Ticket to Ride: Northern Lights Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setting up the game
Object of the game
The Game Turn
Game End
Calculating Scores
Bonus cards
Credits

Components

A board of Northern Europe
200 colored plastic trains (40 per player, plus a few spare)
180 illustrated cards including:
- 55 tickets
- 11 bonus cards
- 114 train cards (12 of each color, plus 18 locomotives)
5 wooden scoring markers (1 for each player matching the train colors)
This rules booklet

Setting up the game

Place the board in the center of the table. Each player takes a set of 40 colored plastic trains along with the matching scoring marker. Each player places their scoring marker on the starting location next to the 100 number on the scoring track running along the board's border. Throughout the game, each time a player scores points, they will advance their marker accordingly.

Shuffle the train cards and deal a starting hand of 4 cards to each player. Place the remaining deck of train cards near the board and turn the top five cards from the deck faceup.

Shuffle the bonus cards and turn the top four cards from the deck faceup next to the board. Place the remaining bonus cards back in the box.

Shuffle the tickets and deal 4 cards to each player. The ticket deck is then placed next to the board. Each player looks at their tickets and decides which ones they wish to keep. A player must keep at least two, but may keep all four if they choose. Any returned card is placed below the deck. Players keep their tickets secret until the end of the game.

You are now ready to begin.

Object of the game

The object of the game is to score the highest number of points. Points can be scored by:

Claiming a route between two adjacent cities on the map;
Successfully completing a continuous path of routes between two cities listed on your ticket(s);
Completing bonus cards by the end of the game.

Points are deducted if a player does not complete a ticket by the end of the game.

The Game Turn

The player who is the most experienced traveler goes first. Play then proceeds clockwise around the table, each player taking one turn at a time until the game ends. On their turn, a player must perform one (and only one) of the following three actions:

Draw train cards – The player draws up to 2 train cards and adds them to their hand.

Claim a route – The player claims a route between two adjacent cities on the board by playing train cards.

Draw tickets – The player draws 3 tickets from the top of the deck and must keep at least one of them.

Draw Train Cards

There are 8 colors of regular train cards, plus locomotives. The colors of each type of regular train card match the routes between cities on the board: purple, blue, orange, white, green, yellow, black, and red. Locomotives are multi-colored and act as wild cards that can be part of a set of cards when claiming routes. They are also useful to claim ferry routes (see below).

If the player chooses to draw train cards, they may draw two cards. Either of these cards can be drawn from the five faceup cards next to the board or from the top of the deck (blind draw). After drawing a faceup card, the player must immediately replace it with a new card taken from the top of the train deck.

Note: Unlike most Ticket to Ride games, you do not discard the five faceup train cards when three or more of them are locomotives.

A player may have any number of cards in their hand at any time. When the train deck is exhausted, all discarded train cards are reshuffled into a new deck. The cards should be shuffled thoroughly, since most of the cards have been discarded in sets. In the unlikely event that there are no cards left in the deck and there are no discards (because players are hoarding cards in their hands), a player cannot draw train cards. Instead they may only claim a route or draw tickets.

Drawing Locomotives

If a player wants to draw a faceup locomotive, it must be the first train card they draw this turn and they cannot draw a second one.

Note: If you are lucky enough to get a locomotive from the top of the deck in a blind draw, it still counts as a single card and you may still draw a total of two cards that turn.

Claim a Route

A route is a set of continuous colored spaces (in some instances, gray spaces) between two adjacent cities on the map.

To claim a route, a player must play a set of cards equal to the number of spaces in the route. The set of cards played must match the color of the route. A locomotive can always be used as a card of any color (see example 1). Gray routes are ferry routes that do not require a specific color (see ferries rules below).

When a route is claimed, the player places one of their plastic trains on each of the spaces of the route. All the cards in the set used to claim the route are placed in a discard pile next to the draw pile. The player then records their score by moving their scoring marker the appropriate number of spaces (see below) along the scoring track on the board.

A player may claim any open route on the board. They are never required to connect to any of their previously played routes. A player may only claim a maximum of one route, hence connect two adjacent cities, on their turn.

Some cities are connected by double or triple routes. A single player cannot claim more than one route of a double or triple route.

Example 1. To claim the yellow route, a player may play any of the following card combinations: two yellow train cards; one yellow card and a locomotive; or two locomotives.

Example 2. This ferry route can be claimed by playing a set of two cards of any one color, in addition to a locomotive or a pair of identical train cards.

