137) Russian Railroads

There is so much going on during this game. Trying to even scratch the surface of the rules would be daunting, but more generally, you're placing your workers on a central board, which allows you to manipulate your own board. There are multiple tracks to focus on and you're going to want to try and do everything, but it would be wise to focus on a few to start.

Ready to start

Worker placement

Personal player board

End of a 4-player game

I do love everything this game has to offer. Games that make you want to do everything at once are great. They often force tough decisions and its rare that you're completely blocked from everything you want to do. This game is also complex enough where I feel like after my first play I've barely scratched the surface of what this game has to offer. I look forward to playing again and if you enjoy heavier euro games then this is one for you.

116) Ticket to Ride

I can't believe it took this long to play this game. This is a classic game that everyone seems to know about. The game play is fairly straight forward. Initially each player starts with two or three route cards that give you bonus points for connecting two different cities (or negative points if you fail to do so).  Then players take turns choosing from one of three actions: Draw track cards, play track cards to build a train route, or draw additional route cards. Once someone has played all but a few of their trains onto the board the game will end.

Playing with my trains before starting

Getting clogged up in the middle

Finished most of my routes

This game is great for all ages and all skill levels. There are tons of expansions and different maps, but for the most part these are very similar to the base game. This game has great tension between wanting to collect more cards and thus have more flexibility in building larger routes and wanting to be the first person to play somewhere so you don't get blocked. Just in writing this review past games come to mind that had different strategies and opportunities to block and chances to do this and that... The fact that this game has left me with so many fun memories is a good sign.

67) Letnisko

In this game you're building and upgrading hotels and then having guests from the train come and stay in your hotel. Of course when they leave they give you money to further grow your hotel chain.

Passengers on a train

5-player game

End game loot

This was a fun game to play and easy to pick up. I expect that after multiple plays this game would start to move more towards a luck based game. It rewards players who get ahead and getting ahead in this game is based in large part about turn order and what level of passengers come out on the train. I expect once players learn these patterns and start to optimize their decisions this game could lose some enjoyment. It also didn't leave me with a feeling of wanting to play again. It's a good game to play once or twice, but there are better options in my opinion.

54) Empire Builder

This game is neat because you get to draw on the map with a crayon (and erase for multiple plays). Your building (drawing) routes on the board to connect cities and moving your train along the route to pick up and sell goods to make money. Once you connect certain cities and have a certain amount of money you win.

Ready to build an empire

Goods need shipping

My starting supplies

A turn full of disaster

End game map

This game was really fun, but tended to drag towards the end. The speed of play did increase once people had the majority of the routes drawn, but the $250 million end game was way to high. Additionally, we were all frustrated about the inability to plan ahead for your turn. On turns when a player sells a resource they then draw a new card and before completing their turn they need to figure out what to do with the rest of their turn, which largely depends on what new card they draw. This can lead to a few minutes of one player sitting and thinking while everyone else waits. This is ok once or twice in a game, but it happened all the time and really made the game drag. For future plays we'll consider a few house rules to decrease the amount of down time. But, despite this you're still drawing on a board with crayons. I think that trumps so many negatives and makes this a fun new experience.

14) Trans Europa

This is a quick, easy, light game that everyone seems to enjoy. It's a great filler if you only have 15 minutes to play. There is some strategic thinking, but I think a lot of the strategy comes in figuring out where people are going and capitalizing on having others build routes towards the cities you need to complete.

Shuffle them up

A few turns into a game

So close you may as well be on that train

City requires for one round

When in doubt play with the pieces