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enter image description here

They both are 40, correct?
Then shouldn't it be a tie?

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  • 6
    Obviously other people figured it out anyways, but I would suggest you could improve your question a lot by pointing out which tracks you're looking at and how you're counting them. Having seen the correct answer, I now see the 3D tokens are different from the flat spaces. But it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Perhaps that's fine, since I've never played the game and would be less suited to answer the question anyways. Just a thought. I'd at least point out how you're scoring them in future questions.
    – MichaelS
    Aug 16, 2021 at 2:12

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36

Yellow's "longest train" is only 38 points. Loops won't count towards the "longest train" count unless they can be continued without doubling over itself. Otherwise, only the longest branch will be counted.

So, taking a segment of your example:

sample track showing 11 points

Here, the segment would be worth 11 points without counting the extra two trains. This is better than the alternative where the longest train tries to follow the loop:

sample track terminating at Dallas

This segment is only worth 9 points total. It tries to follow the loop but has no way to continue without doubling over existing track, so it has to terminate at Dallas. The only way the whole loop could be counted is if the track can continue after completing it:

sample track with an extra loop included

In this case, I've added a hypothetical extension off of Dallas: This way all the trains in the loop could all be counted.

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  • Or if the loop is at the end, it's always possible to start at the midpoint, go around it in full, and continue in the only direction the route continues. Like in the first image if the 1-2-3 connections were not there and you went from Ok City to Dallas etc.
    – ilkkachu
    Aug 16, 2021 at 12:56
  • Arguably, you could come from the other end and have the loop be 32-37 (still one train short of 38) rather than 4-9 which might or might not be a good illustration
    – Jan
    Oct 21, 2021 at 11:58
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Green appears to have a length of 40 and Yellow appears to have a length of 38.

Looking at the green path there are a total of 4 cars that can't be counted in the longest path. Sault St. Marie to Toronto and New York to Pittsburgh.

Looking at the yellow path and there are a total of 5 cars that can't be counted. Dallas to Oklahoma City and Denver to Salt Lake City.

In order to qualify for the longest path it needs to be a single path with no branches and never doubling back on itself.

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