Ticket to Ride

[ColdinNovember]

Me and 2DC would play. 8 and 5, not experienced board gamers would the junior version or normal be suitable.

or suggestions of a simple, engaging board or card game for us 3 to play? Perhaps something collaborative?

I don’t think I would play with a 5 year old tbh, I haven’t tried the junior version though. Dobble is a good card type game for the whole family, also Uno is a classic!

Haven't played Ticket to Ride, but Catan Junior is really good. The normal version is a lot more tricky.

Ticket to Ride is a brilliantly game! I’ve never played the junior version but I’d say the normal one is too difficult. We play in teams when the dc play. Buy the property one in five years, you won’t regret it.

I can recommend Qwirkle as a fun game that the dc can play as well as being actually enjoyable for you. And will still be playable when they are all adults.

At 5 I'd play the junior version, though we did sometimes play the proper version with an adult and child paired up as a team.

I'd suggest junior labyrinth is probably a bit easier as a starter board game and is a very good game. Dobble is a good starting point too.

@welshpolarbear I have been thinking of buying Catan Junior for a 7 year old and their family. What age range in your experience is Catan Junior good for and does it work with 2 players where needed or is 3+ or more much better?

We love playing ticket to ride junior with our 8 year old, and have played regularly since she was six. Thoroughly recommend!

Its a fantastic game but I think 5 might be a little too young for the full game

Thanks we quite enjoy dobble and uno. I’ll take a look at some of the other suggestions

We started playing it with DD when she was about 7

Love ticket to ride. Have the app on my iPad too

Ticket to Ride is wonderful, and I highly suggest watching a YouTube video of how to play before you try it for the first time. It really helps you to understand the rules.

For that age I would recommend Dragomino (it's a kid's version of Kingdomino) a really fun tile game. Also Bazar Bizzare, a really fun card game but not sure is there an English version (although it's very easy to play)

7 is perfect and you can definitely play with two. Its a brilliant game.

Best games for us when ours were that age were
Outfoxed
Enchanted Forest
Ghost fighting treasure hunters
Labyrinth
Fish sticks
Though shout out for Dixit at any age, it's so wonderful and helps get into the mindset of other players.
I've got to say TTR is quite rules based for that age group (or maybe my two were pains!)
Good luck Op!

I often found junior versions only good for a very short time. Pairing up with an adult to learn the adult one is my preference. you can modify rules to make it easier..on TTR we ignored the tunnels and allowed parallel trains when you wouldn't normally for instance. Only took a few games until they were able to get that bit as well. The biggest thing for me is making sure the adults totally know how to play so you're not delaying the game or getting stuff wrong which puts the kids off. A couple of test games minus kids are well worth it.

Junior ticket to ride is perfect for that age - mine have now progressed to the normal version aged 8 & 10.

We bought TTR a few years ago and barely play it it just seems to complex. That’s probably an us problem though!

No to Ticket to Ride. There are so many good games for that age why would you? I haven't trued the junior but given how well all the TTR games are Designed I imagine it's perfect

Catan Junior is a great game superficially, but it has a move that if you make it is the winning move and decides the rest of the game. From memory the second player can do it turn one, after that it us whoever makes the move first wins. When I worked it out it became very dull very quickly, do I want to destroy my child hopes if winning today or not? I much preferred games were I didn't have to chose to deliberately win or lose

Yy to Labyrinth (I'd say main game is fine)

Also
Carcassonne
Forbidden Island (is cooperative, although I found cooperative games actually caused a lot of disagreement in our house)
Ludo/sorry/pop and hop
King of Tokyo
Takenoko
Destination Animation (out of print if you ever see it second hand snatch it up)

You could try ticket to ride London.

Simpler & shorter but still fun to play.

Or TTR without tunnels as PP suggested.

Thanks all, I don’t think lots of rules would suit my 2 so will park Tick to Ride for now. Thinking of either Out Foxed, labyrinth or Dragomino from the other suggestions.

We couldn't work out the rules to Ticket to Ride (it was after dinner) but Sushi Go is good fun and good for taking on holiday as so small.

If you can cope with Sushi Go you can cope with TTR if you learn it on a clear head! If you have the Europe version ignore stations/tunnels/ferries rules which will make it simpler to start with. I could NOT get my head around the rules to Sushi Go when I got it but watching it played on YouTube made it so much simpler. Go Nuts for Donuts is from the same people I think, you may also enjoy that.

My DC were prob 6/7 before Ticket to Ride was fun - ditto Sushi Go and Exploding kittens etc.

At five we played card games a lot. Batasaurus, Happy families, GoFish.

Labyrinth (normal version) was good at that age but we played "nicely" giving hints to younger one.

My youngest loved Cranium Junior at five although it didn't last long.

Rhino hero is easy to understand and fun.
We also like ker-plunk and hungry hippos. We have connect 4 but the strategy is a little above the 5 year old.