I’ve always wanted to travel the world, and doing it by train has been one of the more intriguing ways to do so. That must be why Ticket to Ride has always been a go-to game for me. With expansions, such as Ticket to Ride India and Switzerland, it can take you and your friends or family around the globe without ever leaving your home.
Ticket to Ride India is one of the many expansions created to continue your adventure around the world. To mimic India’s immense population, Ticket to Ride creators made this map so that you must finish railways quickly before they get too crowded by your opponents. If India isn’t enough adventure for you, Days of Wonder made the Switzerland map for this expansion to focus on two to three players.
A Quick Overview of Ticket to Ride India
Players: 2-4 (2-3 for Switzerland map)
Time to Play: 30-60 minutes
Ticket to Ride India is an expansion pack for the original game, including a new map of India with a bonus map of Switzerland. These game maps have new components that the original does not have, including mandala bonuses, ferries, and tunnels. Otherwise, these two games have the same basic rules as the original, except with new countries to cross and railways to complete.
What is Ticket to Ride India
Pros
- Two maps in one
- More possible bonuses
- Includes ferries (India) and Tunnels (Switzerland)
- In between of ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride Europe
Cons
- Not as long of train routes
- You may find it boring if you’ve played Ticket to Ride Europe
History
Ticket to Ride India is an expansion map for the original Ticket to Ride and was created by board designer Ian Vincent. It was released in 2011 with the second collection of map expansions in the Ticket to Ride series. On the flip side of this map is the Switzerland map, originally released in 2007.
The Back Story
This train-hopping game takes you back to 1911, when railways were the easiest way to travel worldwide. You must complete your cross-country excursion before the railways get too crowded by other travelers. Ticket to Ride India is a race against time as you complete multiple railways before your opponents have the chance to block your path.
What’s Included:
- India map
- Switzerland map
- 58 Destination tickets for India
- 46 Destination Tickets for Switzerland
Components Needed from Base Games
Since this is an expansion pack, you will need a few key components from either Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe. You can also use the train car cards from the 1910 expansion pack if you like the larger format rather than the original size. Below are the components you will need for this game.
- 45 (40 for Switzerland) Train cars per player
- 110 Train car cards
How to Play Ticket to Ride India
Ticket to Ride India is an expansion map of the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe. Therefore, the same basic rules apply to this version as the original. The rules listed below assume that you have played Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe and will only go over the added rules.
If you would like to go over how to play the original Ticket to Ride, you can head over to our other article, “A Complete Guide to Ticket to Ride,” for an overview.
Set-Up
Ticket to Ride India is made for two to four players. Depending on how many players you have will change the game map slightly. If you have four players, you may use both railways of the double-track paths. You can only use one railway on the double-track paths with two to three players.
Hand out the train cars, score markers, and train car cards like you would in the original game. Each player must be dealt four destination tickets in this version, and you must keep at least two of the dealt tickets but can keep all four. The discarded destination tickets are put on the bottom of the draw pile.
How to Win
Like the original game, the goal is to build the most railways and collect the most points. You can collect points by building railways, receiving the longest path bouns, mandala bonuses, and completing destination tickets. The amount of points accumulated for each accomplishment varies and is listed below.
- Railways: 1 point per railcar
- Longest Path Bonus: 10 points
- Mandala Bonus: See table below
- Destination Tickets: Noted on the destination ticket card
On Your Turn
The same three things can be done on your turn as in the original Ticket to Ride. Claim a railway, draw train car cards, or draw destination tickets. Please refer to the original Ticket to Ride if you want more info on this.
Ferries
You may have noticed that the India map has grey spaces that go over water and are oval-shaped. These are ferries and can be claimed slightly different from normal railways.
To claim a ferry pathway, you must play locomotive cards. The number of locomotive cards needed is shown on the pathway with the locomotive symbol, and the number of symbols is the number of locomotives you need. You can fill the rest of the spaces with any matching colored cards.
Mandala Bonus
You can acquire the mandala bonuses by completing a “grand tour.” You complete a grand tour by connecting the two cities on your destination ticket via two railway paths. The two railway paths can not connect to share trains at any point but can intersect, and this should create a circle path between the two cities.
You can complete a grad tour for up to five different destination tickets. After five grand tours, you will receive no more bonus points. The more grand tours you finish, the more points you receive. Use the list below or the table on your game board map to calculate the points at the end of the game.
- One grand tour: 5 bonus points
- Two grand tours: 10 bonus points
- Three grand tours: 20 bonus points
- Four grand tours: 30 bonus points
- Five grad tours: 40 bonus points
Ending The Game
Once a player has only two trains left or has run out of train cars, each player gets one more turn. After each player has taken their final turn, add up your completed destination ticket points and subtract any uncompleted destination ticket points. You can also add your bonus points from grand tours or the longest path if you have received any. The player with the most points is the winner.
Ticket to Ride India Strategies
Receive Many Mandala Bonus Points
The thing about mandala bonus points is that you can obtain them regardless of how long the route is between the two cities. Choosing destination tickets with short possible routes is key to collecting many mandala bonus points. Also, keep in mind that you will want to complete your grand tours quickly as it will be easier for your opponents to block your pathway as the game progresses.
