Pandemic Legacy turned a lot of heads when it came out in 2015, not least the head of Alan R. Moon. His award-winning game Ticket to drive, Launched in 2004, it quickly became one of the hobby’s vanguard titles, widely touted as a gateway to the beautiful (if once slightly intimidating) world of modern board games. Why don’t you build an outdated version of Ticket to drive? Soon his phone started ringing.
“I’ve had some other offers from people over the years,” Moon told Polygon in a recent interview. “’We would a Ticket to drive old game!’ Well, you know, maybe. But I am not sure you would be who I would choose. Why not go with the two main guys? […] That was really the first step for me.”
The “two main guys” are, of course, award-winning game designers themselves – Rob Daviau, creator of the legacy genre of board games, and Matt Leacock, creator of Pandemic. Finally, in 2016, Moon got everyone on the same email thread. Together, the trio of Spiel des Jahres winners emerged Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West.
Image: Days of Wonder/Asmodee
“Matt and I only spoke once,” Daviau recalls, trying to piece together the making of a game that stretches well before the COVID-19 lockdowns. “I’m like, ‘We’re doing this, right?’ And he said, “How are we not doing this? There’s no reason not to do this.” It was an immediate ‘yes’.”
The reason that Ticket to drive has earned such a global following – with dozens of variants, expansions, and even collectible editions of the now two-decade-old game – is because of its simplicity. Players draw cards from a shared pool, then use the cards they’ve collected to play matching cards to the table. Once played, those cards are permanently transformed into train lines that criss-cross the map.
But there is also a strategic layer to the game. Players score the most points by securing rail lines between certain cities on the map; and blocking other players’ routes is all part of the fun. That competitive aspect adds a delightful layer on top of an already easy-to-understand product, and it all but ensures that even the younger or less experienced players at the table will be on an equal footing from start to finish.
It turned out to be a bit of a challenge to add another layer to that gameplay.
“In my arrogance,” Moon said candidly, “I thought, ‘I can do this on my own.’ I’m so glad I didn’t try that because then I would have been really frustrated.”
A legacy style game changes every time you play it. In the first game in the genre, Risk legacy, those changes included new new powers and abilities added to each faction. In Pandemic Legacy, that meant wounds and scars that would be inflicted on the various characters from game to game, limiting their abilities or making them so vulnerable that they could be permanently knocked out of the game. By collaborating on the legacy version of Ticket to driveDaviau and Leacock have racked their brains for a long time, trying to find the right way to express the legacy formula within Moon’s iconic design.
“Some of the great things about it Ticket to drive being, it’s really accessible,” Leacock said. “There is a lot of tension in it. […] We didn’t want to mess with all that stuff. At its core, it had to feel like you’re playing a game Ticket to drive game plus.”
“We [still] wanted to poke and poke a little bit of the core system,” Daviau added.
“That’s one of the great things about designing a legacy game on an existing title,” Leacock concluded. “Players who have already played games in that line can slide in and feel comfortable.”
Eventually, they settled on the idea that the game would eschew harsh historical themes and instead become an exploration of tall tales and fables.
“When we look at trains, you’re looking at the 19th century,” Daviau said. “I don’t think Instagram originated in the 19th century, but the world certainly wasn’t instant [in terms of news delivery]. Things happen there that just came through – and things always seemed a little larger than life. By the time you get there and see what’s there, it may not match what you’ve heard. So it’s fables, and stories, and fireside conversations [on the frontier] in Oklahoma or Texas.”
Since legacy games are known for having huge spoilers, the trio is still coy about what’s in the box, but we can still get the most basic details about it. Legends of the West Today. Players take on the role of 19th century pioneers, taking on challenges and unlocking new frontiers – and rules – as they go. It’s a competitive game, not a cooperative game like Pandemic. The game supports a total of two to five players and features a lot of plastic train cars, as well as event cards and newspaper clippings. Then there’s Moon’s favorite part: an overarching story that connects all 12 20- to 90-minute episodes.
“I think Rob really came through and wrote a great story for the game,” said Moon. “That really became our focus, […] and thus the changes and the additions [to the game] were in that story.”
In addition, diehard fans of the Ticket To Ride franchise – of which there are more than a few, Moon Notes – will also have plenty of new content to enjoy.
“We didn’t just take the existing extensions and cut them and dice them and put them in [in the box]’ David said. “It’s new material.”
Expect to hear more about it Ticket to Ride: Legends of the West as we get closer to the November 3 release date. The final product costs $119.99 and is available direct from Asmodee and your friendly local game store.