At this point, the so-called "board game renaissance" shows no sign of slowing. Thanks to Kickstarter, a proliferation of local game shops, and an increasing need for us as humans to slow the hell down and do something thoughtful, tabletop experiences have become a nearly $2 billion industry. And now, one of the watershed titles in the movement is celebrating a special anniversary—and giving gamers a sumptuous new edition.
From the beginning, Ticket to Ride was a surprising phenomenon: rather than starting in Germany and spreading to the U.S., as did so many "Eurogames," TTR was first published in the States by an American company, Days of Wonder. That first year, the game won the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (game of the year) award in Germany. Between physical copies and digital versions, it's sold more than 4 million copies, and is part of the holy trinity of "gateway games" that convert people to modern board games; just like 1995's Settlers of Catan and 2000's Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride is easy to learn but offers strategic depth. Players draw cards with colored trains, then trade in those cards to create routes between various cities—the longer the route, the more points it's worth, and the player with the most points at the end (whether by completing more routes, longer routes, or a combination of both) wins.
Like those other two games, Ticket to Ride's simplicity extended to its aesthetics. With this anniversary edition, though, its components received a serious upgrade. Once-nondescript plastic trains have become vibrant and detailed, and come in matching storage tins. The train cards are larger and sturdier; the board itself is more than half again as big as the original incarnation (tiny-table gamers may want to think twice). And in a nod to the many TTR spinoffs over the years, the anniversary edition includes 35 of the destination tickets from the USA 1910 expansion game. All of which adds up to a journey that, while priced at a premium—$100, or twice the original—is clearly meant to deliver you in style.
