I’ve said many many times in the past that Ticket to Ride remains my go-to game when introducing boutique boardgames to people that think of Candyland and Monopoly when you try to interest them in an analog game. It’s easy to explain, easier to understand and gives you the shortest time between opening the box and starting the game proper. So yea, we love us some Ticket to Ride.
In the years since the original USA map has been released we’ve seen numerous expansions, mostly maps but some with new cards, destinations and even one with monsters! But we’ve got more coming!
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In our bi-weekly podcast and in the board/card game reviews you see on the site we sometimes refer to something as a “gateway game.” They’re games that are a bit easier to understand and are a great way to introduce non-gamers to the boardgame world. Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan and even Forbidden Island are pretty well suited for this gateway game status, since they’re both simple to teach and learn, and are incredibly engaging right from the get go.
Small World is a game that sits right on the cusp of gateway game and that next step. It’s slightly more complicated than something like Ticket to Ride but not by much. It contains more strategic choices and takes a bit more acumen to teach/learn at first. I personally love the game. Enter Small World: Underground, an expansion but still a standalone game that takes the basic gameplay of the first game, adds a few twists and just gives us more of everything there was to love about the base game.
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This wasn’t exactly the kind of email I expected to get from Ticket to Ride maker Days of Wonder, I can tell you that. Seems there’s going to be an expansion pack coming out for the stalwart series that’s actually compatible with any of the games many varieties.
Alvin and Dexter are an UFO driving alien and a rampaging monster that serve to throw a little uncertainty into your games. Very simply they’ll move about the board from city to city and while they’re there you won’t be able to build routes in or out of that city. On a huge map that handles up to 5 players this will add a nice dimension to the game when you’ve only got 2 or 3 (since those games involve much less overlap of player objectives.
It’s definitely a goofy addition and luckily isn’t in any way, shape or form required to play… So those that don’t want to spoil their clean games of Ticket to Ride needn’t worry. But for the rest of us this should definitely inject some chaotic fun.
Looks to be shipping in early February and costs $13 for the two figures and some event cards. You can pre-order it at the Days of Wonder website but I’ll just wait to grab it off Funagain.com.
I’m a gamer, always have been. Problem is for a large number of years that’s really just consisted of the video variety. That’s a huge mistake on my part, to not enjoy the video game’s analog brethren… the board game. There’s actually a vibrant and intense board game world out there that’s been pushed to the sidelines by game players such as ourselves for too long. In this column I’ll be diving into this world, looking at games that hopefully you’d like to try out for yourself.
The Orient Express is rolling through the European countryside, totally oblivious to the murder that’s occurred withing one of it’s cars. But who did it, where, when and how did it happen… and why? Those are the exact questions you and your fellow sleuths will be searching high and low to determine. It’ll take a keen eye and remembering the important details if you have any hope of solving more of the case than everyone else.
Welcome aboard… the Mystery Express.
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I’m a gamer, always have been. Problem is for a large number of years that’s really just consisted of the video variety. That’s a huge mistake on my part, to not enjoy the video game’s analog brethren… the board game. There’s actually a vibrant and intense board game world out there that’s been pushed to the sidelines by game players such as ourselves for too long. Recently I’ve been wading back into the board game waters and I’ve decided to bring the noteworthy stuff to my fellow gamers. Board games have come a long way, there’s a lot more than Monopoly knock-offs out there.
In this semi-regular column I’ll be doing my best to introduce some of the cooler games out there, both video game related and not. We’ll also be taking detours into comically terrible games from the past as well.
For my first game to discuss I figure I’d start with the game that brought me back to board games, Ticket To Ride. It took a weird path to get my attention too. First it was a celebrated board game (where I never heard of it), then became an Xbox Live Arcade game where it first came to my attention. After buying and loving it I bought the board game version. Ashes to ashes I suppose. (more…)
