Ticket to Ride: First Journey

Each player gets 20 plastic trains in one colour, four train cards and two tickets. A ticket names two cities, and your job is to join them with an unbroken line of your own trains. The board is a simplified map of Europe, with each city marked by a large, bright landmark.

On your turn you do one thing. You can draw the top two cards from the train deck, or you can claim a route by handing in cards that match its colour and length, such as two yellow cards for a yellow route that is two spaces long. Locomotive cards are wild and count as any colour. Unlike the grown-up game, there is no row of face-up cards to choose from and fewer options to weigh, so turns are quick.

When your trains join the two cities on a ticket, you turn it face up and draw a new ticket straight away, so you always have something to aim for. If other players' trains block both of your tickets, you can use a turn to swap them for two new ones. Unfinished tickets never cost you anything.

Joining a city on the far west of the map to one on the far east earns a bonus ticket. The first player to complete six tickets wins and takes the Golden Ticket card. If someone places their last train before that, the game ends at once and whoever has completed the most tickets wins. Tied players share the win.

Compared with the full Ticket to Ride, this version drops the points, the scoring track, the long-route bonus and the penalty for missed tickets. That makes it easier for children to follow. Adults get fewer decisions, so expect a relaxed game with your child rather than a challenge for yourself.

There is no Indian edition, and we found no Indian distributor for First Journey. Funskool's name appears on an Amazon.in listing for the grown-up Ticket to Ride Europe, but not on any First Journey listing. Every copy is an import. Board Games India's ₹3,499 is a fair price for this game, so it is worth asking them about a restock or checking back. The Amazon.in import costs several times that, more than the full Ticket to Ride, which is hard to justify for a children's version.

First Journey comes in two versions with the same rules: the original USA map (2016) and a Europe map (2017). Everything we found in India on 5 October 2026 was the Europe map. Board Games India lists it at ₹3,499 (out of stock, barcode 824968200278), and Amazon.in listing B074N9B2XH is an import at several times the store price. A second Amazon.in listing, B0HF9MRQTG, was also an imported copy at several times the store price and did not say which map it has. We did not find the USA-map box at any trusted Indian store. If your child is ready for the full game, see our Ticket to Ride page.