Episode 30 - Ticket to Ride: Europe: It Tracks

Hello There!

In this month's episode we tackle a classic, in the form of Ticket to Ride: Europe. The blockbuster monolith of modern boardgaming where players compete to build railways across Europe. We assess the core gameplay, judge how it stacks up with other classics, and most importantly assess how it works as a 2 player experience. We hope you enjoy!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Board With Each Other, the board gaming podcast that reviews board games through the lens of how well does it play at two players. Whether that be with your significant other, a BFF, or the train conductor who you're trying to convince to let you off your ticket by beating him at a board game. I'm joined as ever by my player too, my lovely wife, Anna Kelly.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

Hi guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

And today we are tackling another classic. I think it's high time we tackled another classic. It's been a while. One of the uh Mount Rushmore modern board games that is Ticket to Ride, specifically Ticket to Ride Europe, which is a later edition of Ticket to Ride, not the original. I'll go through what the differences are in a moment. In Ticket to Ride, the aim of the game is to put down tracks represented by cute little plastic trains onto a map, in this case Europe, which are all sort of colour coded, and you do so by a mechanism of set collection. So you collect colour cards and you lay down those cards of the requisite length to put trains down on your track.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

So if you had a four train carriage length red train route, that's it, then you need to lay down four red cards.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

When you do so, you immediately gain points depending on the length of the route that you've just laid down. But you also have secret scoring cards that hold longer routes. Um in the case of Ticket to Ride Europe, you have one long route which spans pretty much the whole map, and then you start with up to three shorter routes. Um as the game goes on, you can draw more of those. If you complete those routes at the end of the game, you get the victory points. The kicker is if you do not, you get the victory points subtracted.

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Tasting the difference in reverse.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Tasting the difference in reverse. Play basically consists of either drawing cards from a marker place or directly from the deck, or placing train routes down, or taking more route cards. That is basically all there is to a game of ticket to ride. Um play continues until one of the players only has two or less trains left, and that triggers the end of the game. The differences in Europe, aside from the obvious, the map, is Europe introduces the concept of having train stations. So you can put train stations down to prevent yourself being blocked on a route. You can basically borrow one of your opponent's routes. However, every time you do so, you essentially lose three victory points at the end of the game. You get three victory points per station left over. It also introduces tunnels, where you have to put down a number of cards of of a matching colour, or sometimes not when it's grey, those are wild. But then you draw three cards from the deck, and if any of those cards match the colours that you put down, you need to put down additional uh cards of that colour in order to complete the tunnel. If you fail, you take it back into your hand. And finally, fairies. Fairies are always grey, so they wild roots, you can use any colour for them, but they'll have a number of locomotives printed on the map. Locomotives are wild cards in ticket to ride. And you have to put down an additional number of locomotives, depending on how many are printed on the board. That is all there is to it in the rules, something you can pretty much teach in five minutes.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Had you just have.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah. So, history of ticket to ride.

SPEAKER_03 3:26

Oh, I don't know anything about that. Trains? Started in the 18th century.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Not the actual history of trains, Hannah. History with Is that all this is about?

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Okay, alright.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

History of uh playing ticket to ride. I think we first played it at a board game night.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

My German friend was very keen that we played Ticket to Ride because German and Europe ran also trains, and she was delighted that we played Ticket to Ride with Up.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Um yeah, it was the first time we played, and then we sort of left it for quite a while. I used to play on the app.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Um quite good, quite a good app for it for mobile, if you're that way inclined. And then just randomly picked it up because I thought it would be a good game to play with our daughter.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Was it in a charity shop?

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Yes, it was a charity shop find. Well, another lucky charity shop find. Um so yeah, I played off and on both on the app and and and in person over the years, but uh thought it was high time to sort of tackle our thoughts about it, given as one of the pillars of uh board gaming.

SPEAKER_03 4:18

I suppose it's worth mentioning that there are a number of different v variations or editions of this with different maps.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

And I think we'll talk about more about that later, but I think Europe map is quite large.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yes, your map is quite large and significantly less cutthroat than the original.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Um but we'll get onto that a bit more as we talk through our the various scoring criteria.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Um in terms of game time I'd say about an hour. What do they say on the long 45 minutes to an hour? Yeah, 45 minutes feels a bit more right to me.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

I think a very dependent on player count.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

If you're playing with two 30 minutes, I'd say. Yeah. Um so yeah, anything else you want to say before we get on to scoring?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

No, let's crack on to scoring. So um, first up under our general category, we have components. Um so it's fairly bog standard.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yes, it is. Um, but it also comes from a time where most board games are fairly bog standard, I think. You know, it's one of those it's one of those moments where I struggle to criticize it too much because it is what it is, you know. You've got your little the uh the the iconography, the little trains, everything about it is fairly iconic at this stage. So it's hard to sort of divorce divorce from that iconicness that that comes with it. Um, but as a package, I mean components-wise, I'd say it's it uh it's fine. I I've I've got nothing bad to say about it.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

There's nothing to write home about either, I guess. You know, you've got uh a whole bunch of plastic little trains, you've got some blustery little stations. The board itself is fairly bog standard as well, like there's nothing particularly illustrative.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Okay, so uh how'd you score it?

SPEAKER_03 5:59

So I scored it a five.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Okay, I gave it a seven because I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with it. I think it's a fairly decent package.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

I thought it was bang on in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Okay, alright.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Um so next up we have complexity. So as always, uh not necessarily how complex it is or isn't, but how well the complexity serves the gameplay. Um as you've said, it is really quick and simple to teach. And I think this is one of the reasons probably it was so successful, and I think why it's still probably considered to be one of the classics. Yeah, one of the classics.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yes, yeah, no, absolutely. I think it's a very to the point, very elegant rule system that I think has obviously been picked up and used in in other perhaps more interesting ways later on, but I think in itself, at its core, it's very, very quick and easy to pick up, very quick and snappy to play. Um there's no edge cases in the rules, everything's sort of laid out quite clearly. And I think for what it is, I think the complexity serves it quite well.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah, I would completely agree with that. It's one of those games that I think you could pull out in any situation. I think loads of different age groups can play it, people with different levels of skill, ball game skill, yeah, experience. Absolutely. And I think that makes it a great leveller, and therefore, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

And a great gateway game, which I think is the role that's had for a long time. It's one of those things that you'll crack out with somebody who's never played any modern board games that might spark their interest in what this could be. I know right at the start when I was getting involved in the hobby, it did that a fair bit for me, perhaps more so than some of the others, like Katan and um uh Knox on.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Is it because I had trains?

SPEAKER_00 7:32

No, I have zero interest in trains.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

I suppose though, what I would say is that because it is quite simple, there isn't a huge amount of strategic depth to it. Um, positioning of where you're choosing to build your roots and your lines, there is some flex and and things like that, but it doesn't offer the same level of strategic depth that other games do. Um I don't think that's necessarily a problem, but I think you just need to be aware of that, sort of going into it.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, I think it does depend massively, and we will come onto this a lot more in the the two-player section, but I think it depends very, very massive uh I think it depends massively on player count. Um I think player count does make a huge difference in this one. Um and it also there I I think at a lot of the level of strategic depth, particularly when you were play it quite a lot with the the same sort of people, is around the route selection and knowing when to stick and knowing when to push your luck and you know knowing when to go for more routes.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

And trying to work out what route they're building. Yeah. Because you're not necessarily always going to build it in a straight line, um, or sequentially, should I say. Um, so trying to work out what it is they've got and where they're trying to go and block them or not.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah. And I think the little bits of uh extra that the the Europe edition adds, particularly around tunnels, doesn't add an extra layer.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

I think it does make a difference. I think there's a little bit more to it because of that. Stations, yeah, could take it or leave it, but I think the the tunnels mechanism is is quite cool. Without adding too much rules overhead.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Okay, so I'll just score it.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

I gave it a seven.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

So I also gave it a seven. I think the it's it's it's perfectly fine for what it is, yeah, in my opinion. Um I'm always obviously where I am in the hobby, I'm always craving something a bit more, but I don't think that's to this as well.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

No, no. You don't complicate it for no apparent reason.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Absolutely. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Okay, so then on to shelf life. So this includes things like value for money but also replayability. So how much is a sweetle for?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Uh usually about 35.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Not over, usually around 35 mark.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Alright, so I think that's probably a fairly reasonable price point for what you get in the box.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah, I'd I'd say it's a touch on the expensive side, but I think it's such a recognizable, well-known name, and it tends to always go for the same sort of amount of money that, you know, if that is what they charge for it. Yeah. And I don't think it's unreasonable at all. In terms of shelf life, mileage massively will vary, I think.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

