Building a Railroad Empire

Regardless of the number of players or the map selected, every game of Ticket to Ride begins the same way. Each player is dealt destination tickets and must keep some number of them. The game helpfully highlights the cities listed on the tickets when you select them. Each player also receives random train cards, which are used to claim routes between cities.

The remaining destination tickets are placed face down in a stack. From the remaining train cards, five are dealt face up and the rest are set up in a draw deck.

Actions on Your Turn

On your turn, you may take one of three actions: draw train cards, claim a route, or draw destination tickets.

Draw Train Cards

There are eight colors of train cards (the colors are not related to the trains used by the players!), with each color depicting different rail cars and using a different symbol to assist color-blind players. The ninth type of train card is the locomotive, which acts as a wild card—unless you’re playing the Switzerland or Nordic Countries expansion. In many versions of Ticket to Ride, if three of the five face-up cards are locomotives, then all five are discarded and replaced.

The restrictions for drawing cards are as follows:

• You may draw one face-up locomotive.

• You may draw one card blindly from the top of the draw deck. Regardless of what card you draw, you may then select one more card from the draw deck or any face-up card that is not a locomotive.

• You may draw one face-up card that isn’t a locomotive, which is replaced immediately. You may then draw another face-up card that isn’t a locomotive or select

Claim a Route

To claim a regular route between two cities, play the same number of cards of the same color, or locomotives, as are shown on the map. Gray silhouettes on the board indicate that any color of card can be used to claim the route, but all cards must be the same color or be locomotives.

The points you earn from claiming a route are based on the number of trains used on the route. The scoring is not a simple progression. Claiming one-car routes awards a single point, while routes with six cars are worth 16 points.

Draw Destination Tickets

Your final option, drawing destination tickets, is one that should be used sparingly. Depending on which version of Ticket to Ride you’re playing, you draw a number of destination tickets and must retain at least one of them.

Ending the Game

The first player to end their turn with zero, one, or two trains begins the final round of play. Each player, including the player down to two or fewer trains, gets one more turn.

The game then calculates each player’s score and any bonuses active in the game. Completed destination tickets are added to scores, while incomplete destination tickets reduce scores. The winner is the player with the highest score.