Ticket to Ride

Overview

Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which players compete to connect cities across a map of North America by claiming railway routes. Players collect Train Car cards, then spend sets of matching cards to claim routes on the board. Points are earned by claiming routes, completing Destination Tickets (secret goals connecting two cities), and having the Longest Continuous Path. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Components

• 1 Board map of North American train routes
• 240 Colored Train Cars (45 each in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, and Black, plus spare replacements in each color)
• 110 Train Car cards (12 each of 8 types: Box, Passenger, Tanker, Reefer, Freight, Hopper, Coal, Caboose; plus 14 Locomotives)
• 30 Destination Ticket cards
• 5 Wooden Scoring Markers (1 per player color)
• 1 Longest Continuous Path Bonus card
• 1 Summary card
• 1 Promotional card for additional maps
• 1 Days of Wonder promotional card

Train Car Card Colors

The 8 regular types correspond to route colors on the board: Purple, Blue, Orange, White, Green, Yellow, Black, and Red. Locomotives are multi-colored wild cards.

Setup

1. Place the board map in the center of the table.
2. Each player takes a set of 45 colored Train Cars and the matching Scoring Marker.
3. Each player places their Scoring Marker on Start on the Scoring Track.
4. Shuffle the Train Car cards and deal 4 cards to each player.
5. Place the remaining Train Car deck near the board; turn the top 5 cards face up beside it.
6. Place the Longest Path Bonus card face up next to the board.
7. Shuffle the Destination Ticket cards and deal 3 to each player.
8. Each player must keep at least 2 of their 3 Destination Tickets (may keep all 3). Return any unwanted tickets to the bottom of the Destination Ticket deck.
9. Place the Destination Ticket deck next to the board.
10. The most experienced traveler goes first; play proceeds clockwise.

Turn Structure

On your turn, you must perform exactly one of the following three actions:

1. Draw Train Car Cards
2. Claim a Route
3. Draw Destination Tickets

Play then passes clockwise to the next player.

Actions

Draw Train Car Cards

Draw 2 Train Car cards. For each draw, you may take any one face-up card OR draw blind from the top of the deck.

• When a face-up card is taken, immediately replace it from the deck before drawing the second card.
• Locomotive exception: If you take a face-up Locomotive, it counts as your entire draw (you may only draw 1 card that turn). You may not take a face-up Locomotive as your second card.
• If a Locomotive is drawn blind from the deck, it counts as a single card and you still draw a total of 2 cards.
• Three Locomotive rule: If at any time 3 of the 5 face-up cards are Locomotives, immediately discard all 5 face-up cards and turn up 5 new replacements.
• If the deck is exhausted, reshuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile (shuffle thoroughly since cards are discarded in sets).
• If both the deck and discard pile are empty, you may not draw Train Car cards; you must claim a route or draw Destination Tickets instead.
• There is no hand size limit.

Claim a Route

Play a set of Train Car cards equal to the number of spaces in the route to claim it. Place one of your plastic trains on each space of the route.

• A set must be cards of the same type (color).
• Colored routes require cards matching that specific color.
• Gray routes can be claimed using a set of any single color.
• Locomotives (wild) may substitute for any color in a set.
• Discard all cards used to claim the route.
• Score points immediately (move your Scoring Marker).
• You may claim any open route; you do not need to connect to previously played routes.
• Maximum 1 route claimed per turn.

Double Routes:

• One player may not claim both routes between the same two cities.
• In 2- or 3-player games: Only one of the Double Routes may be used. Once one player claims either route, the other route is closed to all players.

Route Scoring Table:

Route Length	Points
1	1
2	2
3	4
4	7
5	10
6	15

Draw Destination Tickets

Draw 3 Destination Ticket cards from the top of the deck.

• You must keep at least 1 (may keep 2 or all 3).
• Return unwanted cards to the bottom of the Destination Ticket deck.
• If fewer than 3 cards remain, draw only what is available.
• Destination Tickets are kept secret until end-game scoring.
• There is no limit to the number of Destination Tickets you may hold.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

During the Game

• Score points immediately when claiming routes (see Route Scoring Table above).

End-Game Trigger

• When any player’s supply of trains drops to 0, 1, or 2 trains at the end of their turn, every player (including that player) gets one final turn. The game then ends.

Final Scoring

1. Verify route points: Recount each player’s claimed routes to confirm the Scoring Track is correct.
2. Destination Tickets: Reveal all Destination Tickets.
   • Completed tickets (a continuous path of your routes connects both cities): Add the ticket’s point value.
   • Incomplete tickets: Subtract the ticket’s point value.
3. Longest Continuous Path Bonus: The player with the longest continuous path of routes receives the bonus card and adds 10 points. When measuring path length:
   • Only count continuous lines of plastic trains of the same player color.
   • A path may include loops and pass through the same city multiple times.
   • A given plastic train piece may never be counted twice in the same path.
   • Tie: All tied players receive the 10-point bonus.

Winner

• The player with the most total points wins.
• Tiebreaker 1: Most completed Destination Tickets.
• Tiebreaker 2: Player holding the Longest Continuous Path card.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Locomotive face-up draw: Taking a face-up Locomotive ends your draw immediately (only 1 card that turn). Drawing a Locomotive blind from the deck does not end your draw.
• Locomotive replacement trigger: If after replacing a taken face-up card the replacement is a Locomotive, the current player may not take it (they already drew one card). If 3 of the 5 face-up cards are now Locomotives, discard all 5 and replace.
• Double Routes in 2-3 players: Only one of the two routes between the same cities may be claimed by anyone; the other is permanently closed.
• Empty deck and discard: If both are empty, the “Draw Train Car Cards” action is unavailable.
• Destination Ticket minimum: You must keep at least 2 during initial setup; at least 1 when drawing during the game.
• Scoring Marker: Your score can never go below 0 on the track (though net negative from Destination Tickets is theoretically possible in final scoring).

Player Reference

Turn Actions (choose exactly 1)

Action	Details
Draw Train Car Cards	Draw 2 cards (face-up or blind); face-up Locomotive = only 1 card
Claim a Route	Play matching set of cards, place trains, score points
Draw Destination Tickets	Draw 3, keep at least 1

Route Scoring Quick Reference

Length	1	2	3	4	5	6
Points	1	2	4	7	10	15

End-Game Bonuses

Bonus	Points
Completed Destination Ticket	+ ticket value
Failed Destination Ticket	- ticket value
Longest Continuous Path	+10

Key Numbers

• Starting hand: 4 Train Car cards + 3 Destination Tickets (keep at least 2)
• Trains per player: 45
• Face-up card display: 5 cards
• End-game trigger: 0, 1, or 2 trains remaining
• Locomotive wild cards in deck: 14