You say that, but yeah, I can't see us ever getting rid of this because I think it's one of those great games that granny and granddad can play along with your little kids, and everyone can still get something out of that experience. And we don't have a huge amount of that.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

No, we don't. This is this is very true. I think it's one of those classic sort of family ball games that's just good to have in the collection. I guess it's what what what is what is shelf life to you? Is it something that you'd keep forever and be able to crack out at Christmas? Or is it something that you know you're gonna get hundreds of hours of entertainment out of, you know, over the years? Um, is it the latter? No, but is it the former most definitely? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

Yeah. And I think for that reason, I I would say replayability is quite high on this. Uh for me.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

You see, I've kind of gone the other way with this. I I I I agree with keeping it on the shelf, but in terms of shelf life for me, of wanting to play it, not so much. I think I've kind of had my time with it. And I'll do a lot, like you say, I'll play with non-board gamers, you know, as a way to play a board game. But would I ever reach for this again to play as a board game Capital B? No, probably not.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

And yeah, I can see there's a lot more games of this in in our future.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah, so I think whether I'm I like it or not, but you know, but that's fine, and that's that's that's totally cool. But it's not something that I think personally I would keep coming back and back to.

SPEAKER_03 11:07

Yeah. I also think, again, we'll get onto this in the two-player rating, um, scales or criteria, shall I say. Um, I think maybe there's an issue with this map.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

And we'll come on to that and we'll pick that up.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

I was actually, yeah, I I think that there's multiple things there. I think if there's issues around it with with with two players, but I think there's also an issue of fun for me, but we'll I'll get onto that in the next category.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

Okay. So obviously I think it's quite high, so I rated it an eight because I think this is going to stay in our collection until, you know, we divorce and have to split it. Okay, so I'll take it, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Um I gave it a five. Okay. Because I think it's bang average in both in both elements. Yes, I agree with you that it's good to have on the shelf. Um, but I think price point-wise, value for money, and how much I want to return to it, bang average.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yeah, so five from me.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

And so then our final category under general is fun.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Is ticket to ride any fun?

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Right. I will say that I've had some cracking games, ticket to ride. Um, I've had some games where I've got really cross and what into like upend the table because somebody's done something to me. Um, and I have really enjoyed games playing it for the most part, actually.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, sure. Yeah, no, I think it's a fun game. It is a fun game. It's a light-hearted, easy breezy experience for me. Um, it's one of those things you can just crack out, you don't have to think too much about, you can have a laugh. Um, I do enjoy the set collection mechanic, you know, it it it it's it's fun. It's a very, very gentle board game, and that you don't get punished too badly for doing anything wrong. So you don't feel really, really pressured to, you know, make optimal moves or anything. You just go, oh yeah, I'll have more cards, yeah, put some trains down.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Um so it's it's a very chill experience for me because of that. There's no sort of brain-burny pressure to go, oh, am I doing this right? You know, there's one of those that you can just sink into and enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Yep. However, is there anything really special in magic that makes this absolutely sing? Then probably not. But that's not what this game's about. And that's not why this game is a classic. It's a classic because it's for the desert of time, really accessible.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah. I think it's accessibility is its strength.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

I think that's where it really, really shines. I think um, yeah, I think that there is a ceiling on how much fun I'll have with this. But you know, it's also what kind of ball game are you? Like I I I seek more from a ball game than this. But the reason I do is partly because of games like this. So it's an interesting one because I if it wasn't for games like this, how deep would I have I ever got into the hobby? You know, and I imagine that's the same for a lot of people, where they they'll play something that has that bit of spark, and I'll go, oh, I want to check this out, this out, and then you know, before you know it, you you're buying Wall of the Ring. Um it's a slippery slow people. So it's it's a really hard one to score for me, this one. It it because I have had a lot of fun with it over the years playing it, you know. It's it it's one of those that I can't look at and go, oh no, I don't like it. Because I I I do.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

I do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

And I did um quite a lot. I think there are impediments to that fun, one of which is the Europe map. I find the Europe map too chill.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's really vast.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

I just I feel like it's not cutthroat enough.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

