The 213th good thing about Lagos: Ticket to Ride Tuesdays

I really like playing games. I grew up in a family that played games frequently and it's something I enjoy, not because I care much about winning, but, for me, it's a fun way to interact with others. The sleeper hit of our Christmas this past year was a card game called "Dutch Blitz." My brother and his family introduced it to me when we were gathering for my niece's wedding this past summer and I thought I might be something my married kids would enjoy, so I ordered each of them a couple of sets of cards (if you mark the cards differently, more people can play). It became the favorite game of the holiday season -- on New Year's Eve, we had 11 people playing in one game, which was kind of crazy.

But, alas, I don't very often have my game-playing children around to entertain me. My husband doesn't much care about games. Every once in a while he'll succumb to playing a game to appease me, but he doesn't make time for it very often. I'm grateful for neighbors and nights in Lagos where there's not a lot of activity options. Last year a tradition was started with the Allens, my upstairs neighbors and other area friends and sometime neighbors, the Gibbs, to play Ticket to Ride on Tuesday evenings.

We got kind of obsessed with Ticket to Ride which is a "cross-country train adventure" (says their website) where players play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities. Players receive destination tickets with cities they aim to connect with their trains. It's a race to see who can connect destinations and claim routes before others take the best route between destinations. We play the US version most often, but we sometimes play a Europe version which has a few different elements -- tunnels and ferries -- and the company has other versions with different maps as well. The game is kind of expensive, but maybe as it gets more popular, the price will go down. (And I really think that with this free advertising I'm giving them, they should probably send me a free copy of one of their other game versions. Note to Days of Wonder promotional department: don't send it to Lagos -- my Houston address will be provided upon request....)

I don't know how often Ticket to Ride Tuesdays will happen this year -- Josie has returned to the States to live and the Gibbs may not be in Lagos as often. But we had a game night this past Tuesday and, without the other women around as competition, I beat the guys and set a new personal best record. (Yes, we're obsessed enough to keep a record sheet with high and low scores...) Not that I care about winning or anything, but just to say....

My daughter in Boston, who also enjoys games and doesn't always have a grown-up around to play with her, will sometimes play Ticket to Ride online with me. We link up on Skype and talk while we play (my son who was in another state actually also played with us once -- it was fun!) and it's almost like joining around the family table for a game after dinner. I'm grateful for the internet, which makes distance board-gaming possible!