Ticket to Ride – iPad Game Review

By Juli | June 8, 2011 | No comment yet

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Ticket to Ride is a new interactive board game designed especially for the iPad from Days of Wonder, the creators of Small World, another popular iPad board game.

This iPad version of Ticket to Ride is an electronic port of the original North American board game, and you may already be familiar with the game mechanics. If you’re not, here’s a quick intro: Ticket to Ride is a train track construction game for up to five players, where you collect cards that let you place tracks between cities on a map. Each card is worth a different amount of points, based the length of the track you’re constructing.

The difficulty comes when you select your ticket, which gives you two cities that you must construct a path between, while your opponent works on a different route. You never see the cards of your opponent, and the goal is to lay track between your cities before valuable space is taken up. Connecting cities earns you points, while not connecting them will cost you points at the end of the game.

There’s a limited amount of track space available. Restrictions in the form of track length and color make the game a challenging but fun logical puzzle. Each person starts with 45 trains to place, and the game ends when one person has placed all of their trains.

As a board game aficionado, I’m always excited to play board games on my iPad, and Ticket to Ride is no disappointment. I’ve played the regular version before, and the gameplay on the iPad is even better because there are no pieces to keep track of and no points to count. Everything is done for you, which is a major bonus. Plus, no one can disobey the rules, so there’s no conflict which sometimes comes along with board game playing, at least in my house.

As far as the graphics go, the iPad version remains true to the original. The cards and board are in the same colors and have a similar design, and the controls make gameplay simple. Tap to choose tickets and cards, and drag your card to the tracks to lay them down. If you make an error and your cards are the wrong color or you have an incorrect number, the game will tell you what’s wrong.

The game lobby area, accessed by tapping on the station, is quite charming. There’s a restaurant with a French waiter where who offers to seat you at a table – this is the online multiplayer gaming hub. A rosy-cheeked candy store vendor offers other versions of Ticket to Ride that are available as in-app purchases, and the gruff mechanic allows you to change game settings (volume, controls, and avatar).

There’s an extensive tutorial system and a tutorial video that will have you playing in no time. This is a game that’s easy to learn, but tough to master, especially against experienced opponents. However, the AI isn’t spectacular – it’s not smart enough to lay track ahead of time at key points like players will be able to do, so playing online is a must if you want a challenge. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no local gameplay option, so online gameplay is your only choice besides computer opponents.

What I liked: The Ticket to Ride gameplay is a lot of fun, especially on the iPad where everything is streamlined. It’s a strategic game that requires a lot of thought and some cunning – you’ve got to figure out where your opponent is building and try to get key track pieces down first.

What I didn’t like: This game really needs two player local play. It would be a perfect pass and play game with a couple of easy tweaks.

To buy or not to buy: If you like multiplayer board games with online play, this game is for you. But if you’re looking for something you can play with the family, stick to the real board game.