Passengers are used to pick up merchandise worth different numbers of points along the routes that they claim. Varying stacks of merchandise tokens with different point values are placed next to the different cities on the map. Players can place one of their 3 Passenger tokens on any city along a route that they claim. On his game turn, the player can choose to then move one of his passengers from the city it currently occupies along any or all of his continuous routes, picking up Merchandise Tokens from each city he moves through. Of course he’ll always take the highest remaining tokens. The point total of the tokens is then added to his score.

Other game play changes are the vertical orientation of the German map, and instead of a bonus for longest route, the 10 point bonus card goes to the player who completes the most Destination Tickets.

While boardgamers may not be familiar with the Märklin name, train hobbyists consider it the premier name in the model train world. This German company has been around for over 140 years and is the world’s leader in the miniature train hobby.  Each train card in this edition will feature a different image (118 in all) of a Märklin model train car or locomotive. To learn more about Märklin we invite you to visit their website at www.marklin.com. To learn of their history as a toy manufacturer visit: http://www.marklin.com/about/.

Oooo… and I was worried that DoW was going to focus on the computer market for TtR.  I like the turn of the century look that the previous two games had, this one doesn’t look quite as appealing to me.  Any idea what time period it’s set in?  However, 118 different train cards sounds great and the new rules sound intriguing.

I notice that the box says “Collector’s Edition” on the box.  Will it be a limited run?  And I assume you mean April 2006, right?

Great news- thanks for the info Rick. TTR is still my most played game by far and this new one and the computer version will keep it that way for awhile longer.

I suspect that this is the TTR version that Alan Moon meant a year ago when he said ‘the third one is my favorite.’

A third Ticket To Ride game (fourth if you count the PC game)?  I know some folks will groan and roll their eyes, but I think it’s fracken awesome!  I like that each game in the series (so far) adds something new to the game, thus making each game different but similar at the same time.  Way to go Alan Moon and Days of Wonder!

Wow. Wow. Wow. I think if Days of Wonder was going to produce another Ticket to Ride game, then they needed to shake things up with the artwork too.  And boy did they ever!

And it looks FANTASTIC.

Its the first big-box game they have come out with where they have used a base color that was something different from the great tannish boxes of the past.  I always loved the artwork on those boxes...still...a GIANT thumbs-up for this one.

My only concern?  Days of Wonder only publishes two games per year.  They have stated they will continue that model.  This means if you factor out the variants of the original Ticket to Ride, the only truly new game concept in the past two years from them they have released is Shadows over Camelot.  And this, I suppose, means only one new concept for them in 2006 as well?

Thanks for the early feedback everyone.

Sean, as far as I know, this will not be a Limited Edition. The Collector’s Edition label is for all the Marklin collectors. Marklin has a Club that costs $85 for a one-year membership. As a member, you get a newsletter, a small discount on Marklin products, and some other perks. The club has tens of thousands of members (I’ve heard 70,000 and 90,000 but don’t know if either of those is the correct figure). The art on the cards features new Marklin products for 2006 and I think Marklin is going to list TICKET TO RIDE as one of their hot new products for 2006 in their catalog.

Joe, actually the map I mentioned as my favorite was SWITZERLAND (in the CD game). Of course, that was a year ago. I really still enjoy playing all the T2R games. SWITZERLAND really appeals to me because it’s the most basic of the four games and all the Tickets are drawn in every game (at least when I’m playing). I love drawing Tickets. T2R Marklin is much more involved than SWITZERLAND.

Mike, I can’t wait till you’ve played T2R Marklin a couple of dozen times as I’m curious to see if you develop a favorite strategy.

Now that I’m free to talk, here are some more details about the game.

1. There are 46 Tickets divided equally into two decks: Long Tickets valued 12-22 and Short Tickets valued 5-11. At the start of the game, each player draws four Tickets in any combination from the two decks or all from one deck. You must keep at least two.

2. Most of the Tickets are for north-south connections, especially the Long Tickets.

3. The west side of the map is mostly generic (non-colored) short routes. The east side of the map is mostly colored long routes. There are 7 space routes in the east.

4. At the start of the game, Berlin receives four Tokens valued 7, 6, 5, 4 at the start. Major cities receive three Tokens valued 4, 3, 2, Big cities receive two Tokens value 3, 2, 1, and Small cities receive one Token value 2 woth 18 points.

5. Each player gets three Passengers. When you Claim a Route, you can place one of your Passengers in either city as long as it doesn’t already contain a Passenger. At anytime later in the game, you can spend your whole turn to move one of your Passengers that is already on the board. You can move the Passenger any number of cities along your own routes, and you pick up one Token in each city you enter. You score a number of points equal to the total of all the Tokens taken. The Passenger is removed once scored, so you have a maximum of three Passenger moves per game.

6. There are two new cards in the deck:
1) There is a 4+ Locomotive. You can draw this like a regular card. You can play it as part of a set to Claim any route 4-7 spaces.
2) There is a Passenger Card. You can draw this like a regular card. When moving a Passenger, you can play any number of Passenger Cards and use one route belonging to an opponent for each card played.

7. There are two very different basic strategies in the game. One, you can take Long Tickets and build long routes on the eastern half of the board (which should especially appeal to the USA fans). Two, you can take Short Tickets and build short routes on the western half of the board where there are more Tokens, and try to make lots of Passenger points. Of course, the winning strategy will probably combine aspects of both of these strategies in most games.

Alan R. Moon

Almost forgot. The T2R Marklin box is my absolute favorite. I love the red/black combination which is very Marklin, and of course I love black.

Alan

Sean -

Alan beat me to the punch a little, but here are the answers to your questions, from Mark Kaufmann of Days of Wonder.

> Any idea what time period it’s set in? 

“Unlike the previous versions it is not set in a particular time period. Instead it includes Marklin train images from all periods and geographies - steam to diesel to electric and locomotives and cars from both Europe and North America.”

> I notice that the box says “Collector’s Editionâ€? on the box.  Will it be a limited run? 

“The “Collector’s Edition” refers to the various images of the Marklin images. They’ve been selected from among the most popular of the Marklin train pieces. It is not a limited edition.”

> And I assume you mean April 2006, right?

It’s Rick talking now… I posted the preview and caught the date error while I was proofreading it.  Before I changed it I noticed you had already posted a comment - you must have read and commented on the preview about 2 minutes after I posted it! 

- Rick

- you must have read and commented on the preview about 2 minutes after I posted it!

What can I say?  I love me some BGN.  Plus, RSS feed readers are pretty sweet.

Just to be clear: In 2006, there should be two new games, not a single one, in addition to the already announced T2R Marklin edition ;-).

eric

Thanks, Eric.  As much as I love Ticket to Ride, I’m always eager to see what new games you guys put out - every single big box game is on my top 100 favorite games. 

Alan, thanks for the comments.  Some questions…

1.) How many Locomotive 4+ cards are there?  Initially, it sounds very powerful.  If I never draw any, will I lose?

2.) Are any of the new aspects from Ticket to Ride: Europe included in this game?

Tom, the 4+ cards aren’t that powerful. They can even be a trap sometimes, like when you should really Claim A Route but you don’t because you can’t resist taking a 4+. They are included to help the people who are building the long routes, because there are a lot of long routes including 7s. You won’t lose if you don’t get any of them. Well, you may lose when don’t get any of them, but it won’t be because you didn’t draw any 4+ cards. Feel free to use that as an excuse though. Hee, hee

Alan

There are no Stations, Tunnels, or Ferries in the MARKLIN game.

Alan