Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
From: Days of Wonder
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries is a new Board Game from Days of Wonder.
Probably the most successful line Days of Wonder has, they have now released Ticket to Ride (T2R) Nordic Countries for your T2R pleasure. Surprising me at first was the fact that it was a maximum 3 player game.
From the front cover:
“Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries takes you on a Nordic adventure though Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden as you travel the great northern cities of Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, and Stockholm.”
Opening the box, you see more or less what you would expect for a T2R series game. For those that don’t know, see our review on Ticket to Ride for the core basics of the game. In general, the object of the game is to score the highest amount of points by claiming routes between cities, completing a continuous route between two cities, and completing the most destinations. You do
this with Train cards and Destination Tickets.
The basics of the game are the same. Only the map is different and the game does add a few new elements. The two new elements are Ferries and Tunnels.
Tunnels were introduced on T2R: Europe and then T2R: Switzerland. When building a tunnel, one must play it as normal route, except that in addition to the Train Cards necessary to complete the route, the player must also flip the top three cards of the Train Deck. If any of these cards match the color of the train cards being played or are locomotives, the player must play one extra card for each. If this is not possible, the player takes his played cards back into their hand; and his turn is over. He must attempt the tunnel again at a later turn.
Ferries are special routes denoted with a locomotive picture in at least one of the spaces along the route. Along with the normal colored cards one has to play, the player must also play a locomotive card for every locomotive symbol along the route.
One thing I noticed at first was that there was one long route between Lieska and Murmansk of nine spaces, making me think that perhaps the routes were longer in this expansion. However, this is balanced out with many shorter routes throughout the map. I think on average, the length of a route remains the same as standard T2R.
In conclusion, this is just as good a game as T2R or any of its other off-shoots. The only real issue I had with it was the price tag. For a 2 or 3 player game, it is expensive. It should also be noted that this is a special-edition English-language version that was previously only available in Scandinavia. A limited number of copies are being printed.
For more details on Days of Wonder and their new Board Game “Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries” check them out at their website http://www.daysofwonder.com, and at all of your
local game stores.
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
From: Days of Wonder
Type of Game: Card Game
Game Design by: Alan R. Moon
Artist: Julien Delval
Number of Pages: 2 page rulebook
Game Components Included: Type List of Items
- 1 board
- 120 train cars
- 110 train car cards
- 46 destination tickets
- 1 globetrotter bonus card
- 3 wooden scoring markers
- rules booklet
Retail Price: $ 50.00 (US)
Players: 2 – 3
Time: 30 – 60 minutes
Ages: 8 and up
Website: www.daysofwonder.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung