What is the maximum score in Ticket to Ride USA, and how to aim towards it?

Question

My wife has been playing Ticket to Ride on her iPod, and has achieved what seems to me a very impressive score of nearly 250 in the 2-player game. Naturally, nothing now matters to me except trying to beat her...

Even assuming a terrible computer opponent, it seems to me to be quite difficult to get much above 200 points in a normal game. But I thought if I enlisted the help of the BG:SE brain trust, we might be able to work out the maximum possible score for the US board.

And if we can find out or approximate that information, from there I'm guessing it should be easy to work out which routes or combination of routes are the best to aim for for racking up a top score...

@ire_and_curses I'll upvote the comment since you easily would have beaten me to the answer. :-) — SocioMatt, Mar 29 '13 at 20:30
Success! After only a day of sporadic trying, I managed to score 265, connecting Vancouver, Montreal, LA and Miami and picking up about 15 routes. It would have been 272 if I hadn't pushed my luck by picking up more routes on my final turn :( — thesunneversets, Mar 30 '13 at 21:37

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 29 '13 at 20:28

Straight from Board Game Geek:

In order to get 295 you must get one of the most important cities Miami! You end up sacrificing New Orleans and Sault St. Marie to do so.

Follow the same route from Vancouver to Santa Fe, but then you deviate from there:

Santa Fe -> Denver -> Kansas City -> St. Louis (Splitting Point Here)

St. Louis -> Nashville -> Atlanta -> Miami

St. Louis -> Chicago -> Pittsburg (Splitting Point Here)

Pittsburg -> Toronto

Pittsburg -> New York -> Boston -> Montreal

This route will give you the same 62 points for train length, but 223 for destination cards resulting in 295!

Dropped Destinations: Dallas to NY; NO to Vancouver; NO to Chicago; Sault St. Marie to OKC; Sault St. Marie to Nashville (48 points)

Added Destinations: Denver to Pittsburg; Miami -> LA; Miami -> Boston; Miami -> Montreal (51 points)

Following this as close as possible, you should be able to beat 200, and eventually eclipse your wife's score of 250. It's going to take a little luck, but this seems like the best blueprint.

Cool! I should've known that BGG would have been a sensible first port of call, but obviously I'm a BG:SE loyalist. I'm going to go read up... — thesunneversets, Mar 29 '13 at 20:31
@thesunneversets There's also a word document posted on the BGG section I linked. This goes through the way they figured it out, including individual calculations for each route. For some reason it shows up 5 points shy of the maximum, but 295 is the score ceiling. — SocioMatt, Mar 29 '13 at 20:35
Having played a few games using this for inspiration, it certainly gives you a fighting chance of breaking 200 (against a weak AI anyway), but I'm all the more impressed by my wife's score of 246 now. So much has to go right to even stand a chance of hitting a score like that... — thesunneversets, Mar 29 '13 at 23:37

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '18 at 23:16

The range of possible scores in Ticket to Ride is 635. The minimum is -340, and the maximum is 295.

The minimum can only be achieved with two players. Your opponent keeps two goals, which must be Denver to El Paso and Kansas City to Houston. You must then draw every other goal in the game without playing any trains. You will get 0 for playing trains and -340 for goals. Additionally, your opponent needs to claim at least one route to prevent having a tie for longest continuous route.

The maximum points possible, 295, can be achieved by following the instructions given above.

However, achieving either a -340 or 295 is virtually impossible. To get -340, your opponent needs to draw Denver to El Paso and Kansas City to Houston and also throw away their third destination ticket. Since those two routes only require nine trains to be used, your opponent will likely draw a few more goals before you can take the entire deck.

Likewise, getting 295 is just about impossible. If you're playing against a real person, they will probably take at least one of the routes needed. Additionally, if your opponent takes one of the goals you need, it is impossible.

When playing against a stupid computer, the computer will also probably take one of your routes.

However, there is one way to make your chances of scoring 295 extremely high (without cheating). That is playing against a baby that doesn't do anything and forfeits all of their turns. This way, all you need is for him/her to not draw goals you need and for you to draw at least one goal you need per turn.

The game does not end until one player has (or almost has? I always need to look up the exact number) exhausted all their carriages; so not only do you need to spend every turn collecting routes but also the opponent must build practically all of their carriages. Likewise, forfeiting a turn is not possible as each turn is either drawing wagon cards, placing carriages or choosing routes. — Jan, Mar 28 '19 at 14:39

Kira Shea · Answer 3 · 2015-03-20T12:56:53.330

Top score as far as I know is 293.

Destinations:
1. Vancouver-Santa Fe (13)
2. Vancouver-Montreal (20)
3. Seattle-Los Angeles (9)
4. Seattle-New York (22)
5. Portland-Phoenix (11)
6. Portland-Nashville (17)
7. San Francisco-Atlanta (17)
8. Los Angeles-Chicago (16)
9. Los Angeles-New York (21)
10. Los Angeles-Miami (20)
11. Chicago-Santa Fe (9)
12. Chicago-New Orleans (7)
13. New York-Atlanta (6)
14. Boston-Miami (12)
15. Montreal-Atlanta (9)
16. Montreal-New Orleans (13)

Longest path (10)

Path:
Vancouver
Seattle (1)
Portland (1)
San Francisco (10)
Los Angeles (4)
Phoenix (4)
Santa Fe (4)
Oklahoma City (4)
Little Rock (2) New Orleans (4)
Saint Louis (2) Nashville (2) Atlanta (1) Miami (10)
Chicago (2)
Pittsburgh (4)
New York (2)
Boston (2)
Montreal (2)

Destinations: 222
Longest path: 10
Trains: 61

Total: 293

Hopefully the breakdown is right, lots of numbers so maybe I made a typo, but the destinations and cities are all correct!

