Ticket to Ride: Alvin & Dexter
Meet Alvin & Dexter - two detailed monster figures that bring their own special brand of chaos to cities across the Ticket to Ride landscape. Alvin (the Alien) and Dexter (the Dinosaur) are two wacky characters ready to help you stomp opponents and zap tickets in this fun expansion. But don't take them too lightly; they also introduce a devious new tactical layer to the game.
The last two players to start get to place the monsters in different cities on any Ticket to Ride map. It doesn't matter which map - Alvin and Dexter are just as adept at rampaging through London, Zurich or Stockholm as they are in New York or San Francisco. Once a monster moves in, it's now a City in Chaos - no one can build a new route into or out of that city until the monster moves on!
User Reviews (7)
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- Themes
Aliens, Monsters, Trains - Mechanics
Dice Rolling, Route/Network Building - Gamer Types
Avid Gamer, Casual Gamer, Family Gamer, Power Gamer, Social Gamer, Strategy Gamer - Designers
Alan R. Moon - Game Families
Ticket to Ride - Official Game Site
🔍 Ticket to Ride: Alvin & Dexter - Rulebook
🔍 See official rulebook - Price (MSRP)
$13
Who wouldn’t want an awesome dinosuar figure and a nice illustration of an alien spacship blowin’ up some trains?
C’mon don’t be a cheapskate.
This expansion only coasts $8-$11 and is nicely sculpted and designed.
The mechanic works well and it a fun concept.
However, to be honest you don’t need to buy the expansion (well I guess that wouldn’t be honest but you know what I mean). You can easily find the rules online and use your own substitue figures to create your own makeshift Alvin & Dexter Expansion, there’s not much too it.
How it Works:
You spend your wild cards to move Alvin and Dexter around the map. They cause the city to be in chaos so players cannot build out of that station. Also, if at the end of the game one the monsters is in one of your destinations or starting points you get half the points for that route.
There is also a bonus given to the persons who used the monsters the most.
whatawhale
A simple expansion that can be played with any version of TTR. Its simplicity is both in play and price as it is easily on the cheap. However, as Whatale shared, it can be recreated for free really.
PLAY:
These two tormentors are rampaging through different cities preventing you from entering. You pay a wild locomotive and you can move them up the three cities away. (Or two wilds for six cities) In addition to preventing you from entering a city, if they are on one of your destination at the end of the game that destination ticket is worth half the points. The person to move each tormentor the most at the end of the game get 15pts bonus.
THE PROS:
– It does add a bit more trying to figure out how you are going to slow someone down or hurt them. It adds a little “Take that!” in addition to taking someone’s much needed route.
– It is pretty inexpensive and works with any other TTR.
– The pieces, while not painted, are pretty nice.
– You can move the pieces in addition to your turn, a nice addition to something to do.
THE CONS:
– I feel like +15pt bonus for having the most moves is a bit much. Moving Dexter twice won you 15pts in our game, the same as going across the country.
– I don’t care for working the whole game to get from LA to NY only to have those pts. halved by one of these fellas. This is a big con for me. Especially if there are multiple routes out of that city.
OVERALL:
While I did win with this expansion in play, I did enjoy their play as much as I hoped. It did up the interaction a little, but I felt bad for playing them on someone’s route they worked the whole game for. I’ll give a few more tries, it was nice to add a little spice to a game I play a lot as an introduction, but right now its not getting a high score.
The Alvin & Dexter Monster Expansion is a small expansion for Ticket to Ride that includes 2 plastic figures (Alvin the Alien and Dexter the Dinosaur), a rule book, and some cards. This expansion creates a new level of interaction to a game that really didn’t have much interaction other than “blocking” other players’ routes through luck or intuition
How to Play…
After you have selected Destination Tickets, two players stick Alvin and Dexter on a city of their choice. Now, you cannot build a route in or out of the city Alvin or Dexter are sitting on… as they are “Cities in Chaos.” This, of course, can immediately change your route plans.
