Ticket to Ride Rules 2026: Turns, Locomotives and Final Scoring

This page follows the Days of Wonder English rules for the base game with the North America map (copyright 2004 to 2024, game design by Alan R. Moon), as of November 2026. The box says 2 to 5 players, ages 8 and up, and 30 to 60 minutes. I've kept to the base game only, so nothing here applies to other maps.

What comes in the box

• 1 board map of North American train routes.
• 240 coloured train cars: 45 each in blue, red, green, yellow and black, plus a few spares in each colour.
• 110 Train Car cards: 12 each of eight types (Box, Passenger, Tanker, Reefer, Freight, Hopper, Coal and Caboose) plus 14 Locomotives.
• 30 Destination Ticket cards, 1 Summary card and 1 Longest Continuous Path bonus card.
• 5 wooden scoring markers, one per player colour.

The eight card types match the route colours on the board: purple, blue, orange, white, green, yellow, black and red.

Setting up in six steps

1. Put the board in the middle of the table.
2. Each player takes a set of 45 trains and the matching scoring marker, and puts the marker on Start on the scoring track round the edge of the map.
3. Shuffle the Train Car cards and deal 4 to each player. Put the deck by the board and turn the top five cards face up.
4. Put the Longest Path bonus card face up next to the board.
5. Shuffle the Destination Tickets and deal 3 to each player. You must keep at least two and can keep all three. Returned tickets go to the bottom of the ticket deck.
6. Keep your tickets secret until the end of the game.

Who goes first? The rulebook says it's the most experienced traveller at the table. Play then goes clockwise.

The three actions, and why you only get one

Draw Train Car cards

You take two cards. Each one can be any of the five face-up cards or the top card of the deck, which is a blind draw. If you take a face-up card, turn a replacement face up straight away, then take your second card. You can hold any number of cards.

Claim a route

Play a set of cards equal to the number of spaces in the route, all of the same type. Most routes need a specific colour: a blue route takes blue Passenger cards. Gray routes can be claimed with a set of any one colour. Put one of your trains on every space, move your scoring marker, and discard the cards you used.

Two things people don't expect. A route doesn't have to join up with anything you already own: you can claim any open route on the board. And it's one route per turn, never more.

Draw Destination Tickets

Draw 3 tickets from the top of the ticket deck and keep at least one. Return the rest to the bottom. If fewer than 3 are left, you only draw what's there. There's no limit to how many tickets you can hold.

Locomotives and the face-up cards

Locomotives are the multi-coloured wild cards, and they can be part of any set when you claim a route. Taking one changes how your draw works:

• If you take a face-up Locomotive, that's your whole draw. You get one card instead of two.
• If you take a face-up card first and the replacement turned up is a Locomotive, you can't take it as your second card.
• A Locomotive drawn blind from the top of the deck counts as a single card, so you still get your second draw.
• If three of the five face-up cards are ever Locomotives, all five are discarded at once and five new cards are turned up.

When the draw deck runs out, shuffle the discards into a new deck. The rulebook says to shuffle them thoroughly, because the cards were discarded in sets. If there's nothing left in the deck or the discards because everyone's hoarding, you can't draw Train Car cards at all, so your only options are claiming a route or drawing tickets.

A worked claim, using the rulebook's own routes

The rulebook gives two examples. Montreal to New York is a blue route of three spaces, so you'd need three blue Passenger cards. Montreal to Toronto is gray, so any set works as long as the cards are all the same type.

For example, you hold two blue Passenger cards and one Locomotive. The Locomotive stands in for the missing blue card, so you can claim Montreal to New York this turn: lay down the three cards, put three trains on the route, score it, and discard all three cards. That's your turn done. You can't also draw cards.

The points for each route depend on its length, and they're set out in the route scoring table printed in the rulebook. Score as you go by moving your marker along the track.

Double-routes in smaller games

Some cities are joined by two parallel routes. One player can never claim both routes between the same two cities. In 2 or 3 player games only one of the pair can be used at all: once someone claims either one, the other is closed to everybody.

How it ends and how final scores work

1. The end is triggered when a player finishes a turn with 0, 1 or 2 trains left.
2. Every player, including that one, gets one final turn.
3. Re-count everyone's route points, in case a marker was moved wrongly during play.
4. Reveal all Destination Tickets. Add the value of each completed ticket and subtract the value of each one you didn't connect.
5. The player with the Longest Continuous Path takes the bonus card and 10 points. Only count continuous lines of one player's trains. A path can loop and pass through the same city more than once, but no single train can be counted twice. Tied players all score the 10.
6. Most points wins. If that's tied, the player who completed the most Destination Tickets wins, and if it's still tied, the holder of the Longest Continuous Path card wins.

Mistakes that lose points

• Keeping too few tickets at the start. It's at least two at set-up, but only at least one when you draw more mid-game.
• Forgetting that unfinished tickets count against you. A greedy ticket draw late in the game can cost you more than it earns.
• Trying to draw cards and claim a route in the same turn. It's one action.
• Grabbing a face-up Locomotive and then reaching for a second card.
• Claiming both sides of a double-route, or using the second one in a 2 or 3 player game.

My verdict

I'd teach the three actions first and nothing else, then the Locomotive draw rule the first time someone reaches for a face-up rainbow card. I'd skip the finer points of the Longest Continuous Path until the final count, because nobody needs it mid-game. And I'd tell beginners plainly that unfinished tickets subtract, since that's the rule that decides most first games. If you're choosing what to play next, my list of strategy board games and the board games for small groups roundup both have good follow-ons.

Frequently asked questions

How many players is Ticket to Ride for?

The base game is for 2 to 5 players, ages 8 and up, and takes 30 to 60 minutes.

How does Ticket to Ride end?

When a player has 0, 1 or 2 trains left at the end of their turn, every player, including that one, gets one final turn, then scores are totalled.

How many Destination Tickets must you keep?

At least two of the three you're dealt at the start, and at least one of the three you draw later in the game.

Do you lose points for unfinished tickets in Ticket to Ride?

Yes. At the end you subtract the value of every Destination Ticket you didn't complete.