En Route

Players: 1–4 players
Play time: 20–40 min
BGG rating: 7.4

People love traveling. We want to meet new cultures, see famed landmarks with our own eyes and taste the world cuisine. One of the most pleasant ways to explore a new city is just going for a walk. But how to chart a tour route that satisfies everyone? There’s an answer! En Route is a flip-and-write game in which you create tour routes to the most interesting landmarks of the real-world cities (London, New York City, Hong Kong, Paris, Cairo, and Rio de Janeiro) and the made-up First City packed full of geek references. Every city features basic and specific mechanisms, so all of them play and feel differently. Cards are not flipped randomly — instead, an active player plays one card face up, and two players next to them secretly choose one card each. Then, an active player selects one of the two and discards the other. After that, all players use coordinates and other information from the two cards left on the table to draw their tourists and routes. During the game, route segments are drawn, connecting different types of tourists to various landmarks and attractions. A game of En Route lasts exactly 10 rounds. At the end of the game, each place of interest on the final route will earn players Prestige Points according to its rules. Whoever creates the most satisfying tour route, wins! The game features constant and quite intense player interaction, and players have a fair degree of control and can strategize. It plays fast, dynamic, and makes you constantly think about what your opponents want to do (and sometimes even negotiate so that they play cards that are beneficial to you!).