USD ($)
EUR (€)
Ticket To Ride First Journey, All Aboard!
What child doesn’t love a train journey? Ticket to Ride has been a huge success; it’s easy to get hold of and is often recommended as a ‘gateway’ game. So, does Ticket to Ride First Journey succeed in lighting the fire in the younger generation too?
Component Quality
The components will be recognisable to any Ticket to Ride fan, they have just been made child friendly in the Ticket to Ride First Journey editions. The trains are a little bigger and spares are included to cover any getting lost - something we’ve already had happen. Cards are linen finished and the images are very similar to the standard game but with a more child-friendly aesthetic. Colours are clear and symbols are used on the cards to ensure they’re accessible to anyone who may be colour blind.
Cities on both the map board and the ticket cards have a caricature style image of a local landmark as well as the name so they can be easily found by the younger players. There’s even a ‘golden ticket’ card included as a prize for the winner. Overall the components are first-class as with the other games in the range and fit for purpose too.
Gameplay
Ticket to Ride First Journey keeps much of the gameplay of the game it’s based on, simply streamlined for the child ticket holders. Starting the game with a hand of four trains and two tickets, on your turn you can either take two more trains from the top of the deck or claim a route on the map by discarding the matching train cards and placing your trains on the route.
When you complete a ticket (claiming the routes between the two stations shown on the ticket), reveal it and draw a new ticket. The longest route is replaced with East to West cards, that count as a completed ticket and are available to all players. The first to complete six tickets wins.
Family Adaptation
There is still strategy to be had, but perhaps the luck is increased just enough to give the kids a chance to keep pace – in fact in our last game for this review, our seven year old son won – and it was close, his mum was going to win herself on her next turn too. The update to the components, artwork and board all work very well. Playtime is appropriate for the attention span of the intended age range and pace of the turn means that it’ll be back to the children’s turn before they know it.
Final thoughts…
More Orient Express than freight train, Ticket to Ride First Journey plays smoothly and delicately takes the main aspects of the Ticket to Ride franchise and polishes it for a younger generation. A 1st class addition to your family games collection!
Final thoughts from a 7-year-old…
"I could play it right up until bedtime."
