Ticket to Ride is a series of stand-alone railroad building games designed by Alan R. Moon and published by Days of Wonder. The rules are very simple to teach and each game is always tight with delightful tension over when to build in order to connect your cities.

This year the tournament will be a qualifier for the National Ticket to Ride Championship, which is a step to the World Championship. All players can play in the tournament, but only those over 18 can be qualifiers for the Nationals. The special rules will be posted at the event.

Tournament Rules:
We will be playing 4-player games, with 3-player games as needed. The default game is the original Ticket to Ride game (USA), the other maps you may use are Europe or USA 1910. Players will be randomly issued seating/Turn Order cards as they check-in for the tournament. At the start of each game, players check to see that they have exactly 45 trains in their color. The number of train cars, cards and destination tickets are public knowledge.

If two or more players tie for first place in a game, even after applying the game’s tie-breakers, then reverse Turn Order will break the tie (i.e. the player going last at the start of the game has the highest tie breaker).

The game winner is responsible for turning in the score sheet, with the information completed at the end of each round.

In the Quarterfinal round, only winners of preliminary games will qualify to advance. If fewer than 64 appear, I will award byes into the semifinals for players with the best qualifying records in the heats, as needed. The semifinals will consist of four 4-player games, and the winners will advance to a 4-player Final using Ticket to Ride USA 1910, Mega-game.

The qualifiers are in order:
1. Most Wins (e.g., total in all heats entered)
2. Total points in all games entered, where for each game your points equal the ratio of your score to the score of your highest opponent in the game, plus 100 points for a win, or 20 points for 2nd place.

Days of Wonder is providing a set of translucent trains (45) in various colors to all participants. The four qualifiers for the National Championship will get a choice of four expansions.