Rochester Gamers Community

Thurn and Taxis is a game for 2-4 players. In the spirit of games like Ticket to Ride, is a game about collecting routes between cities and earning victory points. Routes of a certain length earn these victory points, and bonus points are earned by completely filling Provinces with your post offices.

Components
The components for T&T are very nice. There is great artwork; all with an “old world” look it. There are heavy stock cardboard reference cards, listing the special abilities you can choose from. (Although, they are unnecessary, since the information is also printed on the game board) It includes nice wooden houses used to mark the cities you have claimed. If I have one complaint, it would be the small cards that are used. I am not a fan of the small cards in any games. To give credit, the small size is necessary, since there is a place on the board for the six cards that are available to choose from. From the actual box design to board design, both the colors and graphics are pleasing and inviting.

Gameplay
The object of Thurn & Taxis is to build postal routes across Bavaria – the southern area of Germany, Austria. Switzerland. By playing cards (one per turn) you build a postal route from city to city. You may only extend your route to a city that is adjacent to one end of your current route; so there are times where you won’t get a card to extend your route. As your turn action, you can complete your route, and score the victory points for it, if possible. When you score your route, you put your wooden houses on the cities in your route. These houses become important as you try to fill an area of the board to get victory points.

The game end is triggered when a player either places their last house on the board, or when they score a route to take the company card for a 7 length route. When the end game is triggered, the current round is finished, and then everyone totals up Victory Points.

The biggest problem with the game is the lack of player interaction. There is no way to “block” an opponent, as in Ticket to Ride. Since all players can have a post office in each city, the only way you can disrupt your opponent is by choosing a card they may need, or to wipe the available cards off the board (using one of the special abilities). The game really becomes a game of timing. At what point do you score a 7-length route to trigger the end of the game?

Verdict
As a fan of Ticket to Ride, I like Thurn & Taxis. It seems to play a bit quicker than Ticket to Ride, and you don’t have the frustration of blocked routes, and you don’t have to worry about losing points for incomplete destinations. Another game that is easy to learn, and fun to play with two, three, or four players.