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5 Games like Ticket to Ride

5 Games like Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is one of the best gateway board games out there, and has introduced many new gamers to the board game hobby! So what’s the allure? Let’s break it down. It’s easy to learn and teach, great to play with kids or adults, plays out quickly, and allows up to 5 players (many board games max out at just four players). It’s fun enough that many serious board gamers with massive collections still have a place for Ticket to Ride!

Now let’s figure out why Ticket to Ride is fun! Here we break down the gameplay elements in the game itself. Identifying your favorite parts of Ticket to Ride will help you find the best games like Ticket to Ride

Set Collection – Players collect sets of train car cards in order to claim routes of the matching color on the board. It’s fun to watch your collection grow!

Hand Management – Hand management is key in Ticket to Ride. Do you play your card now, or would that give away what you’re trying to accomplish? Or you can wait strategically, but someone might take the spot you need, making your cards worthless. The hand management aspect of Ticket to Ride creates a lot of interesting decisions.

Network/ Route Building – Building networks and routes is FUN, and Ticket to Ride really excels here. However, there are a lot of other great options out there, where you can build out networks like a power grid or airline network.

Train Theme – Okay, so who doesn’t love trains? This is a theme that appeals to almost everyone, and allows for a lot of fun logistics related to route planning. There are tons of train games out there that take different approaches to this theme.

Secret Goals – Each player in Ticket to Ride gets at least one hidden goal in the form of Destination Tickets. Completion of these goals get you extra points, and incomplete goals result in point loss. Other players have no idea what your goals are, and what you get as a benefit, making this a fun game mechanic!


In order to stay true to the simplicity and brilliance of Ticket to Ride, our picks for board games like Ticket to Ride are either easy or medium-difficulty. If you’re looking to significantly step up your difficulty level, we’ve provided a few great advanced board games like Ticket to Ride as honorable mentions in our conclusion, below. All of our recommended games are great for folks who are looking for games similar to Ticket to Ride, but are willing to try something a bit different.

Our Top Games like Ticket to Ride

Set Collection: The Isle of Cats

Players: 1-4 // Game time: 60-90 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Easy

Instead of collecting train cards, you’ll collect cats as you fill your boat with rescue cats. Players even get more points for grouping families of like-colored cats. The game features a family mode and full game mode, making this a great game for advanced board gamers, solo gamers, kids and casual gamers.

Hand Management: Wingspan

Players: 1-5 // Game time: 40-70 minutes // Age: 10+ // Difficulty: Medium

Manage your hand as you balance recruiting new birds to your aviary board, resource conservation and new bird additions to your aviary (which requires valuable food). Wingspan is beautiful, thematic and a fun experience for players of all ages and abilities. It’s a great next-step game for players looking for a new challenge.

Games like Ticket to Ride: Takenoko

Network/ Route Building: Takenoko

Players: 2-4 // Game time: 45 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Easy

In Takenoko, you will collect sets, work towards secret objectives and build networks – three key game mechanics presented in Ticket to Ride. The game is easy to learn and has a fun colorful theme, yet features enough depth for multiple plays.

Games like Ticket to Ride: Trains

Train Theme: Trains

Players: 2-4 // Game time: 45 minutes // Age: 10+ // Difficulty: Easy

Lay track sections and connect stations in this hybrid board/ deck-building game. As with Ticket to Ride, hand management is key – each meaningful action you take (e.g. building new tracks and stations) will generate waste cards in your deck. Trains is a good next-step game for players looking for new train experiences.

Games like Ticket to Ride: Suburbia

Secret Goals: Suburbia

Players: 1-4 // Game time: 60 - 90 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Medium

Similar to Ticket to Ride’s Destination Cards, the secret goal cards in Suburbia give players secret objectives to work towards. Meeting these objectives will give you a significant boost at the end of the game. These secret goals are fun because they force you to play in a different way. With added layers of complexity, Suburbia is a great next-step game for players looking for added depth.

