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There are many different variants and expansions for the Ticket to Ride series, and I'm curious about the differences. I know the standard version and the Europe version differ only by map, but I'm not so sure about the others.
What are the differences between the different games? What are there strengths and weaknesses? Is the dice expansion worth getting?
Looking for stuff like player #'s, game length, and any other things that change the experience. :D
The original and Europe versions differ HUGELY, it's not just a different board.
The US version is the simplest formulation of the game. It accommodates up to 5 players, I believe, and it'd be a great one to play with non-boardgame-obsessed family members, including the old and the young. It's still got a great deal of strategy and depth to it once you know where to look, but it won't turn off anyone who can handle Monopoly, Scrabble or Risk. (The 1910 expansion adds less unwieldy cards and a few new variants, but keeps things maximally simple and elegant.)
The Europe version is also good for large groups but takes the complexity level up a notch. Now you have to deal with concepts such as tunnels, ferries and stations, which severely alter the dynamics of collecting cards and claiming routes. It's a more gamer-y Ticket to Ride which I would probably recommended over the US version to anyone who plays with mostly hardened gamers. The 1912 expansion offers variants at a similar complexity level.
I haven't played the Marklin (German) edition but I believe it's got extra twists over the US version that probably put it on about a par with the European set.
I have played with the Nordic Countries edition and it's my personal favourite. The caveat here is: it's only for 2 or 3 players, so don't get it if you need to regularly cater to a larger group! It is even more complex than Europe, with a lot of exceptions to the normal rules that are pretty hard to grasp on the first play - but it's perfectly balanced and my wife and I come back to it again and again. The Switzerland game is another 2-3 player outing, and again I haven't actually played this one, but most of what I've seen written about it suggests that most people prefer Nordic Countries.
Hope this helps!
I can't comment on the newer Ticket to Ride editions, but you should know the original and Europe have a few differences:
The Days of Wonder website provides Flash-based versions of several ticket to ride games, which would let you try before you buy.
As this question is from 2010 and many new versions have been released since, It seems worth compiling a list of versions and notable differences. This answer can then easily be edited by anyone as more version get released. Please anyone feel free to edit/update this. I have not covered strengths and weaknesses as this is completely subjective.
I will list for each map its player count, number of pieces players start with (or other equivalent), rules for drawing tickets, special rules, bonus scoring rules. If a rule is slightly different to base game (ie with the double routes or removing tickets from the game).
For any Special Rules I will list just "ferries, tunnels" or other brief description of special rules rather than explaining every special rule in full.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 3 keep at least 2
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : None
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for longest route
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 1 Long Ticket and 3 Normal tickets keep at least 2. Untaken starting tickets are removed from the game.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1. Untaken tickets placed at bottom of deck.
Special Rules : Ferries. Tunnels.
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for longest route
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2. Choose how many to take from a long and short ticket deck
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1. Choose how many to take from each deck
Special Rules : Passengers/merchandise. The +4 locomotive. Tickets linking to countries.
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for most completed tickets.
Players : 2-3
Starting pieces: 40
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 2. Untaken tickets removed from the game
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1. Untaken tickets removed from the game
Special Rules : Locos are Tunnel Cards and no restrictions on taking them. Tunnels. Tickets linking countrys. Double routes can be taken 3 player.
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for longest route..
Players : 2-3
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 2. Untaken tickets removed from game.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1. Untaken tickets removed from game.
Special Rules : No restriction on taking face up locomotives, Tunnels, Ferries, Double routes can be used with 3 players. Can use 4 cards as a loco on a specific route.
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for most completed tickets.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 1 Long Ticket and 3 Normal tickets keep at least 2. Untaken starting tickets are removed from the game.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1. untaken tickets to bottom of deck.
Special Rules : Ferries, Mountains
Bonus Scoring : 10 points for most connected cities.
Players : 2-6 playing in pairs
Starting pieces: 27 trains per player matching colour of teammate.
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3 per player.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Team play with a mixture of shared/private wagons/tickets.
Bonus Scoring : 10 points for team with longest route. 10 points for team with most completed tickets.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Ferries
Bonus Scoring : 10 point for longest route. Mandala Ticket Bonuses (completing a ticket twice with 2 separate routes).
