Bidmeadman's Besties: April

Ticket To Ride (Days Of Wonder) is considered by many to be the ultimate "gateway" game, a game to introduce to people who are unfamiliar with the wide world of board games.

In Ticket To Ride you're competing to travel across america securing train routes. The game board is a map of the USA covered in train routes of various colours. As a player you have a collection of trains that you use to connect different cities, earning you points. The more train carriages needed to join two cities the more points you earn.


To place train carriages onto the game board you need to collect the right coloured cards to match the route. So, if you want to connect Denver and Oklahoma City you need to have four red cards in your hand. Once you do you can spend a turn to discard the four red cards and place your trains between the two cities and collect the points.

During a turn you choose one of the following actions: Collect two train cards from the five face-up cards or face-down draw pile, place trains onto the board, collect destination tickets. Destination tickets detail two cities and a number of points. To earn the points on the card you need to have connected the two cities with a continuous line of your trains.

That's Ticket To Ride in a nutshell. Simple, refined mechanics mean it's a breeze to teach/learn/play. Everything's crystal clear; no unfamiliar terminology or symbols, just colours and numbers. It being fun on top of this is the reason it's such a good gateway game, a transitional game between the traditional and the modern. If someone is struggling to see past the familiar family games like monopoly, introduce them to Ticket To Ride.

It can be played and enjoyed by young and old; familiar to board games and unfamiliar. My gamer friends love to play it, my niece and nephew (8 and 12 respectively) love to play it, my non-gaming sister loves it, my cousin bought it to play with his family once he played it and loved it. It's a game for everyone.

It's the lightest of the Besties so far and probably the lightest of all the Besties to come, but that's not to say there's no skill in playing it well; finding the optimum routes and getting to your destinations fastest, knowing when to discard destination tickets and when to keep them. There are strategies to be found and perfected the more you play, and the card drafting system adds anticipation and a small amount of tension.

There's not a lot of opportunity for player interaction. Everyone's got their own goals and it's easy to keep your head in your game, ignoring everyone else. The more players there are the more crowded the map gets and players will block the routes of other players often. However, a two player game can go by without any conflict and it can be a bit like you're each playing you're own game for the most part.

Ticket To Ride is simple and effective. A fun, light, family-friendly, frustration-free, satisfying board game.

Are you a fan of Ticket To Ride? Have you played any of the other maps available? Is this your first time hearing about it? Message or tweet me and let me know your thoughts.

Never Too Tired To Game

It may surprise you but having a one year old can sometimes mean not having as much game time as I might like.

Now, I am not saying that my daughter gets in the way of more important things in my life, that would be foolish and untrue. Less game time is a happy and more than reasonable compromise for a wonderful, beautiful, healthy daughter. It just means one has to be more proactive with the little time and energy one has for personal hobbies.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my wife, Megan, and I enjoy our board games. It's hard however to commit to a lengthy, rules-heavy game when work and parenthood leave you with little excess energy to spend on things like thinking. Or moving your hands.

8pm will come around, the little one is safely tucked up in bed after a long, busy day, and the thought in my mind is - Right! what game can we set up, play and pack away before exhaustion wins and I want nothing more than to collapse into bed? This struggle between my need for gaming and my need for sleep lasts from about 8pm until 9.30pm.

So permit me to share with you five games that I feel fill that small window we as new parents and gamers have to enjoy our hobby of a week night (and also weekends if, like me, you have a less than conventional work schedule).

Splendor (Space Cowboys)
As is the case with all these games I am listing, Splendor is a quick game. There is also the added bonus that it is one of Megan's favourites, so it takes less to convince her to play than most of my games. It's a simple game with just enough strategy, and a game lasts about 15-20 minutes. There is only ever five actions to choose from on a turn, you choose one and your turn is over, so turns tend to be quick and painless when we play. It's a game where we find we can get two or three games in while watching the T.V. Set-up and pack-down takes minutes, so getting it on the table, playing two games, and putting it back on the shelf can all take place within 40 minutes.

Star Realms (White Wizard Games)
Cheap, portable and fun; Star Realms is a must have for anyone who wants to fit a game into a short time period. It follows a familiar deck building mechanic similar to games like Ascension and Dominion, so if you already know those games Star Realms takes minutes to get your head around. Megan and I love to play Dominion as well, but the set-up/pack-down time means we are more likely to get out Star Realms if we are tired and time is limited. Also, if we are feeling super lazy there's always pass and play on the mobile app!

We recently discovered Star Realms can be played in bed, which is another reason to choose it over Dominion. Gaming until one of us just falls asleep.

Hive (Gen42 Games)
An abstract strategy game for two players. It doesn't feature a game board, just 22 hexagonal tiles that you place down adjacent to one another. Each tile has a picture of an insect on it, and each different insect moves in a unique way. The object is to surround your opponent's Queen Bee.

There is a surprising amount of strategy in Hive; it's a satisfying game to play. A game lasts about 10 minutes and there is zero set-up, aside from separating the tiles into the two colours. It does require all our concentration to play well, but it is a calming game for the end of an evening. There is also a pocket version available for even more portability.

Dungeon Roll (Tasty Minstrel Games)
This is a nice casual game for 1-4 players, I find it works best with two people, however. Dungeon Roll is a push-your-luck dice game, but not as luck-pushy as some other games in that category. Its dungeon crawl theme is great, and I love the chest-shaped box it comes in. The active player takes the Hero dice and rolls them to form their party. The player to their left (or just the other player if you're playing 2p) gets to roll the Dungeon dice, which represent the monsters and loot found within the dungeon that your band of heroes are exploring. As you delve deeper you collect loot and earn experience points. It's a simple game with constant interaction if you're playing two player.

Forbidden Island (Gamewright)
The longest and heaviest game on the list, Forbidden Island is probably also our least played with just the two of us. It's a game we can enjoy together or with one or two friends, although I have generally found the more people the better. Forbidden Island is a cooperative game, and the good thing about co-op games is combining brain power. Especially when you're tired. If too tired, one person can take a back seat during the crucial decision making, but still take the credit if the players beat the game. Although the longest on the list it is still a short game, and if we want it shorter we can just set the starting difficulty higher.

So, how about you? Do you have any games that should be added to this list? Message or tweet me with your suggestions.