USSR (fan expansion for Ticket to Ride)
USSR (fan expansion for Ticket to Ride) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 Board map of USSR train routes
- 240 Coloured Train Cars (45 each in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Black, plus 3 extra replacement cars in each colour)
- 15 Coloured Train Stations (3 each in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Black)
- 173 Illustrated cards:
- 110 Train Car cards (12 each of 8 colours, plus 14 Locomotives)
- 2 Controller cards
- 57 Destination tickets (45 short routes, 12 long routes)
- 1 "Viva to the Soviet Railroad" bonus card (for the most routes)
- 1 "The Longest Railway in the Soviet Union" bonus card (for the longest route)
- 1 "Viva to the Soviet Tunnel Builders" bonus card (for the most tunnels)
- 1 "Viva to the Soviet Sailors" bonus card (for the most ferries)
- 5 Wooden Scoring Markers (1 for each player in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow and Black)
- 1 Rules booklet
Setting up the Game
Place the board in the centre of the table. Each player receives a set of 45 Train Cars, a matching set of 3 Train Stations, and a matching Scoring Marker. Each player places his Scoring Marker on Start on the Scoring Track running along the map's border. During the game, each time a player scores points, he will advance his marker accordingly.
Shuffle the Train Car cards and deal a starting hand of 4 cards to each player. Place the remaining deck of Train Car cards near the board and turn the top five cards from the deck face-up.
Place the 4 bonus cards face up next to the board, as reminders to the players.
Take the deck of Destination Tickets and separate the long routes (the twelve Destination Tickets with blue backs) from the regular routes (brown backs). Shuffle the long routes, and randomly deal two to each player. Put any remaining long routes back in the game box without letting anyone see them. Shuffle the short routes, deal two to each player, and place the remainder in a draw pile next to the board.
Each player looks at their Destination Tickets and decides which ones they wish to keep. A player must keep at least 1 long route and 1 short route, but may keep all four if he chooses. Any returned routes are placed in the game box and are not used further in the game. Players keep their Destination Tickets secret until the end of the game.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to score the highest total number of points.
Points are scored for:
- Claiming a Route between two adjacent cities on the map;
- Successfully completing a continuous path of routes between two cities listed on your Destination Ticket(s);
- Completing the greatest number of routes ("Viva to the Soviet Railroad");
- Completing the longest continuous path of routes ("The Longest Railway in the Soviet Union");
- Building the greatest number of tunnels ("Viva to the Soviet tunnel builders") or ferries ("Viva to the Soviet sailors");
- Each unused station.
Points are deducted for each Destination Ticket that was not completed by the end of the game.
The Game Turn
The player who has visited the most Russian cities in his or her lifetime begins the game; play then proceeds clockwise around the table, each player taking one turn at a time until the game ends. On his turn, a player must perform one (and only one) of the following five actions:
Draw Train Car Cards – The player may draw two Train Car cards. He may take any one of the face-up cards or he may draw the top card from the deck (this is a blind draw). If he draws a face up card, he immediately turns a replacement card face-up from the deck. He then draws his second card, either from the face up cards or from the top of the deck. (See Train Car Cards for special rules for Locomotive cards)
Claim a Route – The player may claim a route on the board by playing a set of Train Car cards that match the colour and length of the route and then placing one of his coloured trains on each space of this route. He then records his score by moving his Scoring Marker the appropriate number of spaces (see Route Scoring Table) along the Scoring Track on the board.
Note: the Route Scoring Table referred to here is not included in the rulebook file and is therefore not transcribed.
Draw Destination Tickets – The player draws three Destination Tickets from the top of the deck. He must keep at least one of them, but he may keep two or all three if he chooses. Any returned cards are placed in the box and are not used further in this game.
Play the Controller – The player may play a Controller card from his hand and then do one of the following: (a) remove any previously built route up to 4 trains long or (b) build a route of up to 4 trains in length. The Controller acts on all routes, including ferries and tunnels. No points are scored for building a route. Note: (1) if the Controller is turned up to fill one of the face-up train card slots, all 5 cards are immediately picked up (similar to the 3 Locomotive rule); (2) if you are building a tunnel and the Controller is one of the three verification cards, you must match it with a Locomotive.
Build a Train Station – The player may build a Station in any city that does not yet have one. To build his first Train Station, the player plays one Train Car card of any colour and places one of his Train Stations on that city. To build his second Station, a player must play a set of two cards of the same colour, and to build his third Station a set of three cards of the same colour.
Train Car Cards
There are 8 types of regular Train Car cards, plus Locomotive cars. The colours of each type of Train Car card match various routes between cities on the board – Purple, Blue, Orange, White, Green, Yellow, Black, and Red. Locomotives are Multi-coloured and act as a wild card that can be part of any set of cards when claiming a route. If a player draws a face-up Locomotive card, he may only draw one card that turn. If, at any time, three of the five face-up cards are Locomotives, all five cards are immediately discarded and five new ones are turned face-up to replace them.
A player may have any number of cards in his hand at any time.
When the deck is exhausted, the discards are reshuffled into a new draw pile deck. The cards should be shuffled thoroughly, since all 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 many cards in their hands), a player cannot choose the "draw Train Car cards" option.
Claiming Routes
To claim a route, a player must play a set of cards equal to the number of spaces in the route. A set of cards must be of the same type. Most routes require a specific type of set. For example a Blue route must be claimed using blue-coloured Train Car cards. Some routes – those that are Grey coloured – can be claimed using a set of cards of any one colour. A route must be claimed in its entirety during a single turn.
When a route is claimed, the player places one of his plastic trains on each of the spaces of the route. All the cards in the set used to claim the route are then discarded.