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Ferries
Bonus Scoring : 10 point for longest route. Mandala Ticket Bonuses (completing a ticket twice with 2 separate routes).
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Terrain Cards allowing to double points when claiming a route.
Bonus Scoring : 10 Points for most completed tickets.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 40
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1. untaken tickets form a FACE UP discard pile.
Special Rules : Double routes in use even at 2 players. Toll Routes. A neutral player for 2 player games.
Bonus Scoring : variable bonus points for remaining Toll Tokens.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 35
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Players start with a locomotive. any 4 cards can be used as a locomotive. Face up wagons are not wiped if 3 are locomotives. Ferries. Technology cards (purchased with Locomotives)
Bonus Scoring : No regular end game bonuses but some technologies provide end game bonuses.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Ferries. Stocks and Shares, special 2 player rules
Bonus Scoring : 15 points for most completed tickets. Points for stocks and shares.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 35
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2.
Tickets during game : Draw 2 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Multi routes to countries usual able in all player counts. Other double routes follow usual rules
Bonus Scoring : Points collected during game for linking countries. No tickets go to countries.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 20
Starting tickets: draw 2 keep both
Special Rules : These versions have simplified rules and a different maps. Players take wagons from top of deck. There is no face up selection. Each completed ticket is worth 1 point. First to 6 points wins. Players reveal completed tickets during the same and are instantly replaced. Players can take an action to discard both their unfinished tickets and draw new ones.
Bonus Scoring : A bonus point for connecting east/west sides of board
Players : 2-6
Starting pieces: 40
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Ferries. Claimed routes MUST connect to your existing claimed routes. Control Of cities with city markers. Optional Alvin the Alien. (with different rules to Alvin and Dexter expansion)
Bonus Scoring : 15 points for most completed tickets. 10 points for longest route.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 20 trains and 40 ships suggestion but players can vary this.
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Two separate piece types and cards for trains and ships. Piece exchanging. harbours, tour tickets.
Bonus Scoring : Points given for routes connected to players harbours.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 22 trains and 28 ships suggestion but players can vary this.
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Two separate piece types and cards for trains and ships. Piece exchanging. harbours.
Bonus Scoring : Points given for routes connected to players harbours.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 15
Starting tickets: Draw 2 keep at least 1.
Tickets during game : Draw 2 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Double Routes claimable in a 3 player game.
Bonus Scoring : Points for connected tourist destinations.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 20 per player (plus 16 shared Bullet Train markers)
Starting tickets: Draw 4 keep at least 2.
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Bullet Train useable by all players. Game end triggers in usual way and if 2 or fewer bullet train pieces are left in supply.
Bonus Scoring : variable bonus point for contributing to Bullet train.
Players : 2-5
Starting pieces: 45
Starting tickets: Draw 5 keep at least 3.
Tickets during game : Draw 4 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Tickets to zones. Ferry card
Bonus Scoring : Points for connecting different zones to your network.
Bonus Scoring : variable bonus point for contributing to Bullet train.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 17
Starting tickets: Draw 2 keep at least 1.
Tickets during game : Draw 2 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Double Routes claimable in a 3 player game. some routes give merchandise cards.
Bonus Scoring : Points for majorities of merchandise cards.
Players : 2-4
Starting pieces: 32
Starting tickets: draw 2 personal "Family" tickets and 2 from normal deck. Keep at least 2. Untaken tickets removed from the game
Tickets during game : Draw 3 keep at least 1.
Special Rules : Double routes used in 3 players games. tickets personal to players 'character'. 'Family routes' which can be built in sections and used by multiple players.
Bonus Scoring : No end game bonus points
The German edition has two major differences. One is a new concept called "passengers", which gives a new way to make enormous amounts of points, which in one stroke can give make one player almost certain to win. Setup for "passengers" involves placing 50+ tiny cardboard discs in ordered piles on every city. IMO, this takes too long. The game works fine if you omit "Passengers", and just use the normal rules.
The other difference is that the train cards all have different models of locomotives and cars. People find it confusing that cards of the same value don't all look the same and have to be reminded to just look at the colour symbol in the corner. This ch
I've been doing some research to see how Marklin, Deutschland, and Germany differ. Here's what I've found so far for sure.