Receive the Longest Path Bonus
In Ticket to Ride India, the longest pathways are the ferries. To receive the longest path bonus, it is best to choose destination tickets with cities that you can connect via a ferry. Keep in mind that cities near the center of the map have shorter railway paths, so two cities near the coasts will create the longest routes.
Complete Long Destination Tickets
Destination Tickets with cities further away from each other are worth more points. Another advantage of taking long destination tickets is finding alternate routes easily if a player blocks your originally planned route. It is also straightforward to receive the longest path bonus if you complete your long destination tickets. Keep in mind that it is more difficult to complete a grand tour with long destination tickets.
Bonus Map: Switzerland
Ticket to Ride India comes with a bonus map of Switzerland on the other side of the game board. This map was made popular by Ticket to Ride Online. Ticket to Ride Switzerland was made for two to three people and incorporated surrounding countries in the destination tickets.
How to Play Ticket to Ride Switzerland
These instructions assume that you have previously played the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe. If you have not, you may want to head over to our other article, “A Complete Overview of Ticket to Ride,” first. That article will teach how to play Ticket to Ride, and this section will go over the differences between the two maps.
Set-Up
There are a few key differences in the setup of the Swiss map versus the original map. Unlike the original, a few railways lead to countries instead of cities. If you have three players for this map, you may use both the railways in double-track railways, and you may only use one of the railways in double-track railways with two players.
The starting number of train cars given to each player is 40 instead of 45. You can deal train car cards the same way you would in the original game. Five destination ticket cards are dealt to each player, and they have to keep at least two but can keep all five. The discarded destination tickets are then put aside and can not be used for the rest of the game.
How to Win
The points system for the Switzerland board is the same as for the original Ticket to Ride game. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. You score points by placing train cars on the map, completing destination tickets, and receiving the longest path bonus.
On Your Turn
You can do one of these three things during your turn: claim a railway, draw more destination tickets, or draw train car cards. The rules for each of these actions are the same as the original game except for one small detail. When drawing destination tickets, you must set your discarded tickets aside for no further use in the game.
Destination Tickets
The destination tickets in the Switzerland map work quite a bit differently due to some of them involving surrounding countries. To complete a destination ticket with a country on it, you must connect the primary country or the noted city to one of the surrounding countries. You can connect to any surrounding countries, but each one is worth a different amount of points.
The number of points earned for a completed destination ticket is whichever connecting country you’ve reached with the highest point value. If you did not fulfill that destination ticket, you lose the lowest number of points listed on that ticket. Any destination ticket not chosen at the beginning or throughout the game is discarded and cannot be drawn again. You can run out of destination tickets in the draw pile.
Locomotive Cards
Locomotive cards are rainbow-colored cards usually used as “wild” cards in the original game. You may draw two locomotive cards from the five face-up cards, unlike the original game. However, if there are three or more locomotive cards face-up, you must discard and replace all five face-up cards. Also, you can only use locomotive cards to complete tunnels, not regular railways.
Tunnels
Tunnels are the odd-shaped spaces with a thick black border. You will already know how to play these if you’ve played Ticket to Ride Europe as a base game. To claim a tunnel, the player must first lay down the required cards for the railway (including locomotive wild cards).
Once your cards have been played, you must draw the top three train car cards from the draw pile face-up. If any of these drawn cards match the cards in your play, you must produce the same number of cards in the same color as your hand to add to your play. If you do not have enough of the same colored cards or do not want to play them, you can return your played cards to your hand, and your turn is over.
Locomotives are wild cards, so you must match any locomotive drawn from the pile with either another locomotive card or a matching colored card. If you chose to use only locomotive cards to fill a tunnel, any colored cards drawn do not count as a match. Likewise, if any of the drawn cards are a locomotive, you will have to match that locomotive with another from your hand to complete the tunnel.
Ending The Game
Tally up your points once someone has run out of train car pieces and everyone gets their final turn. Make sure you didn’t miss any cars on the board, add up your completed destination tickets, subtract any incomplete destination tickets, and assign the longest path bonus. The person with the highest score wins.
Ticket to Ride Switzerland Strategies
Complete High Point Destinations
You may notice that some of the destination tickets have three different possible scores. Completing the destination with the highest score can make quite a difference, and most of the time, it is double the number of points as the lowest score. You may even be able to get the longest path bonus by completing only longer destinations.
Receive the Longest Path Bonus
The longest path bonus is worth ten points, which is a lot in a two to three-player game. If your strategy is to create the longest railway, choose destination tickets with long routes between the two cities. The longest railways on this map tend to be near the bottom by Italia. Taking routes this way may help you win this bonus, but they are mostly tunnels, so they can be more difficult to take.
Avoid Tunnels
This may not be easy because about half of this map is tunnels. However, tunnels are more difficult to attain, and if you don’t have enough cards, you lose your turn. In a two-player game, losing one turn can be detrimental. Taking railways that are not tunnels may help you win since you don’t risk losing a turn and losing a chance at gaining points.
