Generally, I do a lot of board gaming. My hobby, though, comprises a subset of board gaming and is often referred to by other names (German-style, Euro, Family, and more.) The folks at my meetups would not be likely to play Monopoly, Life, or even Scrabble. Probably the best selling game in this subset hobby - and the most famous - is The Settlers of Catan. If you haven’t heard of that game, you probably don’t know many of the games in the subset hobby I am talking about.
The hobby features a wide range of game styles, mechanics, time-length, number of features, etc. Many don’t actually use a board! The game I consider to be the best entry game to the hobby for new players is called Ticket to Ride, designed by Alan Moon and published by Days of Wonder.
In the hobby, the term ‘train game’ has a meaning(s) that is unimportant here other than to note that train games have a theme of railroads. Ticket to Ride looks like a train game. Don’t let that scare you! TtR is actually a Rummy game, which is a term I use to indicate the mechanic of Set Collection. In a Rummy card game, you might try to collect a bunch of the Queens. In TtR, you will be collecting cards that feature differently colored railroad cars. At times of your choosing, you will ‘spend’ a part of your collection to claim potential railroad routes on a board.
I quite successfully taught my seven year old nephew, so young people are fine. My mid-70s mother and stepfather play, so older people are fine. This game does get played at my meetup, so those types are fine. The rules are easy to understand. The base game should take 60-90 minutes.
Why do I mention all of this? Because many of the publishers in my hobby have online versions available. Here is the Days of Wonder online page for Ticket to Ride. Everyone would have to download the application to their own device but it is supported on many types.
Also, there are many sequel versions or expansions. These usually feature an additional rule or two (to mix it up or to be thematic) and a different geographical board. Most of these other versions are also available at that website (in the lower right.) The original starter board with the fewest rules is the USA board featured in the main game.
My groups think the Europe board is ‘fairer’ but it does come with 2-3 extra rules. One of them, the station houses, is a nice rule that makes it hard to totally screw over someone based on board position. This fairer board and the station houses might make a beginner game more fun.
