We have a question regarding Ticket To Ride. Can part of one train be used to fulfill two different destination routes? For example, my clever son completed his San Francisco-Atlanta “Destination Ticket” (17 bonus pts.). He then drew the Portland-Nashville “Destination Ticket” (also 17 bonus points) and decided this would be a cinch since he had already completed San Francisco to Atlanta. He simply added another 5 train cars, from San Francisco to Portland, and claimed another 17 bonus points for the Portland-Nashville ticket! I think he should not be allowed to do this, but should complete a whole separate train between Portland and Nashville to earn those 17 additional points. I may be reading the rules too quickly, but I don’t see where the rules explicitly address this one way or the other. Do you know if there is an “official” rule on this? Or is it up to people to determine this in their own house rules? Thanks for any tips you have!
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1The rules ask you to check if the cities are connected, period.– ikegamiFeb 24, 2015 at 22:03
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Be aware of confusion if playing TTR: Europe, where stations can only be used to claim a single track out of a city.– xorsystFeb 25, 2015 at 10:55
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But that <strike>track</strike>route can connect multiple cities for the purpose of destination tickets. See also: There's no concept of direction of travel in Ticket to Ride.– ikegamiFeb 25, 2015 at 17:37
3 Answers
From the rule book:
The object of the game is to score the highest number of total points. Points can be scored by:
◆ Claiming a Route between two adjacent cities on the map;
◆ Successfully completing a Continuous Path of routes between two cities listed on your Destination Ticket(s);
◆ Completing the Longest Continuous Path of routes
You shouldn't think of it as building trains, but as claiming routes. The plastic trains are only there to show that the route is yours.
Once you've claimed a set of routes between Atlanta and San Francisco, you can (and should) use and re-use this route as often as possible.
In Ticket to Ride, any segments you have placed can and will work for any Routes you wish to complete. By sheer luck he pulled one that required very little additional track and re-used much existing track.
It's unfortunate for you as an opponent, but it is something both of you can leverage, legally.
Reading the Official Rules PDF doesn't seem to call this out specifically (nor does it refute it), but it is how I've seen the game played in person as well as on the official Ticket to Ride PC game. Track re-use seems in the spirit of the game, to say the least.
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3The rule don't specifically call out whether route can be reused or not because the game has no concept of routes being used at all. The rules simply check if the cities are connected by the routes you claimed.– ikegamiFeb 24, 2015 at 22:18
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1Yes, thank you for that bit of rewording for clarity. It never occurred to me (as it may never have occurred to the copy writers) as it seemed rather rudimentary--consider how difficult you'd make the game for yourself if you couldn't reuse tracks--making short routes almost nearly a liability. That said, even logistically it would be difficult to figure it out. Feb 24, 2015 at 22:23
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1Thanks to everyone for the replies. Yes, I see now how this makes more sense (to "re-use" existing train cars/routes). It's been quite awhile since I've played and maybe I just don't remember seeing it done before. Okay, now I'm ready to play again and utilize this strategy! Feb 25, 2015 at 0:46
Everyone I've ever played with count as long as you have a train route that connects to both ends on the card you are good to go. You don't need 'Make a new route'. That is a large part of the fun of the game and the challenge to decide if to draw more destination tickets near the end. "will I already be connected to some? Or will I only need one more 'link' to complete another?"
From the rules:
Each Destination Ticket includes the name of two cities on the map and a Point Value. If a player successfully completes a series of routes that connect the two cities, they will add the amount of points indicated on the Destination Ticket to their point totals at the end of the game. If they do not successfully connect the two cities, they deduct the amount of points indicated.
The high-lighted part just says they need to be connected, not connected again. Also other editions of Ticket to ride (Europe) build on this tactic buy have railway station to use others tracks to a similar purpose. If you play with more than 2 people you will see it makes a lot more sense to play that way.