Board Games like Ticket to Ride: Set Collection

The Isle of Cats

Games like Ticket to Ride: The Isle of Cats

Herding cats has never been more fun

Players: 1-4 // Game time: 60-90 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Easy

Publisher: The City of Games

You are on your way to The Isle of Cats to rescue as many cats from the evil Lord Vesh’s impending arrival! Each player will collect as many cats as they can – you’ll lose points for empty rooms. The cats come in the form of polyominoes, giving you a Tetris-like puzzle as you work to place cats on your board. You’ll also explore the island via card drafting (only in full game mode), find treasures, study ancient lessons and befriend rare Oshax cats. 

The Isle of Cats scales well from 1 to 4 players, and features a multiplayer solitaire approach where players are focused on their objectives. Although the official winner is the cat rescuer who has scored the most over the game’s five rounds, there isn’t a lot of direct head-to-head competition. You are technically competing against the other players, but it feels like a game against yourself. The best feeling? It feels like you’ve won when you improve on your previous game’s score.

Why This is a Game Like Ticket to Ride

As with Ticket to Ride, players in The Isle of Cats are focused on collecting. Only instead of collecting train cards, you’re filling your boat with rescue cats. The game also goes one step forward and incorporates pattern building where you can collect families of 3 or more cats of the same color to earn more points.

Who This Game is For

The Isle of Cats is a great game for anyone, including serious/ advanced board gamers who enjoy playing solo or with their gaming group, kids and other casual gamers. With a good solo play experience, a family mode and full game mode, The Isle of Cats is a versatile addition to any gamer’s collection. Note – if you are looking for a highly interactive game, the multiplayer solitaire approach in The Isle of Cats isn’t for you.

Buy The Isle of Cats on Amazon

The Late Arrivals expansion adds the ability to play 5 and 6 player games, bringing the player count closer to that of Ticket to Ride. You’ll get more cats, boats and lesson modules as you rescue cats to your heart’s content!


Board Games Like Ticket to Ride: Hand Management

Wingspan

Wingspan

Collect unique birds and expand your aviary

Players: 1-5 // Game time: 40-70 minutes // Age: 10+ // Difficulty: Medium

Publisher: Stonemaier Games

In Wingspan, you are a bird enthusiast eager to find and attract notable birds to your aviary. It’s a card-driven engine-building game with over 170 beautifully illustrated cards. The game plays out over four rounds, after which the points for each bird in play, end of round goals, eggs, bonus cards and more are tallied up. During each turn, you can take one of the following actions: 1) gain food; 2) lay eggs; 3) draw birds or 4) draw birds.

Wingspan is an absolutely beautiful game with a ton of neat components like the variable food tokens, egg miniatures, custom dice and cute bird feeder dice tower. Though gameplay goes longer with larger player counts, the game plays out well through all player counts. Wingspan is more complex and introduces more game mechanics than classic gateway games like Ticket to Ride, yet is simple enough to play with players of a range of ages and abilities. 

Why This is a Game Like Ticket to Ride

In Ticket to Ride, you have to decide when to play your cards and claim your spot – too soon and you might reveal (and ruin) your plans, but too late and someone might steal your spot. In Wingspan, hand (and resource) management is equally important. 

For instance, players can choose up to five of their starting bird cards, but the catch is that you need to spend one food token per card. Each time you play a bird, you need to pay its food cost and potentially an additional building cost. However, you get successively larger returns from the birds’ special abilities for each bird you place in your tableau (i.e., your aviary board). The hand management aspect gives the gameplay in Wingspan a nuanced balance between conserving your resources and playing your birds.

Who This Game is For

Wingspan is straightforward and easy to learn, making it a great first introduction to board gaming or a next step game from Ticket to Ride. There is also enough strategy to make this a fun experience for experienced gamers. Even if you don’t like the beautiful bird theme as much as we do, Wingspan is a smooth and fun experience for players of all ages and abilities. Note – if you’re looking for an interactive game experience, get Wingspan: The European Expansion (see below for more information).

Buy Wingspan on Amazon

With Wingspan: The European Expansion, you gain the birds of Europe and new components and abilities. The expansion includes new abilities that do a range of things, including increasing player interaction.


Board Games Like Ticket to Ride: Network / Route Building

Takenoko

Games Like Ticket to Ride: Takenoko

Entice your Giant Panda with bamboo

Players: 2-4 // Game time: 45 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Easy

Publisher: Asmodee

In Takenoko, you are a member of the court entrusted by the Japanese Emperor to set up his bamboo garden. There’s a very special beneficiary of this garden – a Giant Panda bear gifted by the Chinese Emperor to symbolize peace. Each turn, players can take two of five possible actions, with the goal of irrigating plots, placing the gardener there to plant bamboo, and getting the Giant Panda to eat your bamboo. 

