Tabletop Leadership

The freeplay game my group chose was Ticket to Ride. My favorite part of this game was actually the setup because our group was able to discuss the different rules that each of us grew up with. One group member had actually learned to play by the book rules, however the rest of us had learned family variations of the game. For this reason, Izzy (who actually knew the original rules) was selected to be the “leader” of the group.
To be completely honest, we did not finish this game. We were often distracted and caught up in conversations about our memories of family board game nights and catching up with each other in general. So Ticket to Ride was not necessarily the main priority of our gaming session, but coming together for board game night was the motivating factor that led us to connect with each other after it had been quite a while. So while I do not have an epic Ticket to Ride story to recount in the future, the game brought us together which I believe is equally valuable as an epic gameplay experience.
Most of our actual gameplay came through via setup, understanding the directions, and playing practice rounds. We did work together to help each other learn the “correct” directions as well as the ones we remembered from playing the game growing up. If we were to attempt this game again in the future, I believe we would be able to actually play a more substantial game of Ticket to Ride.
I learned that this game is more enjoyable than I had previously experienced. When I had plaed this game, it was in ginormous groups and the game took a very long time. Apparently, when played with only a few people this game is much less challenging. This makes sense but I had honestly been avoiding the game due to only playing it a certain way growing up. I believe this game is good for smaller groups and since it is such a classic game, it can be interesting to try out different “house rules.” I think that the less competitive version of the rules that my friend Jackie grew up with would be great for younger players or for casual nights where you want to encourage more communication over competition.