Expansion Review #3: Ticket to Ride: Europe

# of Players: 2-5
Playtime: 30-60 Minutes

Core Mechanic: Network Building/Set Collection

Theme: Trains

Type: Family Euro
Weight: Light-Med

Year: 2005

Rating: 8.0*

I really wasn't sure how to review Ticket to Ride: Europe (TtR: Europe) - as a new game, or standalone expansion, or combined with all the other expansions in a mini-review format? In the end, I decided to do this as an expansion review because the core game remains the same with a few tweaks and we will see if there is enough content to fill out a full expansion review or if I need to convert this to a mini-review. For starters, TtR: Europe is definitely a step-up in terms of complexity. But is that good or bad for this gateway level game?

For how to play the core game, please take a look at the original review for Ticket to Ride. TtR: Europe adds three new things - ferries, tunnels and train stations. Building a train station is a new action that can be taken in addition to the original three (drawing train cards, claiming routes, and drawing Destination Tickets). It can be done by playing a Train card of any color. A station can then be built in any city that does not have one yet. Subsequent stations cost one more Train card than number of Stations you have on the board already and you can at most have only three stations. Train stations can be used to connect to cities using another player's route using the city with the train station, provided you have at least one route connected to the city as well. This can provide some flexibility in obtaining your Destination Ticket goals since you won't be completely blocked if someone claims that last route you need.

There are two new route types added as well - ferries and tunnels. For ferry routes, in addition to the regular train cards required for claiming the route, an additional locomotive is needed. For tunnel routes, after showing the required train cards for claiming the route, another three cards are drawn from the train card draw pile. Each train card that is drawn that matches the route color is another train card that the player must play in order to claim the tunnel route. If you are unable to pay the extra costs, you take the train cards that you tried to use back into your hand and your turn ends.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but these small changes add a lot more strategic depth to the game. The stations add flexibility in case you get blocked by others while the ferries make locomotives more important and the tunnels add a bit of a gambling element - do you try to push ahead early to build the tunnel and possibly not have enough cards, thus wasting your turn, or do you spend an extra turn to get the extra cards you may need but possibly lose the route to another player? This adds enough depth that I think it would fit the Middleweight collection. Would I recommend it over the original Ticket to Ride? Maybe not for new gamers, but I think once you have a few games of the original under your belt you can easily play this one. As such, the game probably is not essential but would be great for the Collector collection.