Ticket to Ride

Subject: Category: Geography

Ages: # of players: 2 to 5

Time to play: Mechanics/Game Type: Card collection strategy

Ratings (1 to 5) Educational Value: 5

Gaming value: 5

Aesthetic value: 5

Price value: 4

Ease of play: 4

Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: Ticket to Ride has become one of the most popular board games around, as evidenced by the large variety of version available.  If you are studying geography of the US or Europe then these games are both fun and educational.

The game has Destination cards and various color Train cards; the board has railroad routes of various colors and lengths connecting various cities (gray routes can be any color.)  You try to collect enough of the same colored train cards to claim a route between two cities, placing your own set of neat plastic trains on the board when you do so.  Claiming a route earns you point, which you keep track of by moving a scoring marker around the outside of the board.  Ultimately you try to claim routes to connect the cities listed on your Destination cards.  The game ends after the first player runs out of plastic trains, when the final scoring for longest route and completed destination cards happens.

Each turn you have a choice of one of three actions: draw Train cards (up to 2), or claim a route, or draw Destination cards.  As for the deck of train cards, five are face up on the table while the rest are face-down in a stack.  You can draw either a face up card, and then replace it by turning over the top of the stack, or one from the stack.  If you draw a face up wild card your turn is over; if you draw a single-color face-up train or a card from the pile then you get to choose a second card from either source (other than a face-up wild card.)  When you draw Destination cards, you pick three but you only keep what you want.

The game is long for younger players, though fewer players speeds it up.  No reading is needed, and if you play open-handed then even younger players can enjoy this game, or get the dice expansion.  The biggest issue is the appeal for kids to play with the trains.  While you get extra, every player needs 25 trains since that determines when the game ends.

The basics of the game are easy to learn, but game variations have rule variants.  Even the basic game has some variation depending on the number of players; in a three-player game, for example, only one side of a double route can be claimed.  Ultimately the variations make play more challenging or interesting, but it can get confusing if you don't play often.

Here is another description on the Games by Johnny! blog about the game with pictures and details about playing.

BoardGameGeek.com links to these games:

Ticket to Ride;  Ticket to Ride Europe;  Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition (Germany);  Ticket to Ride Nordic Countries;  Ticket to Ride: Switzerland expansion.  And there's more expansions--dice, cards, 1912 editions.  Check out the Days of Wonder website for the full line.

Caribbean

Subject: Geography
Category: Maps
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 30 to 45 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Pick up and deliver; Simultaneous Action Selection

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 3 (excellent map)
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 4
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments: This is a cut-throat game, no doubt, fitting in well with the pirate theme. Players bribe (with barrels of rum) six pirate ships (their names beginning with the letters A through F) to capture and deliver treasure chests. Players have bidding tiles, one each from -1 to 5. Each round players decide how much rum to bid for all the ships by placing each card rum barrel card in a tray labeled with all the ship names, leaving one tie-breaking tile left over. Starting with A (for Aribba) players reveal their bid, and the highest bidder gets control of that ship. You move the ship as many spaces as barrels of rum you bid, minus any -1 cards your opponent may have played. You pick up treasure by sailing to a port, or by stealing it from another ship. If the ship moves into a square of your color, you get the gold. After A ship is moved, bids for the B ship are revealed, and so on. The first player to capture so much gold (based on the number of players) wins the game.

The game not only involves anticipating what other players might do but also a lot of abstract strategy to figure out if it is better to do a straight move to a harbor and then to your color, or to use a less-sought-after ship to steal it off another. The gaming value will far outlast it's educational value.

The board is an attractive, realistic map depicting the Caribean and all the major port cities, although countries are not named, nor are their boarders shown. The ships are neat and can be taken apart for flat storage but they do not always stay together well. The treasure chests are very small and can be difficult to read. They are thick cardboard, as are the rum barrel tiles, with colorful designs.

Minimal reading is involved, but the bidding process makes the game are to adapt to younger players, though they'll want to play with the ships. You can get this game for just under $20, making it a good value given it's attractive components and long game life.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13301

Pandemic

Subject: Geography, Science
Category: Major World Cities, Epidemiology
Ages: 10 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 45 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Cooperative

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 4
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 4
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 4
Younger adaptability: 5

My comments: If you are not a fan of cooperative games, this one will likely change your mind.

Four "viruses" (colored cubes) are spreading around the world and the players need to work together to stop them. There is one way to win: collect the cards needed to create cures and eradicate the 4 diseases. There's three ways to lose, however: too many outbreaks, too many virus cubes on the boards, or running out of cards. I have played this games four times now; I have seen all the ways to lose and have yet to win.

Each player is randomly dealt one of five roles. The Medic, for example, can remove all virus cubes on a city instead of one; the Scientist only needs four cards instead of five to create a cure. Players move around the board trying to remove virus cubes, collect cure cards, and build research stations. Meanwhile, more cities are infected at the end of each turn. If more than three virus cubes come up in a city then an outbreak occurs, spreading the virus to adjacent cities. Pick a dreaded epidemic card and not only do more virus cubes appear, but the cards with the cities that already have infections get shuffled and placed on the top of the pile to be drawn again!

There's no need to hide cards or create strategies alone--this game is challenging enough to win--so it is great for younger players or those who generally shy away from complicated board games. The board displays the world's major cities, though you have to look carefully to see the actual location of that city. The pawns, virus cubes, and research stations are made of wood. The cards are a nicely sized and drawn with geographic and population information on them.

