At first glance, the popular board game Ticket to Ride seems to be another link in the great chain of rail baron games, such as Age of Steam, Eurorails, and the 1830 series. During the game, the player draws unique route challenges to connect certain pairs of cities – New York to San Francisco, Miami to Chicago, and so on.

To complete them, the player must claim a series of tracks that connect adjacent cities while also trying to block opponents from finishing their own challenges. There are subgoals too, such as having the longest contiguous rail line and completing one’s network first, which ends the game for everyone.

Thus most players would describe Ticket to Ride as a game about building the best rail service by grabbing choice routes and cutting off the competition. However, the Introduction in the rules tells a different story: