Great Board Games Like Ticket to Ride
Wondering if there are any great board games like Ticket to Ride?
We’ll give you some of our top picks for what to play next!
If you love playing Ticket to Ride, you might be ready for another challenge and wondering what games like Ticket to Ride are out there waiting for you.
I’m so excited for you because there are so many!
Ticket to Ride is one of the biggest hits in the board game hobby industry. With easy to learn rules, fun and friendly game play, and a delightful table presence families all over the world enjoy playing this popular game together. It’s what many in the board game hobby call a “gateway game.” It’s responsible, perhaps more than any other game, for getting folks and their families interested in modern board games – sparking a desire to try out new gaming experiences.
But with so many amazing games out there, you may find yourself wondering what you should try next.
Below we’ll give you our top picks for games like Ticket to Ride.
But before we do that, let’s first break down some of the mechanics in Ticket to Ride to understand it a bit better.
Ticket to Ride is a light to medium complexity game, meaning that it is welcoming to a wide variety of ages while still providing fun avenues for various strategies and challenges. Most players 8 and up can enjoy a game of Ticket to Ride.
The main mechanisms in the game include:
Map Reduction
Network and Route Building
Hand Management
Set Collection
and Fulfilling Contracts
You may like some or all of these mechanisms, so in our quest to help you find your next favorite game, we’ll try to suggest games that include some of these same or similar mechanisms!
Map Reduction
Hey, That’s My Fish!
In Hey, That’s My Fish you’ll be moving a penguin around on a map of hex-shaped ice tiles to collect fish. With each movement, you’ll remove a tile, creating a gap where players can’t cross in future turns. Much like in Ticket to Ride, the game starts with a large amount of space for you to use, but as it goes on, less and less of the map is available until eventually you or your opponents can’t move and are removed from the board. Your hope is to design a path that leaves plenty of space open for you, while cutting off your opponents so you can eat all the fish!
This is a fun, silly game the whole family can enjoy! Perfect for kids even as young as 6 while still being challenging for adults!
Survive: Escape from Atlantis
One of our all time favorite family games. This is one we believe everyone should have on their shelf; it never disappoints! Everyone is working to save their meeples from a sinking island and get them safely to shore. With every turn, a little more of the island is removed and dangers such as sharks, whales, and even sea monsters await players in the ocean. You’ll have to carefully plan how to get the most meeples you can to safety, as your opponents will surely try and thwart you!
This is an excellent game for families and works well for ages 8 and up!
Network and Route Building
Istanbul
We love the clever strategy one has to employ to succeed at Istanbul. You’ll lead a group of workers (merchant and four assistants) through the various locations in the bustling bazaar. Visiting a location allows you to take a specific action, but in order to take an action, you have to be able to move both your merchant and an assistant as you’ll leave your assistant behind too tidy up all the details of your business while you continue on. If you want to use your assiistant(s) again, well then you have to return to pick them up. If you don’t plan carefully, you’ll be left with no help and no way to take any actions!
This game also has a fantastic iOS app! We love testing out a game in a digital form before purchasing the physical copy. (Read about some of our favorite apps here.)
While the game is language independent, the strategy can be a bit tricky for younger players so we recommend this one for ages 10+
Yamataï
Not only is this game fun, it is absolutely gorgeous! In Yamatai you’ll be competing to build palaces, torii, and your own buildings across the land. The board is modular, meaning that every game it will be a little bit different. So your challenge will come from trying to look over the board, gauge the best route for you to maximize your point potential, and then try to execute that without getting cut off from your opponents and, when that does happen, (because it will!) Being able to quickly re-route your plan so you can still come out on top.
We recommend Yamatai for players about 12 and up!
Hand Management
Pandemic
This is another solid gateway game like Ticket to Ride! If you haven’t checked out this game yet, you should definitely put it on your list. This game will have you working as a team to stop a worldwide outbreak of four deadly diseases! You’ll globe trot around the board working to minimize threats and distribute vaccines.
Pandemic is great for players ages 8 and up!
Already played Pandemic? Check out this post for more games like it!
The Quest for Eldorado
One of our all time favorite games! In the Quest for Eldorado you’ll be racing to get your explorers to Eldorado first! You’ll draft cards that help you do this, equipping your explorers with the tools and guides they need to get you to your destination. If you love the part of ticket to ride where you’re racing to beat your opponents to get that one route you really need, or hurrying to finish the game before someone else, then you’ll definitely love the racing fun found in this game! It also has tiny cards, though jury is out on whether or not this is a positive similarity to TTR. 😉
The Quest for Eldorado is a friendly game only moderately more difficult than Ticket to Ride. We recommend this one for players ages 8 and up!
Set Collection
Azul
A beautiful abstract strategy game, Azul is one of the best set collection games. Take turns drafting tiles to complete and decorate your palace. You’ll earn extra points for completing specific patterns and sets while losing points for wasting materials. It is simple enough that you can teach it to just about anyone, and classic enough that you can see yourself playing it for years.
Perfect for ages 8 and up though our 6 year old can even play with minor help as well!
Century: Spice Road
Ready to establish a trade route? In Century: Spice Road you’ll work to collect the various types of spices you need in order to fulfill contracts. You’ll do this by drafting cards into your hand and playing them to make trades or harvest spices. This is a clever, quick playing game that uses many of TTRs same game mechanics in new ways that is both tricky and satisfying.
This is another great one for players ages 8+
Fulfilling Contracts
Lords of Waterdeep
One of our oldest loves, Lords of Waterdeep is an amazing choice to give you that next step into strategy games. Here you’ll work to expand your influence and gain control of the city by using your agents too recruit adventurers to successfully go on quests for you. Successful quests earn your rewards and influence which you’ll need as you also work to construct buildings around the city, opening up new actions for use on the board and thus even more ways for you (and your opponents!) To take control.
This is an exciting strategy game that is great for players starting around age 10 or 11.
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs
You’ve built your railroads, now you’re ready to begin your lucrative career as a Dino Rancher! We love the strategy involved in Tiny Epic Dinosaurs! You’ll acquire, breed, and sell dinosaurs to fulfill lucrative contracts. Each dinosaur though requires a lot of resources to care for, so while you’re working to fulfill your contracts, you’ll also need to be making sure you can keep all your dinosaurs fed and happy. This is an exceptionally well themed game that comes in a small package with some more small cards!
Tiny Epic Dinosaurs is great for players starting around ages 10-12 and up!
Ticket to Ride Expansions
And of course, if you just can’t get enough Ticket to Ride, you should definitely look at adding some of the expansion maps to your collection! There are many to choose from and they each add something unique to the play experience to challenge and delight! Here are some of our favorites:
United Kingdom + Pennsylvania
India + Switzerland
The Nordic Countries
Get yourself some full size cards for your full size hands in the fun USA 1910 Expansion!
Plus we also love the new small box versions of Ticket to Ride! These are great for distilling the full 60 minute game into a fun 15 minute package! The perfect size to take with you on a trip!
New York (check out our full review here!)
London
Amsterdam
And don’t forget about the littlest gamers! If you want to give the gift of board game addiction to a child, Ticket to Ride is here to help with First Journey!
