routes, called double routes. With 4 or 5 players both can be used, though one player can never own both halves of the same pair. With 2 or 3 players, only one route of each double pair can be claimed. Once one side is taken, the other is closed.

That makes the board tighter, which helps a 2-player game. It still plays fine as a couple, but it shines at 4. If you mostly play as two, our best 2-player board games list has games built for exactly that.

Common mistakes

• Doing two things in one turn. Drawing one card and then claiming a route isn't allowed. It's one option per turn.
• Taking a face-up locomotive as the second card. This is the most common rules slip at a new table.
• Mixing colors on a gray route. Gray means "any one color," not "any colors."
• Drawing more tickets late. New tickets can win a game, but an unfinished one costs you its full value. Late in the game, only draw them if you have trains and cards to spare.
• Hoarding too long. Big hands feel safe, but a key route can vanish while you wait. Claim the routes others will want first.
• Ignoring the train count. Check opponents' supplies. The end can come a full round earlier than you expect.

Ticket to Ride is one of the safest picks for a mixed group. It sits near the top of our best family board games for that reason.