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Picture this: you’re in San Francisco during the 1960s, enjoying the glittering sunlight reflecting off Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, while your bag is packed full of souvenirs. Welcome to Ticket to Ride: San Francisco, a unique variant of the famous Ticket to Ride series, where the goal is to score the most points through savvy route building and effective card collection.
👥 2-4 players, ages 8+
🕰 Playing time: 15 minutes
📝 Designer: Alan R. Moon
🎨 Artwork: Julien Delval
🏢 Publisher: Days of Wonder, Asmodee Belgium
⏱️ This fast-paced game draws players into a thrilling competition, perfectly capturing the vibrant spirit of San Francisco and its cable car culture. Each game lasts around 15 minutes, offering a quick and tense gaming experience.
🎯 Your primary mission is to score the most points by the end of the game. Points are acquired by claiming routes between two adjacent locations, successfully completing a continuous path of routes that connect the locations listed on your destination ticket, and by amassing a set of unique tourist tokens. However, be cautious; any incomplete destination ticket will cost you points.
🌉 Just like its predecessors, Ticket to Ride: San Francisco revolves around three main actions: drawing transportation cards, claiming a route, or drawing destination ticket cards.
🃏 Transportation cards correspond with the route colors on the game board. Ferry cards, acting as wild cards, can represent any color when claiming a route. Each turn allows you to draw two transportation cards from either the deck or the face-up cards. However, drawing a face-up ferry card restricts you from drawing a second card in the same turn.
🚃 To claim a route, discard the corresponding color and quantity of transportation cards from your hand, and place a cable car on each space of that route. Remember, you can claim any open route, and gray routes accept cards of any color.
🚂 This version of Ticket to Ride also introduces familiar elements from other variants, such as double routes and ferries. Double routes consist of two tracks of the same length connecting the same locations, but one player cannot claim both tracks. On the other hand, ferries are special routes that link locations across bodies of water, and claiming them requires a ferry card.
🗺️ Destination ticket cards, similar to the original game, depict two locations and a point value. Players must connect the locations to complete these cards by creating a continuous path of claimed routes. Drawing two new destination ticket cards is an option, but at least one must be kept. Beware, any incomplete destination ticket results in point deductions.
⏳ As the game nears its end, when a player has two or fewer cable cars left, each player gets one last turn. Then, the final scoring commences. Points are scored for claimed routes, completed destination tickets, and collected tourist tokens. Points are deducted for any incomplete destination tickets. The player with the highest score wins the game, becoming the master of the San Francisco cable car system!
Ticket to Ride: San Francisco is another game from the prolific designer Alan R. Moon, known for crafting all the games in the series, and features beautiful art by Julien Delval. The game shines with a vibrant, colorful board showcasing the streets of San Francisco, and the adorable cable car pieces add a delightful touch to the gameplay.
🎒 This version is compact and light, making it easy to carry around. Days of Wonder has once again delivered excellent production quality, complete with a handy box insert for easy storage. However, a slight hiccup is the readability of the location names on the board, which could have been clearer.
⏱️ What sets Ticket to Ride: San Francisco apart is its short playtime, coming in at just 15 minutes. Time is indeed golden in the Golden City! This makes it perfect for those moments when you’re short on time, want to introduce someone new to the Ticket to Ride series, or engage the little ones in a fun and entertaining game.
🗺️ A fresh twist in this edition is the addition of tourist tokens. Players can collect these tokens when they connect routes to cities with tokens for the first time. Don’t overlook these tokens, as they are a treasure trove of points, especially if you collect a complete set of seven souvenirs, which awards you a hefty 12 points. Given that scores are often neck and neck in this game, these tokens can be a game-changer.
🌉 The game board map is tight, meaning players will often find themselves crossing paths, which adds to the excitement. However, it’s worth noting that with only 20 cable cars per player, the game can feel a bit too short and light for seasoned Ticket to Ride enthusiasts who relish long-term strategies and more extensive gameplay. But don’t be afraid, as this compact version serves as the perfect filler game for times when you can’t commit to a longer session or when playing with kids.
🎲 Overall, Ticket to Ride: San Francisco offers a solid Ticket to Ride experience with the added twist of collecting souvenir tokens. The short playtime and engaging gameplay make it a must-have for those who love quick strategic challenges.
📝 Disclaimer: A big thank you to Asmodee Belgium for providing us with a review copy of Ticket to Ride: San Francisco.
