Ticket To Ride India and Switzerland Vol. 2 Map Collection by Days of Wonder
The Ticket To Ride India and Switzerland Map Collection is an expansion of the original Ticket To Ride Board Game that was released in 2004 by the company Days of Wonder. This new expansion was just released October 2011 in Germany and has just recently arrived in the United States. For us at Utah Channel 3 we were fortunate enough to get the expansion at the beginning of this year to try out.
This new expansion is a part of a map collection of volumes from Days of Wonder that comes with a two sided board that features a different map on each side. This specific map collection is volume 2 of the expansion type and the most recent. The board game includes a map of India and Switzerland and offers different game play for each map.
If you are not familiar with the original Ticket To Ride it’s a strategy game of claiming railway routes to various cities on a cross country board game map of North America. Each player gathers colored train cards on their turns that match the colors of each route from city to city and places their train car pieces on the board creating a train route. Each player also has destination tickets that identify to the player what destinations they need to complete and usually involves passing through a number of different cities.
The strategy comes in when you have 2 to 5 players all trying to gather the train cards they need to complete their destination tickets while trying to avoid other players trains and their routes. The winner of the game is the player who was able to earn the most points by completing as many destination tickets as possible and leaving the least amount of destination tickets unfinished. The game lasts anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes depending on the number of players and overall speed of game play. The game has won many awards including the Spiel des Jahres in 2004 and has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
In the Ticket To Ride India expansion included in the Vol. 2 Map Collection, the board game map is based on the country of India in Colonial 1911 and is for 2-4 player games. This expansion comes with a new board game map and new destination tickets however, it does require that you have train pieces and train cards from either Ticket To Ride or Ticket To Ride Europe in order to play. In this expansion there are not only train routes but also ferries that allow a player to connect to different cities by crossing a body of water. The map also includes shorter routes that require a player to claim routes more quickly or risk getting blocked by another player. Perhaps the game’s most notable difference is the end game bonuses that grant a player a Grand Tour of India Bonus if they are able to provide 2 continuous paths for 2 destination cities without sharing trains.
Also included in the Vol. 2 Map Collection is Ticket To Ride Switzerland for 2-3 players and includes a map of Switzerland as well as new destination tickets. This expansion also requires the use of train pieces and train cards from either Ticket To Ride or Ticket To Ride Europe in order to play. In this game routes not only take you from city to city but can also lead you to neighboring countries. The game also includes tunnel routes that require a player to create matches with their train cards and random train cards from the top of the deck in order to use a tunnel route. If the player is unsuccessful in creating such a match their turn is then over.
Also, the wild train cards known as locomotive cards are used differently. Instead of only being able to pick up only one locomotive card on your turn you can now pick up a locomotive card plus any additional card including another locomotive card during your turn. However, locomotive cards can only be played when using a tunnel route.
After testing out both expansion games included in the Vol. 2 Map Collection we concluded that they were just as fun as the original with added challenges to the game. Valued at a retail price of $30.00 at DaysofWonder.com for this expansion you’re getting a great deal and hours of fun. Although in order to play the map collection expansions Ticket To Ride or Ticket To Ride Europe is required you’re still getting two excellent board games for the price of one so don’t miss out on the excitement.
By, James Thorne, Reporter II / Editor
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