Chugga Choo Puzzle

Chugga Choo! - A puzzle game about a train.

You don't see many jigsaw puzzles that are also a game like Chugga Choo!. Assemble four, 5-piece trains. Work by color, or make multi-color rainbow trains. Then decide what each boxcar is carrying. Will your train be carrying penguins eating popsicles, wrapped party gifts or colorful robots? Maybe all three! It's entirely up to you.

The puzzle pieces for each train in Chugga Choo include a locomotive, three boxcars that are exactly alike and a caboose. Pieces are printed on one side only and all trains face left. Each 5-piece train assembled measures 2' 3.5". The window opening on each boxcar measures 3 1/8" x 1 1/4".

The boxcars have a hallowed out space in them which is where you will place the cargo blocks. The image above has a cargo block with fruit already aboard. The cargo blocks are made of wood, painted white and have a colorful image painted on one side. Below are examples:

Object:
Complete four trains of matching colors. This is a cooperative game and will not result in a winner or loser.

Set up:
Place the four engine pieces face-up, in a column. Mix the boxcar pieces and place them in a face-down pile nearby. Place the cabooses face-up nearby. Place the cargo tiles face-up nearby.

Play:
Players take turns. Turn over one boxcar piece and place it on the train of the same color. Pick a cargo piece to put inside the boxcar. Players take turns until all four trains are assembled and ready to go.  

Try this: 

• Play on the floor. Decide where each train will go and push it around the floor. Then push them all back to the depot (original location).
• Stand the cargo blocks on their sides around the room on the floor. Assemble each puzzle and then drive it (push it) to the different locations of the cargo tiles and pick up your cargo that way. Crawl on all fours as you play. Push the full trains back to the train station, where ever you want to make that, to offload the cargo.
• Play over and over, making different color trains carrying different cargo each time. Make up a story about why they are carrying what they are and where they are going.
• Pick out one locomotive and one caboose. Then add lots of boxcars to make a really long train. Count them as you add them. 
• Push your train along after assembling, making train sounds. Sing kid train songs.
• Place the cargo blocks on the table face-down. Pick them up one at a time as you need them and turn them in-hand to flip them over.
• Only add cargo to each train that includes the same color as the train.
• Make the trains different lengths, like three piece, four piece and five piece. Reinforce by counting and naming colors as you go and when you are done.
• Say the color after placing each piece to reinforce color names, such as here is a green locomotive, I'll add a green boxcar, and a green caboose. I need something with green to put inside, etc.
• Place other small items or toys in the cut outs in the boxcars. Why did you choose that? Where are they going? What will they do when they get there? Can you find four related things to put in the four cars, so the whole train is carrying one category of items? Add all small toys or all small pieces of fruit. (If you are playing on the floor and have dogs, don't use grapes, which are harmful to dogs). Put a variety of things out to choose from and let the player pick the four that are in the same category.
• Work on visual discrimination, spatial relations, visual closure, manual dexterity, creative play, process skills, socialization skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure exploration and participation skills.

In the box: 4 engine pieces, 12 boxcar pieces, 4 caboose pieces, 12 cargo tiles

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is a cross country train adventure. Set in the early 1900's and inspired by Around the World in 80 Days, players compete to connect different cities by laying claim to railway routes across the U.S. The winner will be the person who can visit the most U.S. cities in seven days. The stakes? $1 million, winner take all. I'm in, how about you?

The game is played with small plastic train cars that are lined up on pre-figured routes throughout the U.S. The game board is one of the biggest I have seen, measuring about 31" x 20.5". It is a map that features major cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Omaha, Phoenix, New York, Seattle, you get the picture. It also features a few cities in southern Canada, including Vancouver and Calgary. Amazon now sells at least seven different Ticket To Ride games that feature different countries.

Below is an image of the game board. The colored strips across the map are railway routes between major cities. There is room for one train on each section of each route. Some routes are short, two between Pittsburgh and New York, others are long, six between El Paso and Houston. Around the edges of the board there are brown boxes that number 1 - 100. This is where you will be keeping score. Want to see the map and pieces in the image below in more detail? Click on the link below to go to Amazon and enlarge it there. Then click on it using the magnifying glass and move around the image.
 

FYI - The game box I picked up looks like the one above and the instructions are in German. I had to go online and print out a copy in English.

The game also includes these items:

240 plastic train cars - 45 cars in each of five different colors, plus a few extra of each color. Train cars measure about 1" long, 7/16" high and 5/16" wide. Colors are red, green, blue, yellow and black. After you claim a route you will place your train cars on the colored spaces on the board.

