One of my favorite games of all time is Ticket to Ride. It is a board game that involves creating paths from randomizes sources and destination on a map of the U.S. or Europe. In terms of mechanics, the game includes a board visualized as a map, trains colored for each player, train cards, and a set of potential trips. To play, each player selects three travel cars and chooses to fulfill at least one for points. Each trip can be routed in multiple ways with the only rule being, the path segments must consist of all the same color, as pulled by the train cards. Each round you can do two moves including drawing a train card or placing down a track. This game is fun to me because while it is a competition games, it feel like an abnegation game. There is not a lot of thrill or player to player conflict so everything feels really peaceful and easy going. It is usually the last game that my siblings and I play after several rounds of highly competitive, sometimes aggressive Catan and 13, so it feels nice to end the night in something that requires less brain power. Lastly, it gives us a reason to talk about our family trip together. Given all the locations and how spread out my siblings and I are, it is cool to hear stories about different places and even recount where we’ve been together.