So even when we've had four player games, how many people can play this?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

The play's up to five.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Yeah, so even when we've had four people, we've never played with five, but when we've had four people play, actually the amount of times that you're competing over the same routes or the same towns is actually quite minimal.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

And that's where a lot of the fun or the competitiveness or the heat of the game, if you like, comes in.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah. And I think that's one of the things for me that perhaps is is less fun is there's a lack of, as you, as you called it, heat. Yeah. I think there's a lack of investment from me, you know, that you know, where you really get into You're really both gunning for it and you're trying to get the cards just before they do something.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

You can get your root down.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

The blinkers come on and the rest of the world goes away, and you really like I've never had that experience with this. And it's not that kind of game, that's fine. But I do think if you're after a slightly more gotcha mess with your opponent experience, the original is a better bet. I think Europe is in the classic European board game versus American board game tussle, it's a lot more so like you know, solitaire, you play together to a certain extent.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

It's it's not that, but it has that element of a Euro game in it where Which kind of tracks then with what you're saying about it being a chill experience, and it is. Yeah, it is it is quite chill.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, but no, it's it's a good experience overall, and I'm not gonna moan about you know that there's not enough there to go, oh no, this is no fun. I have had quite a lot of fun with that, and I've given it a six as a result.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

Yep, so I've given it a seven, because actually aside from one game Which will get on to get on to um yeah, it's I've although I've always had a good time playing it.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Okay. So how would you sort of put this against the other two biggies? I think I know, but I'm I'm interested.

SPEAKER_03 16:07

So you rate this higher than Carcassonne.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yes. By biggies, I mean Carcassonne. Catan and and this.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Yeah, so I've not played Catan for a really, really long time, but I'm but we played a lot of Catar. But we played a lot of Catan, and I love Catan. I really, really enjoy it. Um I hate Carcassonne. So this sits quite happily in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Okay, alright, fine. Um, I probably put this third.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

Really?

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I think again it depends how many people you're playing with. You can't play Carcassonne, you can't play uh Catan, beg your pardon, with two.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

That's not on the cards. You can play this and Carcassonne at two. Carcassonne is a better two-player game than this. And as a result, most of our board gaming is two player, you know. Carcassonne is a lot more approachable for Fars, although you won't play it, so you know, that's that's by the by. And I do find Carcassonne more tactically interesting than ticket to ride.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Yeah. I mean, but yeah, I suppose I was rating it from a more general perspective, which is a better game.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Um Okay, fine.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Shall we tunnel the scores up then?

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So we total those up, average them out, and that gives us six point five. As always, we round, so that's a seven for general.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Yeah, how do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Um, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with it. It is a classic. I think uh we'd be caughting the fires of controversy if we went lower than that on something like Ticker to Ride. I think it's fair. I think a seven out of ten generally is a fair score for Ticker to Ride and Bureau of All or 2025.

SPEAKER_03 17:38

Okay, so on to our two player ratings then.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Where the wheels began to come off. Um so first one, table talk.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

No, not think the two-play game than we played. The only thing that we actually said to each other was, did you just score me for that last route?

SPEAKER_00 18:00

No.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Score me.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Okay. Um, yeah, it's not the best in terms of table talk, is it? No. It's um one of those games that you can play in complete and utter silence if you wish.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Um, it's not great. I mean, I suppose it gives you room to chat because it is so gentle. That's the one thing I will say about it. I mean, we just obviously have nothing left to say to each other. That's not through the media podcasting. Because yeah, we were just like uh the three red, yeah, yeah. I don't think we're even bothering to say what we're doing.

SPEAKER_03 18:31

I think uh in all fairness, and we probably have to disclose this. We have never played this as a two-player until fairly recently, because I think we kind of implicitly understood that this was not going to be a very good two-player game. And I think probably we did it just to suck it up and do it so that we could.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

We could then talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 18:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

So that probably also put a bit of a spin on it in terms of our bias. We weren't expecting it to be a great uh chatty game, and it wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

No, it wasn't. It is not one of those games that you crack out to get to know somebody one-on-one. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Um but what I will say, and again we'll talk about this on a scalability, is that when we have had more people around playing it, actually, it is a really different different experience. It is a very different experience, you know. And it's um again, because it's quite simple, um, because it is quite chill in that sense, it does allow for that kind of conversation around the table, getting to know you and just having a chat.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

