What an absolute bust of a game. Pointless, no thought involved and for the most part an absolute waste of time…But before my blood boils too much let me take a step back and tell you why I feel this way. TransAmerica was published in 2001 and designed by someone who put out two of my favorite games: Hellas and Big City (I refuse to type his name here because once this is done I’m going to try to forget that he put this paperweight out). How after designing two wonderful games he let this shit get by is beyond me.

I picked this game up after hearing some good feedback on it and right about the time the Ticket to Ride fad was starting to die down, and during that time I was looking for more trains. Everything about this game is simple, which typically is not a negative trait (for example see my cohort’s review of Thaxx) but here the game is so simple that it ceases to produce any challenges, entice any thought provoking situations or produce any fun. At least with Thaxx you have that brief moment of suspense as you roll the dice…Here there is no suspense.

Players play on a board that shows the US with a bunch of cities called out. Overlaid is a triangular grid showing where rail lines can be placed. To start the game players draw five cities at random (the cities are grouped into regions - five of them - and each player draws one city from each region) and those are the cites you are trying to connect together to end the round and score points. On a player’s turn they can place one or two tracks (with bridges or mountain ranges - called out on the map - costing two to place one track piece). And that is it. That is the game.

Oh wait; I forgot the “twist”. The twist to this game is you can hijack other people’s rail lines. For example if you build into another player’s rail line, then you can use their rail lines to build further and connect to your target cities. So everywhere that they have gone, you’re able to go. Of course on the flip side they are able to use your rails as well. After all five cities are connected then each player that has not connected their cities loses points depending on how many segments they fell short with.

For me, this game will forever sit in my pile of “man I wish I had my money back on this one” pile. I can’t even recommend this game to play with non-gamers (and I’ve tried) because it is just “so damn boring” (my non-gaming buddies quote, not mine). There is no conflict and no tension (because you don’t know what cities your opponent is trying to connect to) so it amounts to placing a bunch little wooden sticks onto a board and the winner for the round, more often than not, is whoever happens to draw cities that have the least amount of track to connect.

Now I know this one is a bit shorter than my typically ramblings/reviews, but that is because there is nothing to this game. There is no tactical thinking, strategy or conflict. Perhaps, just maybe, this would be a good game for a parent looking to entertain some younger kinds for some time. The concept and game play is simple enough, but the theme is just lacking. Outside of the wooden scoring trains there are virtually no other clues to indicate you’re playing a train game. The same game could be played using the interstate, power network, sewage system or any other logistical system and it wouldn’t improve or make worse the game in any case…Well perhaps a wood piece of fecies for a scoring token could add a point in my book, but overall I cannot recommend this game even as a family/children’s type game because the theme and game play is dry and there are other games out there that would serve better than this game.

Rating: 1.25 out of 5

‘Til Next Time – Happy Gaming
LvT

Filed under: Games - Board Games, Transamerica by LordVonTush
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