
Ticket to Ride: First Journey
Overall Rating: 9/10
GLAM Age Range: 6-10
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing Time: 20 min
Publisher: Days of Wonder
Complexity: Medium
Available At: Amazon.com

Quick Take: Claim your train routes and win the most tickets! All the fun of Ticket to Ride, stripped down to its basics and set up as an easy, fun game for elementary age kids. It's a great game in its own right, not just as prep for playing "real" Ticket to Ride.
How to Play: Be the first to complete six Ticket cards. Each player starts by picking a train color and is dealt four train cards and two ticket cards. On a turn you either draw two train cards or complete a route. If you complete routes that connect two cities on one of your ticket cards, you turn it over and announce you have completed a ticket and draw a new ticket to complete. You can also get a special bonus ticket by completing a route from coast to coast, connecting any west coast city to any east coast city. If you play all your train cars, the game is over and whoever has completed the most ticket cards wins. Generally the game ends when someone has completed six Ticket cards, then they are awarded the Golden Ticket!
Variations: You can add in elements of regular Ticket to Ride if you like, not just have the Train cards in a draw pile but lay out five beside the draw pile so there can be more choice in card selection. You can also shut down multiple routes between cities when playing with just two players, you can have players use a turn to draw tickets cards and be able to discard ticket cards if they like, it's easy to adjust the rules to as easy or as complex as you like.
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