Game Review: TransAmerica

TransAmerica - Rio Grande Games
2-6 players; ages 8+
30 minutes to play
~$30

TransAmerica is a railroad building game where players work to connect their five U.S. cities through the quickly expanding network of train tracks. The game rules are elegantly simple, making the game not only easy to learn, but allows new players to be competitive on their first game.

The game takes place over several game rounds. In each round players are randomly dealt five cities, one from each major area of the game board, which they must connect to their main hub before the other players are able to connect theirs. On each game turn a player simply adds two tracks to their network to get closer to their goal. As networks connect and then build off each other, the game round comes to a quick but intense finish. The players then score points (or rather, lose points based on how far from reaching their goal they were), the board is cleared, and a new round is started. Game play continues until one player "goes bust", and the player who managed to lose the least points is the winner.

With it's easy game mechanics, short play time, and the interesting blend of competitive and cooperative elements TransAmerica is easily a must have for any game collection. It ranks in my top 5 games that bridge the gap between non-gamers and euro board games. I have yet to play the game with anyone (gamer or non-gamer alike) that has given it anything but a thumbs up; quite often we end up playing several games in a row.

There is also a TransEuropa version that lets you make connections throughout Europe.

Note: Originally published by Rio Grande Games, this is currently listed as out of print on their site. I think it may currently be published by Winning Move Games and/or Immortal Eyes Games. Either way, it is available at your local specialist gaming store and even comes packaged with a neat game expansion.