You collect train cards in matching colours and use them to claim routes between cities on the map. Secret destination tickets give bonus points if you connect their two cities.
What age is Ticket to Ride for?
Box says 8+
We suggest 7+ with an adult helping, 8+ on their own.
Each turn is one simple choice: draw cards or claim a route. A child who can match colours and read city names on the map can play with a little help planning routes. Other players can take the route you wanted, which can frustrate younger kids.
Checked against the Ticket to Ride (North American map) English rulebook, copyright 2025 Days of Wonder. Page numbers count the cover as page 1. The lesson below uses a small invented map to keep things short, but this checklist is for the real board.
Ticket to Ride in eight steps
Scroll through the lesson while the map follows along, and tap things to try them. Then play a short solo game right underneath. The cities on this map are invented to keep it small. The rules are the real ones.
Step 1 of 8: The goal
1
The goal: link cities, score the most
You're building train lines between cities. Every route you claim scores points, and secret goals called destination tickets can add more. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
Claim routesPoints right away. Longer routes are worth much more.
Finish ticketsEach ticket names two cities. Link them with your trains for bonus points. Fail, and you lose that many.
Longest line10 bonus points for the longest unbroken line of your own trains.
2
Setup: trains, cards, tickets
Everyone takes 45 trains in one colour and 4 train cards. Five more cards go face-up beside the deck. Then you're dealt 4 tickets and must keep at least 2. Keep them secret. (The solo practice game below deals 3 to keep things short.)
Northport to Midway6
A destination ticket. Link these two cities for 6 points. Miss it and you lose 6. The dotted line on the map shows its two ends.
3
Your turn: do one of three things
Pick exactly one, then play passes clockwise. On the map, Coral and Mint are partway through a game, and their trains sit on the routes they've claimed.
Draw cardsTake 2 train cards from the face-up row or the deck.
Claim a routePay matching cards, place your trains, score.
Draw ticketsTake 3, keep at least 1.
Playing with younger kids? Try a house rule: keep your tickets face up on the table so a grown-up can help plan routes. That isn't in the rulebook, but it can make a first game gentler.
4
Draw train cards
Take two cards, one at a time. Each comes from the five face-up cards or blind from the deck, and a face-up card is replaced straight away. Try it. Routes that card's colour can pay for light up on the map.
Take a card.
Locomotives are wild, counting as any colour. A face-up one uses your whole draw, so you take it alone. You can't take one as your second card. If three of the five face-up cards are locomotives, all five are swapped for new ones. There's no hand limit.
5
Claim a route
Play as many cards as the route has spaces, all one colour. A red route needs red cards. Gray routes take any one colour. Locomotives fill in for any card. Then put a train on every space, discard the cards, and score by length.
Tap a route on the map. Dashed outlines are routes this hand could pay for right now.
Your hand
Tap a route to see what it costs.
1 space
1
2 spaces
2
3 spaces
4
4 spaces
7
5 spaces
10
6 spaces
15
You claim one route per turn. Any open route is fair game, and it doesn't have to connect to your others.
6
Tickets pay off at the end
At the end, everyone reveals their tickets. If your trains make one unbroken line between a ticket's two cities, add its points. If not, subtract them. Rivals can block you by claiming routes you need.
Northport to Foxhollow10
Done. Coral's line runs through Pinecrest and Midway. Worth +10.
Lakeview to Bridgeton5
One route short. Foxhollow to Bridgeton is still open (dashed on the map). If it never gets built, Coral loses 5.
Mid-game you can draw more tickets: take 3 and keep at least 1.
7
Double routes: only one lane each
Some city pairs have two parallel routes. You can never claim both. With 2 or 3 players, once one is taken the other is closed. With more players, both can be used, but never by the same player. Try the toggle.
8
Game end and final scoring
When a player ends their turn with 0, 1 or 2 trains left, everyone, including them, gets one last turn. Then it's over. Reveal tickets, add or subtract them, and give 10 points to the player with the longest unbroken line. A line can loop or pass through a city twice, but no train is used twice. If players tie for longest, they all get the 10.
Coral's final score
Routes claimed
Northport to Foxhollow, done
Lakeview to Bridgeton, missed
Longest line, trains
Total
The highlighted line on the map is Coral's longest. Mint's longest is only trains.
Tied on points? The player with more finished tickets wins. Still tied? The longest line wins. Still tied after that? You share the win.
