What a Ticket to Ride Ticket Is Really Worth

At Level 1 you learned to keep tickets that point the same way. Now you can put a number on why. Ticket values on the USA map are not random. They follow a rule you can use at a glance, and once you see it, every ticket decision gets easier.

The rule: one point per train

We traced the shortest path for all 33 tickets in the current box. For 28 of them, the ticket’s value is exactly the number of trains on its shortest path. The other 5 are worth 1 or 2 points more than the shortest path, never less.

A few examples:

So a completed ticket adds roughly one point for every train it takes. That is a bonus on top of the route points those trains already scored.

What it means for your score

Every train you place earns route points. A ticket adds about one more point per train along its path. A failed ticket takes those points away instead, so the swing between finishing and failing is about two points per train on its path.

That is why a 20-point ticket is such a big commitment. It is not 20 points of upside. It is about 20 trains of your 45, nearly half your supply, and a 40-point swing on whether you finish.

Overlap is where tickets get rich

The rule gets interesting when tickets share track. Shared trains count for both.

• Montréal to Atlanta (9) and New York to Atlanta (6). The rulebook’s own example. A shortest path for Montréal to Atlanta runs through New York, Washington, and Raleigh, and it contains the whole New York to Atlanta path. About 9 trains finish both, for 15 ticket points.
• Duluth to Houston (8) and Kansas City to Houston (5). Duluth to Houston runs through Omaha, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Dallas, right past Kansas City. About 8 trains, 13 points.
• Los Angeles to New York (21) and Los Angeles to Chicago (16). They share the line from Los Angeles across to St. Louis. About 22 trains for 37 points.
• Seattle to New York (22) and Vancouver to Montréal (20). Both cross the whole continent, but by different northern lines. Built separately, about 40 trains for 42 points, with almost no room for detours. This is the pair that looks greedy and is.

A hand that pays well over one ticket point per train has strong overlap. A hand that pays about one point per train has none, and every lost route makes it worse.

Judging a hand at a glance

When you look at new tickets, ask three questions:

1. How many trains would this ticket add, given the track I already plan to build? A ticket whose path is already mostly in your plan is nearly free.
2. How many trains will I have left after my plan? Keep a cushion. Detours happen, and the opening lesson warns against plans near 45.
3. How contested is the path? A ticket through Kansas City and St. Louis, the busy middle of the USA map, is more likely to need a detour than one along the edge.

Short tickets, long tickets

The 33 tickets range from 4 to 22 points, and they average a little under 12.

Short tickets (4 to 9) are low risk and low reward. They are best when they fit inside a longer plan, since then they cost no extra trains. On their own, a short ticket in a corner you would never visit is a few points for a turn of building.

Medium tickets (10 to 13) are the backbone of most hands. They cross a region and are usually finishable even with a detour.

Long tickets (16 to 22) are the eight that cross most of the map. They give your railroad a spine, help with the longest path bonus, and open up mid-game ticket draws, because a long line passes through many cities. They are also the hardest to rescue when a route on the path is taken.

The longest path connection

A long ticket and the longest path bonus pull in the same direction. A single line from coast to coast is most of the way to 10 bonus points already. That is part of why a long ticket that fits your hand is often worth more than its number: it can carry the bonus with it.

When to break the rule

Value tracks the shortest path, but you rarely build the shortest path. Rivals take routes, colors do not come, and you go around. Treat the rule as a starting estimate, then add trains for the parts of the path you expect to fight over.

Our Ticket to Ride strategy guide adds more on overlap and which starting tickets to keep.