Ticket to Ride Strategy: Routes, Blocking, Drawing Tickets

Good Ticket to Ride strategy comes down to one question you ask on every turn: is it time to build, or is it time to draw? Players who lose by thirty points usually answered it wrong in the same direction every time. They either hoarded cards until someone took their route, or they built every two-train route in sight and ran out of trains with tickets unfinished.

This guide covers the base game on the USA map, which is what most people own. The same thinking applies to the Europe map and most of the others, with small adjustments.

How does scoring actually work in Ticket to Ride?

You need the arithmetic before the strategy makes sense. Claiming a route scores points by length, and the scale is not linear.

You have 45 trains. A player who spends them all on six-train routes would score far more than one who spends them on twos. In practice you cannot do that, because the map does not cooperate, but the lesson stands: long routes are the most efficient use of the one resource that does not come back.

On top of route points, each completed destination ticket scores its printed value, each failed ticket subtracts the same amount, and the player with the longest continuous path of trains earns a ten-point bonus.

Which starting tickets should you keep?

At the start you are dealt three destination tickets and must keep at least two. This is the first real decision and most players make it on gut feel.

Keep tickets that overlap. Two tickets whose routes share most of a path, say Los Angeles to New York and Seattle to New York, are far better than two high-value tickets that go in opposite directions. Overlapping tickets mean one network scores twice.

Keep three when all three overlap. You are committing to a longer game and more risk, but you also set yourself up for the longest-path bonus and a ticket score most tables cannot catch.

Drop the odd one out. If two tickets run east-west across the north and the third runs Miami to Houston, the third is a liability, even if it is worth more on paper.

Where the overlap runs matters, too. A ticket through the middle of the map crosses the routes everyone else needs. A ticket along the edges, say through the Pacific Northwest or across the Deep South, is quieter and easier to finish.

When should you draw more destination tickets?

Drawing tickets (take three, keep at least one) is the highest-variance move in the game. It can swing twenty points either way.

Draw when:

• Your current tickets are complete or one route from complete.
• You have a wide network already on the board, so a random ticket is likely to be mostly done.
• You still have at least fifteen trains, enough to finish whatever you draw.
• The game is not close to ending. Watch the train counts of every player.

Do not draw when the leader is under ten trains. The game ends after the round in which any player drops to two or fewer trains. A ticket you cannot finish is negative points, and new tickets late are the most common way a winning position turns into second place.

A draw that gives you three bad options still forces you to keep one. Before you draw, look at the map and ask which tickets your network would already cover. If the answer is “not many,” wait.

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Build early or draw cards early?

On each turn you may draw two train cards, claim one route, or draw destination tickets. The core tension is that drawing builds a hand, and a big hand lets you claim long routes, but every turn you draw is a turn an opponent might take the route you were saving for.

The practical rule: draw for the first several turns, then build the routes that are contested, then draw again for the routes that are safe.

Which routes are contested? Anything that connects regions through a narrow gap. On the USA map the obvious chokepoints are the handful of connections around the Rockies and through the Great Lakes corridor, and any route that is the only sensible path between two large cities. If a route is the only way your ticket gets through, and someone else is building nearby, take it now even if it is short.

Which routes are safe? Long routes with a color nobody else is collecting, and routes on the edge of the map. These can wait while you draw.

Locomotives (the wild cards) are worth more than one card. Taking a face-up locomotive costs your whole turn, so do it only when it completes a route you need next turn. Draw from the deck when the face-up cards are poor; a blind draw gives you a chance at a locomotive for the price of one card instead of two.

When is blocking worth it in Ticket to Ride?

Blocking means claiming a route you do not need because an opponent does. It is the move people argue about afterward.

Block when all three are true:

1. The route is short, so it costs you few trains.
2. You can see that it is the opponent’s only reasonable path. Look at where their trains sit and where the gaps are.
3. The alternative path they would have to take is long and costs them several extra trains and turns.

Do not block when you merely suspect. A wasted three-train block costs you a turn and three trains for four points, which is a loss against the ten points you could have scored with a five-train route. And do not block the player in last. It does not improve your score, and it makes the table worse.

Blocking is more effective at two or three players, where double routes are limited to one player and the map feels smaller. At four or five, the blocker and the blocked both lose ground to whoever stayed out of it.

If this sort of direct interference is not your table’s thing, that is a reasonable preference. We wrote about why some games divide tables along this line, and Ticket to Ride sits near the gentle end.

How do you win the longest route bonus?

The ten-point bonus for the longest continuous path is roughly the value of a six-train route. It is worth planning for but not worth chasing.

• Overlapping tickets naturally build a long path. A player who connects Seattle to New York with one unbroken line usually has it.
• Branches do not count twice. The path must be continuous without reusing a train.
• Late in the game, if you and another player are near a tie, one extra two-train route on the end of your line can decide it.

A player who builds a tidy single line across the map and completes three overlapping tickets will often win on ticket points plus the bonus, with mediocre route points. A player who builds a scattered web of six-train routes will often win on route points alone. Both work. The loser is the one who did half of each.

How do you manage the end of the game?

The ending sneaks up on people. Count trains out loud if your table allows it, and keep track of who is low.

When the leader hits about twelve trains:

• Stop drawing destination tickets.
• Build your remaining ticket routes immediately, even the short ones, in order of what completes a ticket.
• Spend your last trains on the longest route you can afford. A leftover hand of cards scores nothing.

The player who triggers the end often loses the game. If you drop to two trains with an unfinished ticket, you handed everyone else one more turn and kept a negative score. Trigger the end only when your tickets are done.

For a game that shares the same tension between planning and reacting, our Catan guide covers the other title most groups learn first. Ticket to Ride is the kinder of the two. Nobody can take your resources, only your routes, and you can always go around. It is a game you can play with a grandparent and a nine-year-old at the same table and have everyone leave happy. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

FAQ

What is the best first move in Ticket to Ride?

Draw train cards for the first two or three turns while you decide which routes matter most for your tickets. Claim a route early only if it is a contested chokepoint.

Is it better to keep two or three starting tickets?

Keep three when they overlap heavily, two otherwise. Three unrelated tickets will spread your trains too thin.

How many points do you need to win Ticket to Ride?

There is no fixed target. In a four-player game on the USA map, winning scores often run past one hundred, and a winning score depends on how many tickets everyone completes.

Should you take face-up locomotives?

Only when the locomotive completes a route you will claim next turn. Otherwise, draw from the deck and keep your turn efficient.

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