This has become one of my favorites; I've been won over to this cooperative game.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/30549

10 Days in the USA (Europe, Asia, Africa)

Subject: Geography
Category: US (Europe, Asia, Africa)
Ages: 10 and up
# of players: 2 to 4
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Set collection

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 5
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments: The game has a large board picturing the United States, each state of a different color, but you don't play on it. Each player has a tray in which to place 10 "tiles" that are small, thick cards each with a picture of a state along with the capital city and population, as well as car and colored airplane tiles. The object of the game is to create a 10 day trip through the US. You can "walk" to bordering states, meaning the tiles can be placed next to each other in the tray; you can drive 2 states away, meaning you have to place a car between the two states; or you can fly between any two states of the same color so long as you have a plane of that color between them in your tray. You start the game by drawing and placing tiles in your tray--you cannot rearrange a tile once you place it--and you spend the rest of the game trying to complete your trip. The mechanics are easy--draw a tile (from the deck or discard pile) and then discard a tile into 1 of 3 discard piles.

Certainly children younger than 10 can play this game, and you could play "open hand" with younger children with minimal modification to depend more on the luck of the draw rather than the strategy of the discard pile. The parts are well made and colorful, the trays are wood, and the box is small and sturdy. Besides 10 Days in the USA, the company makes 10 Days in Europe, 10 Days in Asia, and 10 Days in Africa. It's a great way to really look at and get to know states and countries.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/7866

Marco Polo Expedition

Subject: History
Category: Geography
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 5
Time to play: 45 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: card management

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 3
Gaming value: 5
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 5
Ease of play: 4
Younger adaptability: 3 (need to be able to hold cards and match the symbols and colors; no reading required.)

My comments: A game designed by Reiner Knizia and made by Ravensburger is bound to be good, and this one is. Players collect cards to match the color/goods pattern shown on the next open space to advance his/her caravan towards Kantshou then Daidu, collecting gold treasure chests along the way. Whoever has the most gold wins.

The instruction booklet (in 5 languages) has an extended paragraph about Marco Polo's travels. The board is beautiful, and had a little geography in that it shows Hormus, Kantshou, Daidu, Takla Makan, the Himalayas, and the Gobi Desert. The game pieces are merchants leading camels, and the stunning playing cards depict fruits, spices, oil, and silks, and merchants in 5 colors. This is the extent of the History/Geography information. We happen to be reading Marco Polo this year, and this game make a great leisure time adjunct.

Players can pick cards from the stack or 5 cards placed face up in their quest to collect the right combination of cards to advance their camel to the front of the caravan. The first player to reach a space with gold collects the gold. When the first player reached the Kantshou midpoint, all players receive gold in the amount of the space they are on, and then they all get placed on Kantshou. The game then continues through the second half of the board until someone reaches Daidu, when a second valuation occurs and the game ends. The instructions are a bit complicated to figure out, but the game is easy after the first time it's played. My 5 year old plays along with my 8 year old and myself without assistance.


BoardGameGeek.com link to this game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9139

Trans Europa

Subject: Geography
Category: World
Ages: 8 and up
# of players: 2 to 6
Time to play: 30 minutes
Mechanics/Game Type: Track Building

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 1
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 3
Price value: 3
Ease of play: 4
Younger adaptability: 3

My comments:
Trans Europa is a fun game that can be played in rounds because it is so quick to play. My 10yo enjoys playing it often and in fact I imagine any child who is able to read could catch on fairly quickly so don't take the age guide too seriously. To win a round you must build railroad tracks connecting five cities that are randomly dealt out at the beginning of the game. Those who are unable to complete their line must tally points and move their locomotive down the scoring track on the right side of the board.

Unfortunately, if you are buying this game for educational purposes, you will be dissappointed. The board map has little to no detail. It's one redeeming quality is in the cards. Each card has a city and an accompanying landmark pictured on it so you could potentially get some good review in by using the cards as flashcards.

Aside from the lackluster gameboard, TransEuropa is made well, does not have an oversized box (which is one of my personal pet peeves) and best of all it has wooden playing pieces. Gotta love wooden pieces, they just have a quality that you cannot match with manmade materials.

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/16267

Australian Rails

Subject: Geography
Category: World
Ages: 10 and up
# of players: 2 - 6
Time to play: approximately 2 hours
Mechanics/Game Type: Crayon Rail System

Ratings (1 to 5)

Educational Value: 5
Gaming value: 4
Aesthetic value: 5
Price value: 4
Ease of play: 3

My comments: What started out as a potential never-to-be-used game has quickly become a family favorite. It is certainly not something you can just pick up and start playing right away if you are new to crayon rail games put out by Mayfair Games. It has an extensive instruction booklet and requires extra set up time the first time you use it so that you can put the stickers on all the load chips. Plan plenty of time to learn how to play this game. Better yet, pay a neighbor kid to learn how to play the game and then come over and teach you and the kids:)

That said, once you have played it one time you will get the hang of it and I hope, find it quite enjoyable as we have. The idea is to build a rail system across Australia and ship goods from city to city. What makes this game exciting is this: Strategy is involved in that you want to get your railroad built without spending too much money building across rivers and mountains and be able to start shipping the most valuable goods as soon as possible. When playing with several people it becomes more challenging because only a certain number of tracks can be built into and out of the smaller cities. Lastly there is the disaster element that can happen randomly, like rain season, dust storms and floods causing tracks to be destroyed and shipments to be delayed.

I purchased this game to help my daughter with her geography so I was very particular about how accurate and detailed the map/gameboard was. I am impressed with this one. The board shows the location of many cities and geographic attributes of Australia. From a gaming perspective, I find it very helpful to have the goal and building costs listed right on the board. I will most definitely be purchasing more of the crayon rail games to use in the future!

BoardGameGeek.com link to this game:
http://boardgamegeek.com/game/935