Review: Ticket to Ride - Europe Board Game - Great for Teens

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I first played the original Ticket to Ride (#ad) board game about five years ago with some friends and I've been hooked ever since. I'm not quite sure why it took me until the first lockdown last year to actually buy it, but I am so glad I did as myself and the children have played it so many times. I am a bit dismayed that they can all beat me quite so easily but it is still a lovely way to spend time together.

There isn't that much that can bring all the family together for an hour or so, but this is one of them. Ticket to Ride Europe really is a hit with the teens, I suppose it is a game that is a great blend of strategy, fun and luck that only takes an hour or so.

Useful information

Recommended age: 8+ years

Number of payers:  2 - 5

Length of play: 30 - 80 minutes

Time to learn the rules: 10 - 15 minutes and the booklet is super easy to navigate

Time to set up the board: 5 minutes

Cost: You can normally pick the game up for around £30, although I notice it is sold out in many places as I publish this. The RRP is £39.99.

Aim of the Game: 

To score the highest points by collecting and paying the coloured train cards, so you can place your train pieces on the board and complete the routes on your route cards. 

I think having four players is my favourite for this game, as it offers a better level of challenge on which routes we all try to claim and makes the gameplay about an hour long. Basically, the gameplay on the Europe edition is the same as the original North America version but there are also a few added features like completing a tunnel, where you have to be lucky or you'll end up playing more cards than the train pieces you'll lay; taking a ferry, which requires you to have a certain amount of locomotive cards as well as the necessary coloured train cards; or using a station to give you access to a route that is already blocked by another players trains. 

Review: Catan Board Game

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Catan used to be marketed as the Settlers of Catan and it is a well-established strategy game where you are seeking to be the first settler to conquer the island and make it yours! I have to admit that I had never heard of it, despite all the awards it has won and many of my friends who love board games told me it was a firm favourite from their games cupboard.

The Premise
After a long voyage, you reach the uncharted island of Catan and you need to collect resources like wool, ore, brick, grain and lumber, which you can then use to build roads, new settlements, or even cities. But you are not the only new settler, you are racing against the other players, who have also just landed on the island. You are then encouraged to trade and bargain for resources and the savviest player will prevail. As you build you will gain victory points and the winner is the first to reach 10 victory points.

Learning the Game
There is a large and very clear rule book with the game. It has full pictures of the board set up, very detailed descriptions on turn order, and an almanack for more advanced rules and clarifications. I have to admit that I did feel a bit overwhelmed at first as there is a lot of writing to read but the Catan website is fab and it has a Prof Easy tutorial that takes you right through gameplay in a very easy to understand fashion. It certainly helped my 10-year-old's to understand.

Review: Codenames Board Game #BoardGameClub

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I was super pleased that our family were asked to be part of the Blogger #BoardGameClub where we will receive a different board game each month for twelve months and our family will get to try the game out and share with you an honest review.

Codenames - an Introduction
The first game we have received is Codenames which has been crowned the Blogger Games Club game of the year 2016. It's not a game I've heard of before but it sounded interesting from the box blurb -

Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their CODENAMES. In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right colour while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. Codenames: Win or lose, it's fun to figure out the clues.

Codenames is designed by Vlaada Chvatil, a Czech board game designer who has had much success in the last decade. When you look across the web at reviews for Codenames it seems to be widely agreed that Vlaada has done it again with Codenames and it is a massive hit with games geeks. Take a look on Board Game Geek and see for yourself what the self-proclaimed board game experts say.