So, yeah, you can.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

But this is our two player rating. Yeah, and as a result, I'm going to give it a three.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Oh, that's why I meant to one.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Wow, okay, yeah. Pretty bad. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Yeah, pretty bad. I just think there was no need to talk.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, no, there isn't.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

So maybe I have rated that unfairly because we have just pointed out you could just have conversations about other things. And you know, if I look back at something like Mystic Veil, where again there's not a huge amount of no, you know, inherent table talk built into it, I think I still rated it higher. So maybe I probably should push that up.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Okay. Maybe I'm being unfairly unfairly maligning the table talk from Ticker Drive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:59

Okay, so I'll give it.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Okay, alright. Fine.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Alright, so the next category is competitiveness.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Yes. I mean, it is a competitive game at its core. Um there are victory points too.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

There are victory points. There is a winner and a loser.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yes. Yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say it's it's it's dreadful as a two-player experience in that regard. You're still, you know, you're trying to outscore your opponents. I just think with the Europe map, there's too much room. Yeah. There's too it's too easy. You can't you can really block your opponents in the USA map, and it's really difficult to do with two people on the Europe map. You have to be going out of your way to be a dick.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

And I think this is what we said at the time, which was you could do that, but you would suffer as a result. Yeah, you wasted trains. You're wasting trains and you're not completing your route.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

So, you know, you have an option either to be a complete dick and then not win any points, or you have an option to you know let them do what they want and yeah, and I mean there's usually a way around, and I think if you don't do it very, very well, all they're gonna do is go around you and get a longer route.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

And then win the longest route at the end, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Um so yeah, it's it's it's a tricky one. I mean, at two players, it is definitely less competitive.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Um, I think they're because there's so much room on the map, you have a little bit more, I think, tactical choice in terms of the routes that you go for. Um, so that's still there, that element's still there. But I I find it hard to be excited by the competitive aspect of two. I do find it reasonably competitive with four people on the table.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Um, but as a two-player experience, no. No, not at all. Not really.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Um, so I would give it a four.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Yeah, so three.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Okay. Yeah, fine.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Um, and then finally, our last category is scalability. So could this be better with more players?

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Yeah, I mean, I think we've I think we kind of talked to that at length at this point. Uh it absolutely is. The map needs to be a lot more crowded to get the same fun and enjoyment out of this. Yeah. It's a game that's meant to be played with four or five.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

For my money. Um, you you just there's there's just more that can happen in the game that's interesting.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Playing it at two just feels very, very rote.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Um a bit pointless, actually. Yeah. You miss the main crux of the game, really.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

There's no it it sucks all the tactical life out of it almost.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

I think for me fundamentally, I would never ever pick this up to play just you and me.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

No, no, never, never again. I know.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Why would we play this when we've got so many other way, way better two-player experiences to Yeah, and I would say we we we often say, Oh, is it the best experience you could have at two players? Probably not, but is it broken? No. Is this broken at two? I think maybe.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Rules wise, no, but gameplay wise, yes. I think it is a little bit broken. I I just I don't think it works at all in any of the things that trying to set out to do.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

But there are other maps.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Yes, there are other maps. Um, do I love Ticket of Ride enough to invest in other maps so that I can play it with two players? Probably not. No, I think some may.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

Yeah, I think this is a fantastic family game, and that's why I I love it. Um but two player no. Okay, so how did you score an unsagram? Oh, I gave it a one.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah, fair enough. I mean, I didn't give it a one because it is not broken rules-wise. You can play the game, but why you'd want to, I don't know. Yeah. Seek out some more players. Or if you love it enough, there are options, like you said. There are maps that are a bit tighter that you could probably have a better two-player game on. Okay, so let's total those up and average them out. So that gives us a two-player rating for Ticket to Ride Europe for uh of 2.5, which will round up to a three, very, very low, but I stand by it.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Ticket to Ride is a good game. It is not a two-player game. I would avoid if you're looking to play this at two. There are so many better things out there. Okay, so that's two classics down the bag. I don't think we're going to try and address Catan as a two player game because, yeah, why would we do that? I do like Catan, but we can't play it at two, so I don't think we'll ever view it on this podcast. Um, but yes, thank you very much for joining us. And until next time, have fun, be good to each other, play lots of board games.