Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam

As the title of the previous review suggests, this is an essential expansion that changes the game play dynamic fundamentally if you so choose to take advantage of the new rules.You could play the game using this expansion pack without resorting to using the strategies that it requires, but it is far more compelling and fun to take advantage of the new ways you could approach the game.Players get a warehouse and 5 depots. At the beginning of the game each player must decide where to place one of their depots (in a city on the map). The game starts, and warehouses are used to store a single card a player draws before his or her turn. The player must then place this card in any of the warehouses (including his or her own) on the board (each player has a warehouse). The player will then draw his or her two cards per usual game rules. Later in the game you may, if connecting to a city occupied by a depot, collect all the cards present in the warehouse that corresponds to the color of that depot. This allows to to collect a substantial number of cards that accumulate in warehouses, and in turn allows you to complete your routs faster. In return you give up one of your four remaining depots. The player with the most depots at the end earns 15 points... but it's far more rewarding to use the depots to capture additional cards. If this strategy is used correctly, you could complete routs very quickly and get a head start early in the game.One of the limitations of the European version is the introduction of stations that limit your ability to block people. This reduced the cutthroat approach that made the American version so compelling. This expansion, however, adds new strategic depth, and a nervous edge to game play where players have to decide when to make a move and capture cards.Great expansion.

My kids loved this ticket to ride expansion set adds some new fun to a family favorite gameYou need to own the base ticket to ride game to play this.

Reviewed by JD Woody, host of "Live and Let Dice" on adrenalineradio.com.The 1912 Expansion is excellent for Ticket to Ride for two reasons. The first is that it includes Warehouses and Depots, a great new mechanic thst adds a clever variant to any of your TTR games. The second (and this is exclusive to Ticket to Ride Europe) is that there are even more destination tickets! This means you can play Big Cities Europe, Mega Cities Europe, or any other variant you can dream of. The original 46 tickets to Ticket to Ride Europe are included so shuffle away to your heart's content. All the components from this expansion fit neatly in the Ticket to RIde Europe box, so you only need to carry one box with you. This expansion makes an already great game even greater. Definitely pick it up.

I’d primarily recommend this for those trying to wring a little extra replay value out of their existing Ticket to Ride Europe set.If you enjoy Ticket to Ride Europe and have already tried a number of other Ticket to Ride maps then this expansion should provide some interesting variations which you might enjoy. However, the 1912 expansion isn't the must-buy, never-play-without expansion for Ticket to Ride Europe in the way that the 1910 expansion was for the original Ticket to Ride. This is a good set, and a great opportunity to add some variation to play.Allow me to draw the distinctions between this and the advantages the 1910 set brought to the original base game.1. The cardsThe original Ticket to Ride had small play cards which the 1910 set immediately fixed. In addition, the 1910 game variant which incorporates all of the cards (The Mega Game) becomes the defacto choice when brought into play. By contrast, Ticket to Ride Europe cards aren't mini-sized so there's no improvement made by incorporating the 1912 expansion. Additionally, the warehouses and depots variation isn't necessarily recommended for the Mega Game 1912 variant (playing with all routes) and it’s not clear to me that the Mega Game variant for Ticket to Ride Europe is more fun (see the next section).2. Impact upon playThe 1910 expansion makes the original Ticket to Ride much more competitive and adds more differentiation between games. Ticket to Ride Europe is (relative to the original Ticket to Ride) a generally more competitive map as-is. In fact, the addition of routes in 1912 can make the Europe map quite cutthroat with 4-5 players. This outcome is probably desirable for some but off-putting for others (such as myself).The depots and warehouses expansion actually offsets some elements of the competitiveness already present in Ticket to Ride Europe so it's a good fit for this particular map and variants like Big Cities. I haven’t tried it on other Ticket to Ride maps, though that is possible, because I find the play board and pieces add complexity that can slow play for certain players. It’s a nice variant for experienced players to test out (many of whom may dismiss it as an equivalent of the Monopoly free parking house rule) but it’s not as natural an expansion as simply more routes.Overall, this expansion brought me back to a map I enjoy playing well enough. However, this expansion didn’t revive the Europe map in such a way that it permanently attached itself to that particular map set, nor did it cause me to change the frequency with which I play the Europe map over the long term.

This add on is essential to get because it has the large playing cards and extra routes needed to enhance a fun game.

This is a great expansion to the already fun European Ticket to Ride. My family loves playing this game, but after playing it for over a year we were in need of an expansion pack. This is perfect. I love that it gives you a lot more options, and keeps the game fresh for us after we have pretty much memorized all the routes. It was nice when my daughter, 12, thought she knew which route I was taking and tried to block me only to be wrong. Like I said, it is a great expansion pack to liven up a game that we have memorized.

If you like Ticket to Ride but don't have a half hour or more to play a game, check out one of the city games, like Berlin (there are about a half dozen of these city maps). It only takes minutes to learn and minutes to play. It comes in a small box and would be easy to pack on a road trip. Also, this is a standalone game, not an extension pack.