Important:

In 2 and 3-player games, only one of the double routes can be used. A player can claim either of the two routes between cities, but the other route is then closed to other players.
In 2-player games, only one of the triple routes can be used; in 3-player games, only two of the triple route can be used. The three routes of a triple route can be used only in 4 and 5-player games.

Ferries

Ferries are special routes linking two adjacent cities across a body of water. They are easily identified by their gray color and the locomotive icon(s) featured on at least one of the spaces of the route. To claim a ferry route, a player must play:

a locomotive card

OR
a pair of train cards of the same color

for each locomotive symbol on the route, in addition to a set of train cards of any one color for the remaining spaces.

Example 3. To claim the ferry route between Mo I Rana and Narvik, a player can play one locomotive plus one pair of identical train cards for the two locomotive icons, along with two other train cards of the same color for the rest of the route.

Drawing Bonus

Some routes have a "+ X" bonus icon. After claiming one of these routes, a player draws as many train cards from the top of the deck as the listed number. No faceup train cards can be drawn with this bonus.

Route Scoring Table

When a player claims a route, they record the points they receive by moving their scoring marker on the scoring track. See the Route Scoring Table below:

Route Length	Points
1	1
2	2
3	4
4	7
5	10

Draw Tickets

A player can use their turn to draw more tickets. To do so, they draw 3 new tickets from the top of the ticket deck. If there are fewer than 3 tickets left in the deck, they only draw the ones that are available.

They must keep at least one of the tickets drawn, but may also keep two or all three if they choose. Any returned tickets are placed on the bottom of the ticket deck. Tickets drawn and not immediately discarded must be kept until the end of the game. They cannot be discarded during a later ticket draw.

The cities listed on a ticket represent travel goals. If, by the end of the game, a player has created a continuous path of plastic trains in their color between the two cities named on a ticket they hold, they will add the points indicated on the ticket to their final score. If they have failed to complete a continuous path between those cities, they will deduct the points indicated.

Tickets are kept secret from other players until final scoring. A player may accumulate any number of tickets during the game.

Game End

When one player's stock of plastic trains is reduced to only 0, 1, or 2 at the end of their turn, each player, including that player, gets one final turn. The game then ends and players calculate their final scores.

Calculating Scores

Players should have already accounted for the points earned as they completed different routes. To make sure no mistakes were made, you may want to recount the points for each player's routes.
Players should then reveal all their tickets and add (or subtract) the values of their tickets, based on whether they successfully connected those cities together (or not).
Finally, players score the four bonus cards (each bonus card is detailed below). In case of a tie between two or more players for a card, all tied players score the bonus points.
The player with the most points wins the game. If two or more players are tied for the most points, the player who completed the most tickets wins. In the unlikely event that they are still tied, the player who scored the most bonus cards wins. If players are still tied, they share the victory.

Bonus cards

A — Call of the wild (5 points). The player with most locomotives in hand wins this bonus.

Note: each pair of train cards of the same color is considered a locomotive when determining who wins this bonus card.

B — Capital investment (7 points). The player with the most completed tickets to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki wins this bonus.

C — Cost efficiency (7 points). The player with the most plastic trains left wins this bonus.

D — Small steps strategist (10 points). The player who claimed the most one space routes wins this bonus.

E — Nordic Express (10 points). The player with the longest continuous path wins this bonus. A continuous path may include loops and pass through the same city several times but a given route may never be used twice in the same continuous path.

F — Local network (10 points). The player with the most completed small tickets (value of 5 points or less) wins this bonus.

G — International tycoon (12 points). The player with the most different countries connected with their routes wins this bonus. There is a total of 9 different countries on the board, identified by their flag.

H — Polar Express (12 points). The player with the most completed tickets to at least one city located inside the Arctic Circle (snowflake icon) wins this bonus.

I — Snowplow award (12 points). The player with the most routes connecting at least one city located inside the Arctic Circle (snowflake icon) wins this bonus.

J — Ferry Master (12 points). The player with the most claimed ferry routes wins this bonus.

K — The wild west (7 points). The player with the most routes connecting at least one Norwegian city wins this bonus.

Credits

Game design by: Alan R. Moon

Illustrations by: Julien Delval

Graphic Design: Cyrille Daujean

Editing: Jesse Rasmussen

Playtesters: Janet E. Moon, Bobby West, Keith Ward, Emilee Lawson Hatch, Ryan Hatch, Adrien Martinot, Alexiane Achard, Franck Lefebvre, Caroline Sebayhi & Sébastien Rio.