TICKET TO RIDE: GHOST TRAIN
Let’s play with scary trains before bedtime!
Designer: Alan R. Moon | Publisher: Days of Wonder
There is a classic trio of games that has often pulled people inexorably into this hobby;
Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne and Ticket To Ride. Relatively easy to pick up, full of interesting player interactions and imbued with the delightful tactility of placing a little wooden house here, a man in a field there and a lovely train… somewhere.
However, fantastic as they all are, their accessibility to younger children is still a little limited.
Ticket To Ride: Ghost Train aims to correct this omission with a simpler ruleset and playlength, allowing the teeniest members of the family to jump aboard the adventure. Whilst there is a “spooky” theme, parents need not be concerned, nobody is going to have nightmares after running trains from the Foggy Lighthouse to the Pumpkin Patch. The setting is mostly an irrelevant addition, even if the artwork is nice enough.
Much like its larger sibling, the aim of Ghost Train is to build train routes between places on the map. You are given cards with destinations
on them, and you can connect them with any route you choose… unless someone else has already placed their little plastic trains exactly where you wanted to go.
In fact, the challenge of a smaller map is that routes get filled in quicker. The momentum of the closing turns reminded me strongly of the fantastic Reiner Knizia game Ingenious, where the board seems full of potential for 75% of the game, and then suddenly you realise options are running out, in a dramatic end crescendo that leaves you weeping into your hot chocolate. This game works, and it nearly achieves the hallowed, rarely achieved merit of a game aimed at children that it’s nearly as fun as the adult version. Ghost Train doesn’t have the depth of strategy that Ticket To Ride has; but that can be a weakness in the bigger game. All of us have played Ticket To Ride for an hour or so, only to have a route cut off (often accidentally) by another player, and it being clear that we’ve lost, but still having to play for another 25 minutes. Ghost Train avoids this. Once you realise the ship has sailed without you, there are probably only one or two rounds left of play.
Our family finished, and immediately wanted another go. Moreover, I can see us bringing it to the table when we have 45 minutes spare, rather than needing the best part of two hours. Ticket To Ride: Ghost Train may lack a little of the strategic guts of Ticket To Ride, but if it means you actually play more often, sometimes simpler is better?
CHRIS LOWRY
WE SAY
…if you have kids. I wouldn’t recommend it to a purely adult mix, but for families or those pressed for time, this is the full Ticket To Ride experience, pared down efficiently, without losing the central challenge.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
◗Map of a Chilling Town
◗80 Haunted carriages
◗72 Parade float cards
◗33 Tickets
◗4 Trick or Treat bonus tickets
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED SCOTLAND YARD JUNIOR...
Hunting Mr X through the streets of London can be thrilling, and families who’ve mastered that are probably ready to start hurling passengers around a haunted rail network of their own devising.