The problem won’t exist forever, because in the next round you may be able to play a Locomotive card and move Alvin or Dexter to another city (1 card up to 3 cites away, 2 cards up to 6 cities away). You then get a card for whatever creature you moved in front of you (stacks up), and that creature cannot be moved again this round.
At the end of the game, Destination Tickets with a city where Alvin or Dexter still sit are only worth 1/2 their value. This is bad if you completed the route… but this can be good if you have some Destination Tickets that are not completed, as this cuts your negative value in 1/2 too! There are two Bonus Cards for the players who moved each monster the most, They are worth 15 points each… so this can really affect the game.
Conclusion
Is Alvin & Dexter a good expansion? Well, it does make Ticket to Ride a more tactical game. I personally enjoy all things expansion, as it usually creates a new game at a lower price point. This does that (even if the price can be high for what you actually get in the box). Also, this expansion can be used with any version of TtR… which makes it even more valuable for those with several versions.
Ultimately, my wife can’t stand getting her routes messed with, so this does not get played as often as I’d like. My couch is not comfortable, so I choose to play this with friends who like a little more interaction in their games.
Happy Gaming!
Not being a huge lover of the base game, I don’t really care about the purity of the game system. So I don’t think that this expansion spoils or cheapens the game, as many have accused. It definitely isn’t meant for casual players like me, but rather for those who have memorized all of the tickets and can predict where their opponents are going. I imagine that this expansion would be most brutal in online play.
Even though I’m not an expert at TtR, I am somewhat tired of the game as a whole, so it’s a nice addition to spice things up. It forces you to play a little differently. Wilds become more important, and you either have to bluff your tickets, or aggressively move the monsters. You have to protect your most valuable investments. Also, the endgame timing becomes even more important, as monster majorities can be stolen, and last minute movements of Alvin and Dexter seem inevitable. So you have to watch how close your opponents are to finishing.
Alvin and Dexter is really a nice add-on to Ticket to Ride (TTR). If TTR has gotten a little dull to you, this expansion can really mix things up and add some nice strategic options to the game. I was quite impressed with it the first time I played it. Don’t let the little box fool you!
PROS
Adds more strategic depth to TTR
Attracts kids to the game
Adds more bonus points
CONS
Alvin and Dexter tend to fall over
Increases “screwage” factor
Gameplay
Essentially, Alvin (the alien) and Dexter (the dinosaur) are monsters rampaging through the cities in TTR causing all kinds of chaos. When one of these monsters is in a city, you cannot complete a route to it or out of it. As a player, you can use part of your turn to move one of these monsters 3 or 6 cities away based on if you discard one or two wildcards. If you move Alvin or Dexter the most, you get 15 points at the end of game. However, you have to wait another turn, before you move the same monster again.
Basically, the extra points really encourage players to keep the monsters moving. Where the strategy is involved in how can you disrupt your opponent from completing their destinations, yet keep them off of your routes. It adds a “TAKE THAT” factor at a level TTR that has never been seen before. For a 5 player game, it can get crazy, and I can see players dog-piling on a leader. The best part is that it makes the 2-player version of TTR far more interesting, because plain 2 player games are just a race to the finish line.
Conclusion
Even though some people may be turned off by the cutesy monsters, this expansion really freshens up this classic game in a whole new way. I like it that you really have to adapt your nicely planned routes to the disruptive nature of these monsters. I like that it makes the game more interactive especially with less players. It makes for a more tense game, because you’re even less sure of how many destinations you can complete particularly near the end of the game when most people can figure out where you need to go. My kids enjoyed this game more, because of the monsters when normally they wouldn’t play. Seriously, if TTR has gotten kind of old for you or you got some kids who don’t want to play it with you, get Alvin and Dexter a try.
This addition adds a whole new level of strategy to any TTR game. It can be played on any of the maps and is simple to pick up, but like an alien hovering over your city, hard to get rid of. Once you’ve played with this expansion you’ll find you keep coming back for more monster smashing fun.
i just dont get the point of it.
Tired of always getting the cards you want and finishing tickets? Well good news, this expansion makes it harder for you to do anything while also wrecking the theme of your favorite game!
nice try, days of wonder. i would rather watch Godzilla (1998)