Alexa, Amazon’s virtual voice assistant, does have the ability to play the popular board game Ticket to Ride through voice commands. Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game where players collect cards of various types of train cars and claim railway routes across North America. The Alexa app allows you to launch the Ticket to Ride skill and start a game session hands-free using just your voice.
What is Ticket to Ride?
Ticket to Ride is a popular train-themed board game designed by Alan R. Moon and published by Days of Wonder. The game was released in 2004 and has won several awards, including the Spiel des Jahres and the Origins Award for Board Game of the Year. The premise of Ticket to Ride is that players take on the role of railroad tycoons in the early 1900s racing to build rail routes across North America.
The aim of the game is to complete Destination Tickets, which are routes between two cities on the map. To complete routes, players need to collect resources in the form of colored Train Car cards. These cards allow you to claim routes on the board by placing plastic trains on the routes, connecting cities together. Whoever has claimed the most rail routes and completed the most Destination Tickets wins the game.
Ticket to Ride supports 2-5 players and takes 30-60 minutes to play. It combines route building, set collection, and hand management mechanics. The game is easy to learn but offers lots of depth, which has contributed to its widespread popularity over the past two decades.
Key Features of Ticket To Ride
- Collect Train Car cards in various colors to claim railway routes connecting cities
- Complete Destination Tickets to score points by connecting two distant cities together
- Block other players by claiming routes they need to complete their Destination Tickets
- Straightforward rules that are easy for beginners to pick up
- Gorgeous and engaging train-themed map of North America to play on
- Support for 2-5 players with accessible gameplay for all ages
How to Use Alexa to Play Ticket to Ride
The official Ticket to Ride game does not integrate directly with Alexa. However, there is a third-party Alexa skill called “Ticket to Ride Voice” that allows you to play the game completely hands-free using only your voice.
Here are the steps to get started playing Ticket to Ride using Alexa commands:
- Enable the “Ticket to Ride Voice” skill in your Alexa app or by saying “Alexa, enable Ticket to Ride Voice.”
- In your Alexa app, go to Skills & Games > Your Skills and select Ticket to Ride Voice. Grant permission for the skill to access your information.
- Go back to the Alexa app home screen and say “Alexa, open Ticket to Ride.” Alexa will launch the skill.
- When prompted, say the number of players in your game (2-5). Alexa will deal hands of cards to each player.
Once the game has started, you can make the following voice commands:
- “Alexa, ask Ticket to Ride for my cards” – Alexa will read your cards out loud
- “Alexa, ask Ticket to Ride to play a red card to New York” – Play cards and claim routes
- “Alexa, ask Ticket to Ride for the board” – Get a summary of the current state of the board
- “Alexa, ask Ticket to Ride to draw” – Draw additional cards from the deck
The skill will prompt you for any additional input when needed. You can continue playing a complete game of Ticket to Ride just through Alexa voice commands! It handles the card draws, gameplay, and scoring for you.
Tips for Playing Ticket To Ride with Alexa
Here are some tips to enhance your experience playing Ticket to Ride using Alexa voice controls:
- Have the Ticket to Ride board easily visible – While Alexa will describe the state of the board, being able to quickly glance at the board after each turn is helpful.
- Use headphones – This allows you to hear Alexa’s instructions and card reads clearly without disturbing others around you.
- Speak clearly and follow prompts – Carefully listen to Alexa’s responses and follow any instructions to keep gameplay smooth.
- Verify cards after drawing – Double check the cards Alexa says you drew to ensure accuracy.
- Confirm moves – Request the board summary after playing cards to verify Alexa made your moves correctly.
Limitations of Alexa Ticket To Ride
While the Alexa skill provides a hands-free way to play Ticket to Ride, there are some limitations to keep in mind:
- No ability to play online multiplayer – You can only play single-player or pass-and-play locally against human opponents.
- Basic visuals – Alexa will describe the state of the board but lacks the vibrant visuals of the physical game.
- Set-up required – You still need the physical game to set up the board, trains, and cards.
- No expansions – Only the original North America base game is supported.
- Speech recognition issues – Alexa may mishear more complex card plays.
- Lacks tactile satisfaction – Some enjoyment is lost not physically handling game components and cards.
While Alexa provides a hands-free way to enjoy Ticket to Ride, playing with the actual physical components offers a more dynamic visual and tactile experience. Alexa is best used as an accessible supplement for when you can’t easily access the physical game.
Future Improvements
Here are some ways a voice-controlled version of Ticket to Ride could be enhanced in the future:
- Official integration by the publisher with animated visuals displayed on Alexa devices like the Echo Show.
- Online multiplayer support to allow matchmaking and playing with others hands-free.
- Expansion and variant support to allow playing different maps like Europe.
- Deeper speech recognition training to improve command inputs.
- Virtual reality integration for a more immersive hands-free experience.
- Customizable avatars, trains, and scenery to increase visual appeal.
As voice technology and AI capabilities continue improving, we may see official adaptations like these emerge that increase accessibility while preserving more of the physical game experience.
Other Popular Board Games on Alexa
In addition to Ticket to Ride, there are voice apps available to play many other classic board games completely hands-free using Alexa commands:
Alexa Board Games Skill
This third-party skill supports popular games like:
- Settlers of Catan
- Carcassonne
- Pandemic
- 7 Wonders
Codenames
Gives Alexa the ability to run a voice-controlled version of the popular word association party game Codenames.
Battleship
The classic battleship board game can be played hands-free against Alexa or another local player.
Chess
Challenge Alexa to a game of chess. She can serve as an opponent or judge for games against human players.
So if you enjoy board games and own an Alexa device, be sure to explore these skills that allow you to play many popular titles completely hands-free with just your voice!
Conclusion
While Alexa does not directly integrate with the official Ticket to Ride game, the third-party “Ticket to Ride Voice” skill provides a way to play a full game hands-free using only voice commands. Though Alexa lacks the deeper visual and tactile satisfaction of the physical experience, it can serve as a supplemental way to enjoy Ticket to Ride accessibility when unable to access the actual components. As voice technology improves, we may see even richer adaptations emerge that capture more of the physical game dynamics. For now, Alexa provides a basic voice-controlled version that enables you to experience the joy of collecting cards, claiming routes, and connecting cities across North America all through the power of speech.