A player may claim any open route on the board. He is never required to connect to any of his previously played routes. A player may only claim a maximum of one route, hence connect two adjacent cities on his turn.
Some cities are connected by Double-Routes or, in the case of Novosibirsk-Krasnoyarsk, a Triple-Route. These are routes whose spaces are parallel and equal in number from one city to the other. One player cannot claim all routes between the same cities.
Important Note: In a two player game, only one route of each Double/Triple-Route can be used. A player can claim one of the two routes between cities, but the other route is then closed to the other player.
Ferries
Ferries are special Grey routes linking two adjacent cities across a body of water. They are easily identified by the Locomotive icon(s) featured on at least one of the spaces making the route.
To claim a Ferry Route, a player must play a Locomotive card for each Locomotive symbol on the route, and the usual set of cards of the proper colour for the remaining spaces of that Ferry Route.
Tunnels
Tunnels are special routes that are easily identified by the special tunnel marks and outlines surrounding each of their spaces. What makes a tunnel special is that a player is never quite certain just how many cards he will need to claim the route.
When attempting to claim a Tunnel route, a player first lays down the number of cards required by the length of the route. Then the three top cards from the Train Car draw pile are turned face-up. For each card revealed whose colour matches the colour of the cards played to claim the Tunnel, an additional card of the same colour (or a Locomotive) must now be played from his hand. Only then can the player successfully claim the Tunnel route.
If the player does not have enough additional Train Car cards of the matching colour (or does not wish to play them), he may take all his cards back in his hand, and his turn ends. At the end of the turn, the three Train Car cards revealed for the Tunnel are discarded.
Remember that Locomotives are multi-coloured wild cards. As such, any Locomotive card drawn from the top of the Train Car draw pile during an attempt to go through a Tunnel will automatically match the colour of the cards played on the route, and force the player to play an additional card.
If a player attempts to go through a Tunnel using Locomotive cards exclusively, he will only have to play additional cards if Locomotives show up among the three cards drawn for the Tunnel. In this case, the additional cards must be Locomotives.
If the Controller shows up among the three cards drawn for the tunnel, it is treated as if it were a Locomotive.
In the rare event there are not enough cards available in the draw and discard piles to reveal 3 cards and determine the effect of the tunnel on a player, then only those cards that are available are revealed. If, as a result of players hoarding cards, there are none to be revealed, a tunnel can be claimed without risking additional cards.
Drawing Destination Ticket Cards
A player can use his turn to draw more Destination Ticket cards. To do so, he draws three new cards from the top of the Destination Ticket deck. He must keep at least one of the cards, but may also keep two or all three if he chooses. If there are less than three Destination Tickets left in the deck, the player only draws the cards that are available. Any returned cards are placed in the box and are not used again in this game.
Each Destination Ticket includes the name of two cities on the map and a Point Value. If a player successfully completes a series of routes that connect the two cities, he adds the number of points indicated on the Destination Ticket to his point total at the end of the game. If he does not successfully connect the two cities, he subtracts the number of points indicated.
Destination Tickets are kept secret from other players until the game's final scoring. A player may have any number of Destination Ticket cards during the game.
Building a Train Station
If a Train Station is built on a city, it allows its owner to use one (and only one) of the routes belonging to another player, into (or out of) that city to help him connect the cities on his Destination Tickets. Stations may be built on any unoccupied city, even if it currently has no claimed routes into it. Two players may never build a Station in the same city.
Each player may build a maximum of one Station per turn, and three Stations throughout the course of the game.
To build his first Station, a player plays and discards one Train Car card from his hand, and places one of his coloured Train Stations on the chosen city. To build a second Station, the player must play and discard a set of two Train Car cards of any one colour; and to build his third, a set of three Train Car cards of any one colour. The colour of the train cards to be played must match the colour of one of the routes leading into that city; this means that, as long as at least one Grey route leads to the city, any colour may be used. As usual, the player can replace any number of cards by Locomotives.
If a player uses the same Station to help connect cities on several different Tickets, he must use the same route into the city with the Station for all of those Tickets. The Train Station owner does not need to decide which route he will use until the end of the game.
A player is never required to build any Stations. For each Station a player has not used, four points are added to his score at the end of the game.
Game End
When one player's stock of coloured train cars gets down to two or fewer trains left at the end of his 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 re-count the points for each player's routes.
Players must then reveal all their Destination Tickets and add (or subtract) the value of their Destination Tickets still in hand, based on whether they did (or did not) connect those cities together.
Remember that each Station played allows its owner to use one (and only one) route belonging to another player into that city for the purpose of completing a Destination Ticket. If a player uses the same Station to help connect cities on the paths of several different Destination Tickets, he must use the same route into or out of the city with the Station for all Tickets.
For each unplayed Train Station in a player's possession, add four points to that player's total.
Finally, add the bonus points:
- The player who has the most completed routes receives the "Viva to the Soviet Railroad" bonus card and adds 15 points to his score.
- The player who has the Longest Continuous Path of routes receives the "Longest Railway in the Soviet Union" bonus card and adds 10 points to his score. When evaluating and comparing path lengths, only take into account continuous lines of plastic trains of the same colour. A continuous path may include loops, and pass through the same city several times, but a given plastic train may never be used twice in the same continuous path. Stations, and the opponents' routes they may provide access to, do not count for the purpose of computing paths and claiming the longest one.
- The player who has built the most number of tunnel routes receives the "Viva to the Soviet Tunnel Builders" bonus card and adds 7 points to his score.
- The player who has built the most number of ferry routes receives the "Viva to the Soviet Sailors" bonus card and adds 7 points to his score.
In the case of a tie for any of these bonuses, each tied player scores the appropriate full bonus.
The player with the most points wins the game. If two or more people are tied with the most number of points, they are joint winners.