Ticket to Ride’s next sequel will make tracks for historical Germany

Bing-bong! The next stop for the much-loved Ticket to Ride series will be 19th-century Germany. Bing-bong!

Actually, Ticket to Ride: Germany is more of a sort-of revamped version of Ticket to Ride: Märklin, the third Ticket to Ride game originally released way back in 2006 as a heavier variant of Alan R. Moon’s Spiel des Jahres winner. Märklin was itself re-released as a lighter version, Zug um Zug: Deutschland, in Germany and Austria in 2012.

Like Märklin, the upcoming standalone game takes place across a map of Germany (orientated vertically) at the turn of the century and features a new passenger mechanic, which requires players to collect valuable travellers faster than their rivals – although its implementation here appears to be far simpler than in Märklin, which also required players to transport the meeples around the board.

The rest of the game plays like a standard Ticket to Ride, with players constructing networks of trains across the German empire to fulfil long and short destination tickets. There’s also a new globetrotter bonus card.

Ticket to Ride: Germany doesn’t require the original game to play and will be out in June.