Played for you

Continental Express

assemble a train from cars

Each player tries to assemble a valuable train. You are given two randomly assigned Contract cards and choose one of them; it is also the engine of your train. 82 small cards are made up from car cards, two events, 12 money cards and 10 character cards; those cards are shuffled together, split into three stacks and three cards from each stack are placed in a 3x3 grid, open-faced.

The active player must take a card from this grid - a card taken from the front column is free, a card from the 2^nd column costs one money card and a card from the 3^rd column costs two money cards. Character cards are implemented instantly - The Investor gives you a free card, the Pickpocket steals all money from another player, the Switchman exchanges one of your car cards for that from another player and the Director lets you take a Company token of your choice. Then you may complete one of the three target cards on display you take the target card for your train and discard the necessary small cards from your collection. Contracts are met by symbols on small cards in your collection and company markers gained with character cards. When someone has collected four target cards, you win at the end of the round with most victory points from completed target cards, your completed contract and one point for every money card you own.

Somehow, this game reminds me of Ticket to Ride - taking cards, swap them for target card instead of track, meet a contract instead of certain track cards, and so on. All in all a rather mediocre game, albeit in an extremely attractive tin; nice for beginners or very casual players or for your holiday, if you want to relax only.

Players: 2-4

Age: 7+

Time: 20+

Designer: Charles Chevallier

Artist: Gaël Lannurien

Price: ca. 15 Euro

Publisher: Bombyx / Asmodee 2014

Web: www.asmodee.de

Genre: Collecting, exchanging

Users: For families

Version: de

Rules: de en fr

In-game text: no

Comments:

Very attractively packed in a tin

Rather dark graphics o small cards

Good rules

Good for beginners

Compares to:

All “take A, then swap A for B to collect points” games

Other editions:

French and English editions

Chance (pink): 1

Tactic (turquoise): 2

Strategy (blue): 2

Creativity (dark blue): 0

Knowledge (yellow): 0

Memory (orange): 0

Communication (red): 0

Interaction (brown): 2

Dexterity (green): 0

Action (dark green): 0