Each turn, the possible actions are: 1) lay a new hexagon tile (plot); 2) build irrigation; 3) move the gardener (who grows bamboo); 4) move the Giant Panda; and/ or 5) draw a new objective card. Once a certain number of secret objective cards (the number of cards is contingent on player count) are completed, the game ends and points are tallied. Although Takenoko is fairly easy to learn, very colorful and looks like a kid’s game, there’s enough depth for both casual gamers and serious gamers to enjoy themselves.

Why This is a Game Like Ticket to Ride

In Takenoko, you collect sets, obtain secret objectives and build networks, three key game mechanics present in Ticket to Ride. In Takenoko, instead of building train routes, you’re building irrigation routes, which are key to your success. Building out the irrigation network allows you to grow colorful bamboo via the gardener, and in turn, feed your Emperor’s Giant Panda. All of which give you valuable points!

Takenoko also incorporates various elements of set collection and pattern building by utilizing your secret objectives. For instance, your secret objectives may give you points for getting the panda to eat one of each bamboo color, or a certain number of bamboo in a single color. 

Who This Game is For

As it’s simple and has a fun theme, Takenoko is a great game for casual gamers and families looking for a beautiful game that is easy to learn, quick and still fun. All the hallmarks that make Ticket to Ride a classic!

Buy Takenoko on Amazon


Board Games Like Ticket to Ride: Train Theme

Trains

Games like Ticket to Ride: Trains

Develop your train network - and your deck!

Players: 2-4 // Game time: 45 minutes // Age: 10+ // Difficulty: Easy

Publisher: OKAZU Brand

In Trains, your goal is to own the biggest and best railway company in Japan in the 19th century. By any means necessary!

Gobble up smaller railways through acquisitions and mergers as you build new routes and networks on your quest to earn victory points from your cards, railways and stations.

Each player starts with 10 cards (7 Normal Train, 2 Lay Rails and 1 Station Expansion cards), shuffles them and lays them down, forming their starting deck. You start each turn with five cards from your deck. Each turn, players can play cards from their hand to further their railroad ambitions and/or buy cards from the supply to improve their deck. From this point on, players will take turns playing cards, laying rails and building stations until one of three game end conditions have been met. Tally your points and declare the winner. May the best capitalist win!

Why This is a Game Like Ticket to Ride

Like Ticket to Ride, Trains is a thematic train game that embraces the spirit of becoming a train magnate. You earn points by effectively laying track and connecting stations on the board.

Hand management is another similarity between the two games. As Trains is a deck building game, you’ll be working with a growing deck of cards. Each meaningful action you take (e.g., building new tracks and stations) will generate waste cards in your deck that can hinder your progress, so managing your hand is crucial to your success!

Trains also has a similar level of direct competition / conflict as Ticket to Ride. Although you can’t block your opponents’ rails, there are actions you can take to make it harder or less desirable for them to do what they want to do.

Who This Game is For

As a hybrid deck building / board game about trains, Trains has the potential to appeal to a wide audience, from Ticket to Ride fans and train buffs to fans of the deck building genre. Trains is a slight step up in difficulty, but proves to be easy to learn and teach, offering more strategic depth. Fans of deck building games will enjoy the unique hybrid board game / deck building approach in this one- it’s definitely similar to Ticket to Ride.

Buy Trains on Amazon

Trains can be less interactive and competitive at the two player count. Trains: Rising Sun is an expansion / standalone game that solves this problem with a game board designed specifically for two player games. Note: Trains: Rising Sun can be hard to find these days, so you may need to find a used copy.


Board Games Like Ticket to Ride: Secret Goals

Suburbia

Games like Ticket to Ride: Suburbia

Navigate the world of suburbs

Players: 1-4 // Game time: 60 - 90 minutes // Age: 8+ // Difficulty: Medium

Publisher: Bézier Games

In Suburbia, you are a city planner with the monumental task of overseeing the evolution of a small town into a major city. Everyone starts with a nice little suburb, a park, and a landfill. The game starts out innocently enough, with the level of complexity increasing slowly but surely throughout the game. The player who has the largest population at the end of the game wins. 

