Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails

Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails takes the familiar gameplay of Ticket to Ride and expands it across the globe. This means that you'll be moving across water, of course, and that's where the sails come in. It adds a lot of depth to the original game and can be a little intimidating for first-time Ticket to Ride players. The game gives you both train cards AND boat cards and you have to decide your boat and train ratio at the start of the game, which can be a big strategic decision. The harbors are an awesome twist! Basically, you get huge bonuses for having missions start or end where you place a harbor. This is where the strategy of the game comes into play for me... Do I rush to secure my route? Do I rush to secure my harbor? Do I want to pick up train cards or boat cards? What is my biggest priority? Overall, this is my favorite game by far at the moment.

The game board is massive and has two games in one. If you got bored with the world you can always play the Great Lakes or vice versa. The game is extremely hard to block or anticipate what your friends are doing. Because of the sheer number of routes in this game, it is quite the risky move trying to block off your opponents. I have found myself using up my wild cards prematurely trying to "secure off" my route only to find out that they took a completely different path then I was expecting. Yes sometimes I got blocked but overall this game feels clean, balanced and opened.

My one complaint is that I don't think there are enough boat cards! I wish they added in more. The fact that you need LESS boat cards to go farther makes sense that the boat deck is smaller than the train cards, but I wish they had doubled the boat cards to make it easier for shuffling. Things get a bit complicated when people are hoarding boat cards.

Overall, I highly recommend this game for anyone looking to enhance their game night. It's fun, addictive, and competitive gameplay makes it a crowd-pleaser and a staple for any social gathering.