Jacob and Matthew have a long 4-day weekend (Julie's dad arrives tomorrow morning), so without an early bedtime we decided to play Ticket to Ride after dinner.  I had only played once before and was eager to teach the boys - we love train games and I thought this would hit a sweet spot in terms of complexity and fun.

Jacob and Matthew about mid-way through the game.  I played red, Jacob black, and Matthew blue.

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game in so many ways.  It plays very fast with almost no downtime, there are strategic elements (many routes or long routes), tactical plays (blocking, throwing down a shorter route out of fear of being blocked), and tension because it can be difficult to estimate the final point totals.  Throw in trains and a decent geography lesson and you have a winner of a family strategy game.  I was able to teach the boys how to play in less than five minutes, so this game should be very attractive to families with younger (7+) kids.

Grin away, Mr. Lucky.

I wish I could say that I was playing to let the boys win, but I was sincerely trying to play my best.  Matthew smoked us as usual, finishing 30 points ahead of Jacob and me.  Some of it was luck of the draw - he drew a destination ticket in his second-to-last turn and picked up a 22 pointer that he had already built!