110 train cards - 12 each of passenger, tanker, box, reefer, freight, hopper, coal, caboose, and 14 locomotives. Each card pictures one colored car with the same colored background. Each of these colors correspond to the colored routes on the game board. To claim a route you will have to collect the same number of color-coordinated cards as there are spaces in the route. For instance the route between Chicago and Omaha has four blue spaces. Therefore, you will need to save four blue train car cards to lay claim to that particular route. The locomotive is a wild card and can be played as any color.

30 destination ticket cards - Each card pictures a map of the US with two destination cities printed across the top and a small U.S. map with the two locations marked with dots. This is the route you will be attempting to claim. The number in the bottom right hand corner tells you how many points you will get if you lay claim to that route. Do not show these cards during the game. At the end, when the points are tallied, you will reveal the destination cards in your hand. Add the numbers in the corner toward your score. If you are holding destination cards that you were not able to claim, you will have to subtract those numbers from your score. Hold only the cards you think you will complete.

1 longest continuous path bonus card - You will gain an extra 10 points at the end of the game if you have the longest unbroken path of your color trains.

1 summary card - This card shows the scoring table. 1 point for 1 car, 2 points for 2 cars, 4 points for 3 cars, 7 points for 4 cars, 10 points for 5 cars, and 15 points for 6 cars.

5 wooden scoring markers - Each player will use his marker to keep score as he lays claim to routes. Score will be kept around the border of the game board.

Here are the rules for claiming routes:

• You must have one colored train car to match each colored space in the route. Lay them down as a set on a turn and then place one of your plastic train pieces on each space along that route. Then discard all the cards used for that set. There are several small gray routes along the way and they can be any set color you choose.
• You can claim any open route on the board, they don't have to be connected any of your other routes.
• You can only claim one route per turn.
• Some cities have double routes between them. You can only claim one of them, not both. 

Now that we know what's included, we better get going. We're not going to win that $1 million just sitting here.

Object:
Score the highest number of total points. Points can be scored by:

• Claiming a route between two adjacent cities on the map
• Successfully completing a continuous path of routes between two cities listed on your destination ticket
• Completing the longest continuous path of routes

Lose points by not completing routes on destination ticket you are holding at the end of the game. 

Set up:
Place the board in the middle of the table. Each player takes 45 train cars of one color and the scoring marker of the same color. Each player places his scoring marker on the square numbered one on the border. Shuffle the train car cards and deal 4 cards to each player. Place the remaining cards, face-down near the board. Turn five cards face-up and place them near the board. Place the longest path bonus card face-up near the board. Shuffle the destination ticket cards and deal 3 cards to each players. Each player decides which ones they will keep, but they must keep at least two. Place any discarded ticket cards on the bottom of the face-down pile and place it near the board.

Play:
Players take turns. You may have any number of cards in your hand at any time. On a turn, you must do any one, but only one, of the following:

• Draw train car cards - Draw two train cars. You may take any from the face-up cards or from the face-down deck. If a player takes from the face-up cards, they are immediately replaced by a card(s) from the deck.
• Claim a route - Lay claim to a route by playing a set of train cars, in color and number, that match a route on the board. Then place one of your plastic train pieces on each space in the route. Now move your marker ahead alone the scoring path using the scoring chart. The more spaces you claim, the more points you get.
• Draw destination tickets - Draw up to three cards. You may keep all or you may discard 1 or 2. Discards go on the bottom of the face-down destination card pile. Remember, at the end if you are holding destination cards that you were not able to claim you will lose points.

When any one player gets down to anywhere between 0 and 2 trains left, each player, including that player, gets one more turn before the game ends. Once the game ends reveal your destination cards and add the additional points printed on the card(s). Move your score marker ahead that many points. Subtract any destination card points you are still holding that were not claimed. Move your score marker back that many points. Award the person with the longest continuous path the card and 10 points. The person with the most points is the winner.

Try this:

• Skip the game and just play with the trains. Make long strings of cars to duplicate, or start a color pattern such as ABCABC, and let the individual copy and continue to follow the pattern.
• Skip the game. Choose two cities, for instance one on the west coast and one on the east, and let the individual place the cars on the board to make an uninterrupted path across the US. Match the cars placed to the colors on the board.
• Use the opportunity to talk about movements spatially, such as I will be heading north, you are heading northeast, I am traveling north to south, I am heading south down the coast. Up, down, left, right, you will use them all.
• Name the states as you go through them. 
• Skip the game. Pose questions and then lay train cars to answer such as what is the shortest route between Little Rock and Miami.
• Skip the game. Two people play taking turns covering one section of route at a time. Both start in the same city and see who can be the first to arrive at a destination city. Play twice and let each player be the starter once.
• Work on visual discrimination, visual closure, figure ground, spatial relations, manual dexterity, planning, strategy, executive functioning skills, socialization skills, process skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

If you are interested in purchasing this game, or just want more information, click on the image below.