Ticket to Ride: Geography and Life Lessons
If you’ve followed along much to what’s happening in the UK and in Scotland, you know that we are all in super fun lockdown mode and that there is a new-ish strain of the virus that is even more contagious than the first one. So, how are we managing this whole lockdown fun? We go for a walk every day, but as this is Scotland and it rains a whole bunch, we also play board games. One of my favorite games to play (not just during lockdown, but I have more of an excuse now) is Ticket to Ride (ad).
While there are other excellent lockdown games to play and puzzles to do (and I just completed the massive 2,000 piece puzzle I’ve been working on for literal months), I feel like Ticket to Ride just has it all. You’ve got life lessons on planning, executing the plan, and even a bit about how changing your mind in the middle can still get you to your end destination but it might just take a bit longer. There are a ton of financial life lessons to be found in the game as my friend Mel at BrokeGIRLrich wrote so eloquently about. Also, while the game can take sometimes up to an hour to play, you never feel the crushing agony of defeat quite like you do with a game like Monopoly.
This Long-Term Board Game Love
I developed my love for this game while onboard a cruise ship in 2012. A friend (the aforementioned BrokeGIRLrich word-smith and financial guru) and I found it in the library and decided it would be a great way to spend at least part of our days.
Fast forward now nearly 10 years (wow) and her and I still play that game – we have just moved it from in person on a board to on our phones through an app.
The in-person game has a lot going for it, and I would be lying to say that my husband and I hadn’t played it a few times during lockdown. But, while the in-person game has a lot of benefits – chief among them that it means you are actually seeing someone in person (the luxury), the app has certain benefits as well. The two biggest advantages of the app are that you can play with someone literally on a different continent than you and also that you can switch between different maps and regions of the world without having to physically own a whole other board game.
The basic premise of the game is you have various train routes you are trying to build on a map. There are a few other rules about it, but for the purposes of this that’s the part you need to know. It encourages counting, problem solving, some low level risk/reward scenarios, and for the travel lover in me, geography.
So Many Maps to Play!
There are a bunch of different maps that you can play on the app – ranging from the United States to Asia, India, Nordic Countries, and Europe. It gets into some more specific ones with Pennsylvania, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Geographically it’s biggest weakness is lack of maps for anywhere on the African continent and the Australia / Oceania region.
One thing I enjoy about their maps is that the city names are written in their local language. For instance, while in English we would write Copenhagen, it is depicted on the game as Kobenhaven (how it would be written in Danish). This is a small change, but it’s nice to not always think of things from the English point of view.
Day Dream About Road-Trips
I wrote earlier about making a post pandemic bucket list. If a road trip or something like backpacking through a region is anywhere on your list and you even remotely like board games (or games on your phone) this would be a great game for you. It can familiarize you with the geography of a region in game form! Maybe it will make you realize that Brussels is really pretty close to Paris and Amsterdam, so why don’t you just go see all three?
I know everyone has dealt with this pandemic differently – on a personal and psychological level, and also depending both on what you do for work and which country you are in. Some countries are far closer to having the virus under control, others are in lockdown, and there are some that are pretty far along with the vaccine. But, if you are looking for a fun game to keep you interacting with your friends – or maybe to compliment at home study with your kids – this game could be a good choice.