Where to Buy Ticket to Ride India
Amazon
If you don’t want to search and search all your local stores, Amazon can send this expansion pack right to your doorstep. You can even get it without paying for shipping if you have a Prime membership. Returns could also be free if you decide you don’t want this game for some reason.
Walmart
Most Walmarts won’t actually have this expansion in stock, but the nice thing about the Walmart website is you can ship it to your nearest Walmart and pick it up from there. This makes shipping free of charge, and you don’t have to worry about anyone stealing the package off your doorstep. You can also then return it to that store.
Your Local Game Board Store
Nearly every large town has some sort of gaming store to find a wide variety of game boards. However, Ticket to Ride has a lot of expansions. You may need to call your local gaming store to ask if this expansion is in stock. If not, I’m sure they would be happy to order it for you.
Other Ticket to Ride Games
Ticket to Ride
Pros
- Less complex
- Easiest to learn
- You can play with up to five players
Cons
- It can get boring once you play other maps
Before buying any expansion packs, you need to purchase and learn to play the base game. This is the original Ticket to Ride and is still popular today. Gameplay can be learned in 5 minutes and is equally fun for children as for adults. If you’ve played more complex versions of Ticket to Ride, this one may be a bit boring for you.
Ticket to Ride Europe
Pros
- More complex
- You can play with up to five players
- A larger map
Cons
- It may not be easy to learn for younger children
Ticket to Ride Europe is another base game you can buy instead of the original Ticket to Ride. This version is much more complex with ferries, tunnels, and train stations. The game says it’s for ages eight and up, but I would say it’s slightly too complex for younger ages. However, this makes it much more fun for older ages and keeps your interest game after game.
Ticket to Ride Asia
Pros
- Two maps
- You can play in teams
- You can play with up to six players
Cons
- Needs Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe to be complete
This is an expansion for the original game or the Europe version. Therefore, you must have one of those two games to complete this version. Ticket to Ride Asia is different in that it can be played in either teams or single players. This would be a fun one to play for group date nights or if you have a larger group with more than five players.
Ticket to Ride Heart of Africa
Pros
- New terrain cards
- All the coastal railways are double tracks
- More competitive with more players
Cons
- Needs Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe to be complete
Ticket to Ride Heart of Africa is like playing a new game compared to the original or Europe version. The map is built so that the more players you have, the more competitive it becomes. You and your competitors also have more possibilities to receive extra points with terrain cards and the globe trotter bonus. This is an expansion, so you will need the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe to play.
FAQ’s
Question: Do you need a previous Ticket to Ride to play Ticket to Ride India?
Answer: Yes. Ticket to Ride India is an expansion pack and does not include the colored train car pieces or the train car cards. It only includes the game map and new destination tickets. You will need the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride Europe to obtain these components.
Question: How do you play Ticket to Ride India?
Answer: This game has the same basic rules as the original except Mandala Bonuses and ferries. If you’ve played the original, you will quickly catch on to this version. The Mandala Bonus is given to those who have completed a destination ticket with multiple routes, and the ferries need as many locomotive train cards as shown on the map.
Question: What is the Mandala Bonus in Ticket to Ride India?
Answer: The Mandala Bonus is acquired by forming two routes between the two destinations on one of your tickets. For example, if you’ve completed Acra to Jarhat, you can then take an alternate route to complete a second railway between the two destinations to achieve a Mandala Bonus. The more destination tickets you complete two railways between, the more bonus points you receive.
Question: How do ferries work in Ticket to Ride India?
Answer: Ferries are the oval spaces that go over water. They are always grey, meaning that you can use any color train cards to complete them, but there must be locomotives in the play. The number of locomotives is depicted in the spaces on the board. If there are two locomotive symbols along the route, you must include two locomotive cards in your play.
Overall Impression of Ticket to Ride India
To me, this expansion feels like a nice in-between of the original Ticket to Ride and Ticket to Ride Europe. I know that Ticket to Ride Europe says that it is for ages eight and up, but I think that is a little young due to its complexity. Ticket to Ride India gives you the extra components added to the Europe edition but broken up into two different game maps.
The India map has the ferries, and the Switzerland map has the tunnels you see in Ticket to Ride Europe. You can play with each added component separately and move on to that more complex Europe map once you get the hang of it. If you’ve already played Ticket to Ride Europe, these two maps just give you a chance to master your strategies.
You may find this game map boring if you have already been playing or started with Ticket to Ride Europe. Unless you desire something less complex or are introducing new players, you may want to try a map with different components. Ticket to Ride Heart of Africa would be a good expansion map for someone wanting something different.
Either way, I think this is a great expansion to add to your collection. Even if you have already played with the tunnel and ferry components, you still get a whole new map to explore, which comes with new strategies. The added mandala bonus and new destination tickets will make you think slightly differently than in any other Ticket to Ride game map.
Looking for more interesting games? check out:
- Cards Against Humanity Expansions List - February 26, 2023
- Ticket to Ride Europe Guide - April 19, 2022
- A Complete Overview of Ticket to Ride - March 17, 2022