Tips: Get all the destinations ASAP, only skip a turn of claiming routes to claim Los Angeles-Phoenix, Oklahoma City-Little Rock and Chicago-Pittsburgh, as these are routes you need that will go first.

Happy travels!

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 28 '19 at 14:17

The highest score that I have tested in Ticket to Ride is 308.

You would need to build the following trains:
Vancouver → Seattle (1) → Portland (2) → San Francisco (12) → Los Angeles (16) → Phoenix (20) → Santa Fe (24) → Oklahoma City (28) → Dallas (30) → Houston (31) → New Orleans (33) → Atlanta (40) → Raleigh (42) → Washington (44) → New York (46) → Boston (48) → Montréal (50)

From here, build the following branches in order (otherwise the game will end before you finish):
Atlanta → Nashville (51) → Saint Louis (53) → Chicago (55) Atlanta → Miami (65)

You would also need to have/pull the following 17 routes, which you will need extreme luck to get: Seattle → New York (87)
Los Angeles → New York (108)
Vancouver → Montréal (128)
Los Angeles → Miami (148)
San Francisco → Atlanta (165)
Portland → Nashville (182)
Los Angeles → Chicago (198)
Montréal → New Orleans (211)
Vancouver → Santa Fe (224)
Boston → Miami (236)
Portland → Phoenix (247)
Dallas → New York (258)
Seattle → Los Angeles (267)
Montréal → Atlanta (276)
Chicago → Santa Fe (285)
Chicago → New Orleans (292)
New York → Atlanta (298)

If you managed to build the trains correctly, then you can give yourself the Trans-American Express for the longest train, an extra 10 points. this will bring your total up to 308.

I may have made a typo or did something wrong, so please reply if I did.

That set of routes has a total length of 48, in the standard game each player only has 45 trains. — Henrik supports the community, Jun 04 '19 at 23:13
And it isn't optimal for 48 trains either. Just do the described route for 295, and extend it with Vancouver-Calgary, that's a three train route (so possible when going from 45 to 48 trains), giving 4 points, and completing the Calgary-Phoenix ticket for 13 points, giving a total of 312. (I'm not claiming that is optimal either, it was just a quick way to see that 308 wasn't that just came to me) — Henrik supports the community, Jun 05 '19 at 09:16
@Henriksupportsthecommunity: You're right, there are officially only 45 trains. I've seen spare trains in the box, though, so some people might indeed play with 48 trains. — Eric Duminil, Apr 09 '20 at 12:59

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 26 '14 at 15:36

1

The highest I have ever seen was 378. All 45 trains were used, they got 26 destinations, and made all of them, had longest train and globe trotter (1910) I have a picture of the score too, as I couldn't believe it and I was seeing it.

answered Aug 26 '14 at 15:36

Quinten

11
1

The 1910 expansion has more tickets than the base game, and thus a higher possible score. – Anton Sherwood Oct 23 '22 at 23:59

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 12 '14 at 09:08

0

I believe 289 is the highest possible score. I have achieved it. Those who say 295 w/ Miami failed to subtract KC to Houston, another 5 points. I'm trying to figure out why the original document says 290 is the highest-- maybe just a math error.

answered Aug 12 '14 at 09:08

David

1

3

Can you give us a breakdown of how you achieved it? – doppelgreener Aug 13 '14 at 09:40
I have achieved 295, so your belief is clearly wrong. – Henrik supports the community Jun 04 '19 at 23:07

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 28 '14 at 01:42

I have hit 266. I remember when I thought 200 was really high. 295 is the highest I've seen but I don't have a blueprint for it. Miami is a very important city. Basically I usually try to connect LA to Vancouver and NY, going more south if I can. Then try to get down to Miami. Watch your train count. Once I have a my 3 corners I'll try to keep drawing routes as long as I can, making sure I fill in the path to Miami along the way without triggering a last turn. Do this and you may not ever get 295 but you will eventually beat your wife (if she hasn't figured this out already) It may be worth noting that if the computer draws a few routes it may mess you up as to what's left. Thanks for other answers as well!

score -5 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 02 '16 at 22:02

-5

Read the back of the score card. If you have a consecutive path of all 45 trains you get a bonus score of 225

answered Mar 02 '16 at 22:02

Dave

1

5

This is wrong - the score card says 45*5 to indicate the number of trains (45) and the number of players (5); there are 225 train pieces in the game. Building all your trains in a path will get you 10 points for the longest route. – Samthere Mar 03 '16 at 10:12

What is the maximum score in Ticket to Ride USA, and how to aim towards it?

8 Answers8