Gameplay in Suburbia is straightforward: 1) take and place a tile or place an investment marker; 2) collect or pay money based on income earned (or lost) from your tiles; 3) adjust your population; 4) add a new tile to the real estate market. Players go through three stacks of shuffled tiles, representing increased cost / complexity. These tiles become part of each players’ city. While players have the overall goal of growing their populations, players also compete for public goal tiles, which are worth valuable points at the end of the game. Each player also has a secret goal tile, giving more options for earning points. 

Why This is a Game Like Ticket to Ride

Similar to Ticket to Ride’s Destination Cards, the secret goal cards in Suburbia give players secret objectives to work towards, which will give you a significant boost at the end of the game. These secret goals are fun because they force you to play in a different way, and make it difficult to anticipate the other players’ moves since you don’t know what they’re working towards. 

Although players are competing to earn the most points, there is very little direct competition in Suburbia. However, there are indirect ways to play more competitively and make things difficult for your opponents. On the other hand, it’s possible to have a very mellow game where each player is just focused on building their city. It all depends on the group you’re playing with and their preferred playing style. 

Who This Game is For

Fans of Sim City will love Suburbia. Players of a range of ages and abilities can enjoy this game, which makes it all that more versatile. It’s super easy to learn and teach, yet features tons of interesting decisions and deep strategy.

Buy Suburbia on Amazon

You get a ton of value with Suburbia: Expansions (designed for the second edition of Suburbia), which includes three large and two small expansions that were originally released independently. You can use the expansions in any combination, and they add a LOT to the game, including the ability to play with 5 players and lots of new components to mix it up.

That’s a Wrap!

Ticket to Ride is a great game that remains popular due to its accessibility, train theme (who doesn’t love trains?!) and fun factor. In summary, we broke down this perennial favorite game into five key pieces: set collection, hand management, network / route building, fun train theme and secret goals. 

We gave you our favorite game recommendations for each component of Ticket to Ride above, but there are a ton of great options out there! Definitely take your time to figure out which game best fits you and your fellow board gamers the best, whether it’s your partner, your family or your board gaming group!

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention a few honorable mentions.

Other Great Light Board Games like Ticket to Ride:

Azul is an abstract game that is quick, light, easy to learn and yet challenging. This game does set collection really well, as you’re collecting sets and patterns of tile.

Splendor is another great set collection game that is quick, light and easy to learn.

Jaipur is a good pick if you’re looking for a fun two-player game to test your hand management skills (camels camels camels!). It’s quick and easy to learn and teach, just like Ticket to Ride.

Catan is another classic gateway game that is perfect for introducing new gamers to the fun world of board gaming!

Carcassonne is yet another classic gateway game that is fun and great for playing with newbie gamers.

Other Fun Train Board Games Like Ticket to Ride:

Whistle Stop is a fun pick up and deliver game where you get to collect sets and place tiles. While more complex than Ticket to Ride, this game is easy to pick up and fun to play.

TransAmerica is another light railway game where players work to connect cities by rail. Games play quickly, and this is another great game for the family.

Great Medium “Next Step” Board Games Like Ticket to Ride:

Bunny Kingdom is a great next step game from Ticket to Ride, where you’ll get to learn territory building. It’s still easy to learn and teach, with a little more complexity.

Everdell is another great next step game from Ticket to Ride and will give you the chance to hone your hand management skills. Although there are more layers, it’s still easy to learn and quick to absorb! 

Pandemic is yet another great game to build on your Ticket to Ride hand management skills. In this game, you’ll work together cooperatively to fight the spread of a debilitating global disease.

Advanced Board Games Like Ticket to Ride:

In Power Grid, players race to create the best power grid as you constantly work to prioritize your resources – do you upgrade your plants or save your wealth to expand your network?

Gaia Project is another game that tops Board Game Geek’s charts. Resource management and network / route building are key in this game.


There you have it- tons of options for your next journey as you step beyond Ticket to Ride’s borders!

**choo-choo**

Header Photo Credit: Thanks, Billie Grace Ward! cc

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