Community consensus / unwritten rules about blocking?

[gailya36]

I don't intentionally block. If I need a route for a destination, so be it. If my opponent needs a route for their destination, so be it. What I can't stand, and it has really put a pall on the game for me, is when a player takes 2 short destinations, makes them, and then spends the rest of the game blocking any avenue for you to get any of your destinations. It's cheap and not in the spirit of the game.

[Ceaseless]

I don't intentionally block. If I need a route for a destination, so be it. If my opponent needs a route for their destination, so be it. What I can't stand, and it has really put a pall on the game for me, is when a player takes 2 short destinations, makes them, and then spends the rest of the game blocking any avenue for you to get any of your destinations. It's cheap and not in the spirit of the game.

Not wanting to block is your business. