Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

User:Spritemaster

2026-02-14T21:03:41Z

Spritemaster:

UK based board gamer, both online and IRL.

I occasionally write documentation in English for various platforms. On BGA, this includes:

[[Gamehelptickettoridemaps|Ticket To Ride Maps]]

[[Gamehelppickomino|Pickomino]]

My philosophy is that some documentation is better than none. My writing may contain errors or omissions, in which case please embrace the spirit of the Wiki and contribute!

Gamehelppickomino

2026-02-14T20:13:02Z

Spritemaster: Clarified wording

== Pickomino ==

=== Introduction ===
This is a dice drafting and tile collecting game with "push your luck" elements.

The BGA game is based on the 40th anniversary edition, in which players are meerkats competing to gather tasty bugs.

The original version, often known by it's other name of Heck Meck, saw players competing as chickens to gather tasty worms. The game pieces look slightly different, but the rules are the same.

=== Aim ===
The aim is to gather more bugs than your opponents. You do this by using a combination of dice rolls to either win tiles from the playing area, or steal tiles from other players.

=== Game play ===
1. Roll the dice. Choose one value. All the dice with that value are moved and put in a line at the bottom of the board.

* For example, if you rolled some 3s, you could choose them and they would all be added to the line.

2. Once you've added dice to the line, you can re-roll the remaining dice. However, you cannot choose any dice value that is already in the line.

* For example, you might roll a 3 and decide to add it to the line. If you now re-roll the remaining dice and get another 3, you cannot use it.

3. Your score so far is shown on the right hand side of the line. This is calculated as a total of all the dice, plus 5 points for each paw print.

4. To win a tile, you must have at least 1 paw print in your line by the end of the turn.

5. Continue re-rolling dice until either:

* you are happy with your current score, or
* there are no more dice to roll, or
* you can't add any more dice to your line.

You can now do the end of turn actions.

=== End of turn actions ===
If you have a paw print in your line, you may now choose a tile from those available. If a tile exactly matches your score for this turn, you must take it, even if it is in another player's hand. Doing this steals points from your opponent. Otherwise, you may take a tile that is worth less than your score from the playing area.

Your new tile is placed on top of any existing tiles you have already collected. This protects the existing tiles, as your opponents can only steal the top-most tile.

If you have not scored enough to collect a tile, or you do not have a paw print, you will not be able to collect a tile. In this case, you lose the top-most tile from your hand, which is returned into play on the game board (if you don't have any tiles, there is no penalty). Next, the highest value tile on the game board is turned over and removed from play for the rest of the game.

Play now passes clockwise to the next player.

=== End of game ===
The game ends when there are no more tiles available on the game board.

Final scores are calculated by the number of bugs shown on each tile (not the tile value). The player with the most bugs is the winner.

=== Hints ===

* Remember that you need to add at least one paw print to your line, on each turn
* To get higher value tiles, you could hold out for more than one paw print to boost your score, but you run the risk of getting none
* Lower value tiles are easier to win, but also easier for opponents to steal
* Remember that the final score is based on the number of bugs on the tile, not the value of the tile

User:Spritemaster

2026-02-07T22:27:46Z

Spritemaster: First version

Gamehelppickomino

2026-02-07T22:20:10Z

Spritemaster: First version

== Pickomino ==

=== Introduction ===
This is a dice drafting and tile collecting game with "push your luck" elements.

The BGA game is based on the 40th anniversary edition, in which players are meerkats competing to gather tasty bugs.

The original version, often known by it's other name of Heck Meck, saw players competing as chickens to gather tasty worms. The game pieces look slightly different, but the rules are the same.

=== Aim ===
The aim is to gather more bugs than your opponents. You do this by using a combination of dice rolls to either win tiles from the playing area, or steal tiles from other players.

=== Game play ===
1. Roll the dice. Choose one value. All the dice with that value are moved and put in a line at the bottom of the board.

* For example, if you rolled some 3s, you could choose them and they would all be added to the line.

2. Once you've added dice to the line, you can re-roll the remaining dice. However, you cannot choose any dice value that is already in the line.

* For example, you might roll a 3 and decide to add it to the line. If you now re-roll the remaining dice and get another 3, you cannot use it.

3. Your score so far is shown on the right hand side of the line. This is calculated as a total of all the dice, plus 5 points for each paw print.

4. To win a tile, you must have at least 1 paw print in your line by the end of the round.

5. Continue re-rolling dice until either:

* you are happy with your current score, or
* there are no more dice to roll, or
* you can't add any more dice to your line.

Your round now ends.

=== End of round ===
If you have a paw print in your line, you may now choose a tile from those available. If a tile exactly matches your score for this round, you must take it, even if it is in another player's hand. Doing this steals points from your opponent. Otherwise, you may take a tile that is worth less than your score from the playing area.

Your new tile is placed on top of any existing tiles you have already collected. This protects the existing tiles, as your opponents can only steal the top-most tile.

If you have not scored enough to collect a tile, or you do not have a paw print, you will not be able to collect a tile. In this case, you lose the top-most tile from your hand, which is returned into play on the game board (if you don't have any tiles, there is no penalty). Next, the highest value tile on the game board is turned over and removed from play for the rest of the game.

Play now passes clockwise to the next player.

=== End of game ===
The game ends when there are no more tiles available on the game board.

Final scores are calculated by the number of bugs shown on each tile (not the tile value). The player with the most bugs is the winner.

=== Hints ===

* Remember that you need to add at least one paw print to your line, on each round
* To get higher value tiles, you could hold out for more than one paw print to boost your score, but you run the risk of getting none
* Lower value tiles are easier to win, but also easier for opponents to steal
* Remember that the final score is based on the number of bugs on the tile, not the value of the tile

Gamehelptickettoridemaps

2025-12-13T22:08:23Z

Spritemaster: Added Switzerland rules, added an intro, re-formatted India rules for readability (paragraphs and heading styles), and removed gender-specific pronouns.

==='''Summary'''===
Some of the maps have additional rules or different strategies, compared with the original USA version of Ticket to Ride. This gives lots of different variation. Some of these maps were released as separate games in their own right, while others were expansions.

The information below shows the differences for each map, assuming the player is already familiar with the USA version.

==='''India'''===

====Introduction====
The map of India is designed specifically for 2 to 4 players. In 4 Player games only, players can use both tracks of the double-routes. In 2 and 3 Player games, once one of the tracks of a double-route is taken, the other one is no longer available.

==== Destination Tickets====
This expansion includes 58 Destination Tickets.

At the start of the game, each player is dealt 4 Destination Tickets of which they must keep at least 2. During the game, if a player wishes to draw additional Destination Tickets, they draw 3 new Tickets, of which they must keep at least 1.

Destination Tickets not kept, either at game’s start or following a draw of new Destination Tickets in mid-game, are discarded to the bottom of Destination Tickets deck, as in a regular Ticket to Ride game.

====Ferries====
Ferries are special gray routes linking two adjacent cities across a body of water. They are easily identified by the Locomotive icon(s) featured on at least one of the spaces making up the route.

To claim a Ferry route, a player must play a Locomotive card for each Locomotive symbol on the route, and the usual set of cards of the proper color for the remaining spaces of that Ferry route.

====End Game Bonuses====
A 10 point Indian Express bonus is awarded to the player(s) who have the Longest Continuous Path on the board.

Each player may also earn Grand Tour of India bonuses. Any Ticket whose 2 Destination Cities are linked via at least 2 distinct continuous paths of its owner’s plastic trains qualifies for a Grand Tour bonus. These 2 paths may intersect, but cannot share trains.

The size of a player’s bonus varies depending on the number of his qualifying Tickets, as per the Mandala (“Circle” in Sanskrit) bonus table shown on the Map. A player’s first and second qualifying Tickets are worth +5 points each, with the next three worth +10 each. Any qualifying Tickets beyond the fifth one earn no additional points (i.e. the largest bonus a player can receive for his Grand Tour tickets is 40 points).

These bonuses are scored in addition to the points earned for completing the Tickets themselves, of course.

==== Game Play Hints ====
Reflecting a country that is both densely populated and colorful, the India map rewards players for claiming key routes early (to avoid being crowded out) and for being careful about which colors they draw.

The Grand Tour bonuses can be used opportunistically or as part of a dedicated strategy.

Bear in mind that:

*The greater the number of qualifying Tickets, the larger the bonus at game end, regardless the length and point value of the individual Tickets
*The last route allowing you to complete a Grand Tour is the most likely to be blocked by an opponent. Try to make sure that you have alternatives for the last route or that it is difficult for your opponent(s) to build on (or both).

==='''Switzerland'''===

====Destination tickets====
At the start of the game, each player is dealt 5 destination tickets, of which they must keep at least 2.

Destination cards that are discarded (including those drawn later in the game) are removed from play. As such, it's possible to run out of destination tickets entirely!

====Countries====
12 of the destination tickets involve countries, which are completed as follows:

* for tickets between a city and a country, the player must connect from the named city in the centre of the card, to one of the countries shown.
* for tickets between two countries, the player must connect from the primary country to one of the other countries shown. The arrows on the card show which is the primary country.

The player can complete more than one of the routes on each card, however, only the highest scoring route counts at the end of the game. For example, if you complete a route from Bern to Italia (8 points) and also Bern to France (5 points) using the same ticket, you will only score 8 points (not 13).

====Locomotive cards====
Locomotives are only used with tunnels. They cannot be used on normal routes.

Because of this, they can be picked up like normal train car cards (i.e. a player can pick up 2 locomotives during 1 turn). However, if 3 of the face-up cards are locomotive cards, all the face-up cards are replaced as in the original game.

====Tunnels====
Tunnels work in the same way as in Ticket to Ride Europe, including the use of locomotives as wildcards. In brief:

Tunnels are identified by the black spiky marking around each of the spaces on the route. The player first needs to lay down the number of cards required. Next 3 cards are drawn from the face-down train car deck. If one or more of the drawn cards matches the colour of the route being claimed, then the player must use the same number of extra cards of that colour (or locomotives) to claim that route. If the player does not have enough cards, they can withdraw their claim, return their cards to their hand, and the cards that were drawn are discarded.

If the player claims a tunnel route using only locomotive cards, then only locomotives drawn from the deck are considered a match, regardless of the colour shown on the board. But also, the extra cards required from the player's hand must also be locomotive cards.