travel

Bridges of Shangri-La

In Shangri-La, the mysterious and isolated utopia nestled high in the mountains, a strange struggle for dominance has begun. Once peaceful and neighborly, the Masters of the competing mountain-folk train their students and send them out across bridges to control neighboring villages. To take control of a village, the students must come together in uncomfortable alliances, regardless of their tribal origin. Eventually students become Masters themselves, train new students and expand to other villages.

There is one thing each student must keep in mind as they travel from village to village -- the mystical powers of Shangri-La mysteriously cause the bridges to collapse, separating villages forever. One crucial question will decide the winner: who will control the most Masters of Shangri-La?

Players take on the roles of leaders of a specific tribe. There is a battle raging over the empty villages of the land and players must quickly fill those villages with their tribal leaders. As players migrate tribal leaders from one village to the next, they must not become too weak or they risk losing leaders to opposing tribes. The ultimate object of the game is to have the most leaders on the board at the end of the game.
It is an abstract game with many options and tense until the end.

2004 Mensa Select

Thematically, players are adding masters and students, and trying to have the students migrate to nearby villages to become masters. Functionally, this is essentially a military game. Players either spend their turn reinforcing a village (adding more tokens there) or invading a neighboring village (expanding influence if you have more total tokens than the victim). The unique twist is that, after each invasion, the connecting bridge is removed. So over the course of the game, attack options become more and more limited, until the game naturally comes to a conclusion.

10 Days in the USA

You have 10 Days in the USA. Travel the country by jet, car, and on foot. Plan your trip from start to finish using destination and transportation tiles. With a little luck and clever planning, you just might outwit your fellow travelers.

This is the first installment in the 10 Days in series.

There are 50 state tiles, 10 colored airplane tiles, and 6 car tiles. Players all flip tiles one at a time, examine them, and put them in the 10 "days" of their tile tray, in any order. Then in turn, they draw a tile from one of three face-up piles or a face-down pile. The new tile may replace one tile in their tray, with that tile (or the unused drawn tile) discarded onto any of the face-up piles. Tiles may not be rearranged. When a player has all their days connected correctly, they win the game.

Travel Connections:
By Foot - bordering state tiles may be placed side-by-side
By Automobile - states may be connected by driving through a third state which borders them both (the car tile is put between them)
By Air - Two states of the same color may be connected by a same-color airplane placed between them"

10 Days in Europe

"There is much to be discovered in Europe! Many roads lead to success in this exciting travel game - you just have to find the right one. Exchange your cards cleverly and find your way through Europe quickly to win. Ten cards must show continuous travel either by land, sea or air."

This is the third installment in the 10 Days in series.

Gameplay
All players pick tiles up one at a time, examining them and placing them onto any empty spot on their tile holders. Then, in turn, each player draws one tile and may replace one of their lined-up tiles with it. (Tiles may not be rearranged.) Tiles are drawn from one of three face-up discard piles or a face-down pile. The drawn card or replaced card is then discarded into one of the face-up piles. The first person to have all ten tiles satisfy the travel connection requirements wins.

Connection requirements:
By Foot If a country is next to or connected to another country on the map, their tiles may be placed side-by-side
By Air Any two countries of the same color may be connected by an airplane of that color (its tile in between them)
By Ship If a sea or ocean borders two countries, a ship can connect them

Contents:

67 cardboard tiles - 48 country tiles, 19 transportation (airplane or ship)
4 trip planners (wooden tile holders, 2 per set)
1 game board showing a map of Europe, each country depicted in one of 5 colors

Ticket to Ride: Europe

Ticket to Ride: Europe takes you on a new train adventure across Europe. From Edinburgh to Constantinople and from Lisbon to Moscow, you'll visit great cities of turn-of-the-century Europe. Like the original Ticket to Ride, the game remains elegantly simple, can be learned in 5 minutes, and appeals to both families and experienced gamers. Ticket to Ride: Europe is a complete, new game and does not require the original version.

More than just a new map, Ticket to Ride: Europe features brand new gameplay elements. Tunnels may require you to pay extra cards to build on them, Ferries require locomotive cards in order to claim them, and Stations allow you to sacrifice a few points in order to use an opponents route to connect yours. The game also includes larger format cards and Train Station game pieces.

The overall goal remains the same, collect and play train cards in order to place your pieces on the board, attempting to connect cities on your ticket cards. Points are earned both from placing trains and completing tickets but uncompleted tickets lose you points. The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins.

Part of the Ticket to Ride series.

Online Play

Xbox LIVE Arcade

Ticket to Ride

With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes, while providing players with intense strategic and tactical decisions every turn. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.

"The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets," says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor."

Ticket to Ride continues in the tradition of Days of Wonder's big format board games featuring high-quality illustrations and components including: an oversize board map of North America, 225 custom-molded train cars, 144 illustrated cards, and wooden scoring markers.

Since its introduction and numerous subsequent awards, Ticket to Ride has become the BoardGameGeek epitome of a "gateway game" -- simple enough to be taught in a few minutes, and with enough action and tension to keep new players involved and in the game for the duration.

Part of the Ticket to Ride series.

Re-implemented by:

Ticket to Ride: Europe
Ticket to Ride: Märklin
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
Ticket to Ride: The Card Game
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