This follows the principles of the basic Ticket to Ride game on a special board with special cards and rules. The object of the game is to gain the most points by travelling various routes and outwitting other players. You will need the train pieces and the train cards from either the US or Europe base games (or you can buy them from the Days of Wonder shop. There is an extra set of Tourist cards for the cities, each with a value to be earned by visiting that city. These cards are dealt/picked up alongwith tickets in the same quantity and with the same 'keep/dispose' rules. There are also spanners along some tracks which may help or hinder you. The board does not have any grey tracks or parallel tracks - but there are some options in the spanner pack. You can ride the bullet train for extra points. There are many new options in the rules: exchange all your cards at the start but keep all the new ones: discard 5 cards and pick up 5 new ones, as your turn: earn extra points: and many more. You can also call time when your wagon stock reaches 3, if you want, giving you the advantage of stopping other players completing tickets.