Players: 2 - 5 Ages: 10+ Game Time: 30 to 60 mins
Summary
Share the joy of world travel with this enchanting traveling-the-world-inspired game. Rollover Phileas Fogg!
It's the world travel game your friends and family will instantly love!
Trekking The World is a board game that helps you share your greatest memories and dreams of travel. Inspire your family and friends to explore the world with this remarkable and intelligently thought-out game. It is designed by John and Terry Binkele, of Underdog Games, who caught the travel bug after hitting retirement and fulfilling their dream of visiting every major national park in the U.S.
Gameplay
The creators' U.S. adventure spawned the creation of their game Trekking the National Parks and Trekking The World is based on that award-winning gameplay.
The game is reminiscent of the Ticket To Ride franchise of Days of Wonder as it shares very similar concepts in that you must discard cards in your hand to travel around. You collect the cards from the draw deck and exchange them to travel around the world to gather Souvenirs (cubes) that are randomly determined at the start of the game. You collect the Souvenirs in your briefcase. Collect enough of each category to score points, but it doesn't just end there - if you collect all the Souvenirs from a whole region you can also claim the region bonus.
Where it differs from the classic Ticket To Ride games is that you can also score additional points by visiting destinations around the world and collecting location cards.
This is not easy as this also requires discarding cards to travel around, so you need to plan ahead and figure out where you are going. This is aided by airports at key locations around the board.
These location cards score you BIG points and are not easy to complete as you need to travel to the location to claim it as well as having the resources in hand to claim it. This can be aided by using the Journey cards (random each time you play, multiple types, and only two in play per game), so you never know what abilities you'll have for that game!
Production
The production quality for this game is probably the best I have seen in a while. It even has a custom game tray from Game Trayz included in the game box. It even allows space for sleeved cards, which seems to be a rarity amongst in-game box designs nowadays. The game board and overall artwork is what I would expect from a game about travelling around the world. I do not know how they could improve the look and feel of this game. If I was to be picky and really nit pick... I can't do it... I really can't do it... this game is stunning!
Conclusion
The gameplay is great, yes it may borrow a mechanic off Ticket to Ride but this is BETTER than Ticket to Ride! Which says something considering how much I like that franchise! It's replayable and has variations from game to game. It's easy to teach and can be played in under an hour (allow an extra 5 mins to explain rules to someone new).
A fantastic game. Perfect for introducing new gamers to the modern board game, with easy to teach rules and quick gameplay. This is a new gateway game for newbies, and something to replace Ticket to Ride if you're getting bored of it!
Mr Chris Founder