Marklin vs. Deutschland vs. Germany. Marklin came out first and had the most complex rules of the three. It was a Limited Edition Special Release product which covered the map of Germany released in 2006. Deutschland came out as the Basic Ticket to ride for Germany in 2012. It got expanded with Deutschland 1902 in 2015 which reworked many of the mechanics from Marklin. In 2017 both Deutschland and 1902 were put together and translated into English for the American Audience... so from here on out, I'll only be contrasting Marklin and Germany, because Deutschland and 1902 combined is the same as Germany.
Marklin has 11 of each coloured train car. Germany has 12 of each coloured train car.
Marklin has 14 standard Locomotives and 6 +4 Locomotives Germany only has 14 standard Locomotives.
Marklin has 10 Passenger Cards (this brings the total Train Car deck size to 110). Germany doesn't use Passenger Cards (this leaves the total Train Car deck size at 102)
Marklin has 23 Long Distance Cards Germany has 34 Long Distance Cards (And includes 1902)
Marklin has 23 Short Distance Cards value 5 - 11 Germany has 74 Long Distance Cards value 2 - 11
Marklin Globetrotter is worth 10 Germany Globetrotter is worth 15
Marklin has 15 Passengers (3x each player colour) Germany has 60 Passengers (10x for black, red, yellow, green, blue, white)
Marklin has 74 Merchandise Tokens
Marklin Board has Token places Designated Germany instead shows how many Meeple are placed in each city in the instructions, leaving the map's cities blank.
If you want to convert the German Map to Marklin, here's a geographical comparison. Town Left Tokens Meeple - Town Right Tokens Meeple Kiel Yellow 1 - Rostock White 1 Emden White 1 - Schwerin White 1 Bremerhaven White 1 - Hamburg Red 4 Bremen Yellow 1 - Berlin Black 5
Munster Yellow 1 - Magdeburg White 1
Hannover Yellow 1 - Leipzig Yellow 3
Dortmund Yellow 1 - Dresden Yellow 1
Dusseldorf Red 1 - Erfurt White 1
Kassel White 1 - Chemnitz White 1
Koln Red 4
Koblenz White 1
Frankfurt Red 4
Mainz Yellow 1
Wurzburg White 1
Mannheim Yellow 1 - Nurnberg Yellow 1
Saarbrucken Yellow 1 - Regensburg White 1
Karlsruhe Yellow 1 - Augsburg White 1
Stuttgart Red 3 - Munchen Red 4
Ulm White 1
Freiburg White 1
Konstanz White 1
Lindau White 1
Denmark - 1 Niederlande - 1 Frankreich - 1 Osterreich - 1 (one meeple split across both locations, first come, first serve)
I do not have a list of the tickets for Marklin to tell you what to pull or substitute from Germany. If anyone has it (or just a good picture), I'd love to see the list.
TIN FOIL HAT TIME These two paragraphs are all my own theory on why Marklin became Germany and the reason it happened that way. It's all based on coincidence, so take it with a grain of salt. Ticket to Ride won the Spiel des Jahres (Germany's Game of the Year) award in 2004. 2 years later they release a German map. Gaming is a much bigger deal in Germany than it is in the US, and thus making a German Map that the German people would recognize would probably sell really well. Somewhere around this time, Marklin, the German toy company that makes trains approaches the company that makes the toy game and says, "Let's work together." So they do. Because they are using pictures of the Marklin trains, as well as the Marklin logo all over, Days of Wonder has to pay Marklin a royalty for each game printed... So they make a special game that suits what both are doing... i.e. Ticket to Ride Marklin.
Later on, Days of Wonder is looking to reprint a German Map, but either doesn't want to pay the royalty fee to Marklin, or legally can't reproduce the game, and thus needs to make a legally distinct game from their Marklin version. This is where Deutschland comes from. A 100% German game for the German people that is almost exactly TTR USA shaped like Germany. Later on they give Deutschland the USA 1910 expansion treatment with Deutschland 1902. This brings in some variant of the Marklin passenger mechanics while still remaining as legally distinct as possible. A few years later they want to bring it to the US, but printing up a third map would cost money, so they use the same map (one of TTR's biggest strengths globally is how universal they are) as Germany, but fix the instructions because that's cheaper. Low and behold, we have Marklin, Deustchland, 1902, and Germany.
If anybody else could prove or disprove this theory, that'd be cool too.