Practice game
You're the only player, with 18 trains instead of 45, so a game takes roughly 15 to 20 turns. You get 3 starting tickets instead of 4 and keep at least 2, then draw cards, claim routes and link your cities before your trains run out. Dashed routes are ones you can pay for right now. Payment is automatic: matching cards first, locomotives only to fill gaps. The longest-line bonus isn't counted, since it only matters against rivals.
How do you teach Ticket to Ride to kids?
Set up the board, then teach one turn by playing it. The rulebook suggests ages 8 and up, so a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old are both in range. Finding the cities on the map can slow kids down.
Say this
We are building train lines between cities. The player with the most points at the end wins.
On your turn you do one of three things: take train cards, claim a route, or take new tickets.
Train cards are your money. To claim a route, play as many cards as it has spaces, all in the route's color. Gray routes take any one color. Locomotives are wild.
Every route you claim scores points right away, and longer routes are worth a lot more.
Tickets are secret goals. Link the two cities on a ticket with your trains and you score its points at the end. Miss it and you lose them.
When someone is nearly out of trains, everyone gets one last turn.
The rulebook I checked doesn't offer a beginner variant, so every simplification below is a house rule.
First-game simplifications
House rule Keep your tickets face up on the table for the first game, so a grown-up can help each kid plan routes. The rulebook says to keep tickets secret until the end.
House rule Let a grown-up find city names on the map when a kid is stuck, and lay the tickets next to the board so the two cities are easy to spot.
House rule Call the first game a practice game, and let each kid undo one mistaken move.
Watch-outs for ages 9 to 11
Locomotives trip people up. A face-up locomotive uses your whole draw, so you take it alone and it can't be your second card. A locomotive from the top of the deck counts as a single card, and you may still take a second one (page 3).
Tickets can cost points. You score a ticket only if your trains link both cities, and you lose its points if not. When you draw new tickets you must keep at least 1, and you can only return tickets you just drew (pages 3 and 4).
Other players can take a route you need, because any open route can be claimed (page 3). Say before you start that blocking is part of the game, so nobody takes it personally.
Claiming a route takes the whole turn and the whole route at once. You can't claim part of a route now and finish it later (page 3).
The scoreboard below adds route and ticket points, but counting the longest path is done by hand. It must be one unbroken line of the same color. It can loop and pass through the same city more than once, but a single train never counts twice (page 4).
Back for another game?
Your turn: do exactly one of three things. Draw train cards, claim a route, or draw tickets. Then play passes clockwise (page 3).
Draw train cards: take 2, one at a time, from the 5 face-up cards or the top of the deck. Replace a face-up card right away. There is no hand limit (page 3).
Locomotives: a face-up one must be your first card and ends your draw. One drawn blind from the deck counts as a single card. If 3 of the 5 face-up cards are ever locomotives, discard all 5 and turn up 5 new ones (page 3).
Claim a route: play as many cards as it has spaces, all one color (any one color for a gray route, locomotives are wild). Put a train on each space, discard the cards, and score. One route per turn, and it doesn't have to connect to your others (page 3).
Double routes: you can't claim both lanes. With 2 or 3 players, only one lane can be claimed and the other closes (page 4).
Draw tickets: take 3 and keep at least 1. Returned tickets go to the bottom of the ticket deck. Keep your tickets secret until the end (page 4).
Game end: when a player finishes a turn with 0, 1 or 2 trains left, everyone, including that player, takes one last turn (page 4).
Final scoring: add finished tickets, subtract unfinished ones, and give 10 points for the longest path (every tied player gets 10). Most points wins. Tied? Most finished tickets wins, then the longest path card (page 4).
Every turn, one choice
You always do exactly one of three things. Here's the whole turn.
ChooseDraw cards, claim a route, or draw tickets. Only one.
Do itTake 2 cards. Or pay cards and place trains. Or take 3 tickets and keep 1 or more.
Check trainsDown to 2 trains or fewer? Everyone gets one last turn.
PassPlay moves clockwise.
How do you score Ticket to Ride?
Route points are 1, 2, 4, 7, 10 and 15 for routes of 1 to 6 spaces (page 4). For each player, count how many routes of each length they claimed, then add the points from completed tickets and subtract failed ones at the end. Tick the longest path box for the player or players who have it. The scoreboard adds everything up, and it checks that no one has used more than 45 trains.
Your pocket card
For the table. The front is your turn, the back is scoring.
Ticket to Ride, the short version
Mostpoints wins
Draw cards: take 2, from the face-up row or the deck. A face-up locomotive is your whole draw.
Claim a route: play matching cards equal to its length. Place trains, score.
Draw tickets: take 3, keep at least 1.
A player ends a turn with 2 trains or fewer? Everyone gets one last turn.