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I am asking about Ticket to Ride Europe, but if possible I would prefer a generic answer.

Let's say player A claims a route and remains with 1 car. This, per rules, starts the last turn. When it is again player A's turn, assuming all the needed cards are available, can any route be claimed, or only routes with length 1?

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  • For what it's worth, the app will not let you do this (ie you can't place more train cars than you physically have). – The Chaz 2.0 Jan 22 at 15:08
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He can only claim a route with length 1 because he only has one train. You will not magically get more trains because it is the last turn so all normal rules still apply.

By the rules:

Game End

When one player’s stock of colored plastic trains gets down to only 0,1 or 2 trains left at the end of his turn, each player, including that player, gets one final turn. The game then ends and players calculate their final scores.

There is no mention of different rules for the last turns so normal rule apply.

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    You are not required to claim a route. You can even draw new cards. But you can't use them anymore. But the wisest move to do is claim the highest valued route you can. – Toon Krijthe Jan 21 at 10:51
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    So Player A is required to use their final turn, but if they can't claim a route, they can simply draw (unusable) train cards, or gamble and draw route cards to see if they match any routes already claimed, correct? – Lars Kristensen Jan 21 at 10:57
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    It is not explicit in the rules. They say they each have a last turn. Any you can do any of the three actions in a turn. – Toon Krijthe Jan 21 at 10:59
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    @LarsKristensen On their 2nd to last turn, they played trains (otherwise, how did they go down to 0, 1 or 2 trains). You can only play 1 set of trains per turn. So if they are playing tactically, they could have the cards for another route and the trains as well they "held back" for their last turn. – Yakk Jan 21 at 17:40
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    The official online game requires a normal last turn for the last player, and drawing cards is the standard "do nothing" way to end the game. – chrylis Jan 21 at 19:21
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This situation is not explicitly covered by the Game End rules. However, since not all the steps of claiming a route (see below) can be executed, I'd interpret not having enough colored trains as an illegal move. Therefore, the final player can only build routes with length 1 (or 2 if they had 2 trains left).

Claim a Route - The player claims a route on the board by playing a set of Train cards from his hand that match the color and quantity of the spaces that make up the route. He places one of his colored trains on each space, and scores the number of points indicated on the Route Scoring Table for that route’s length;

(link to Ticket to Ride Europe rules; other versions are similarly worded)

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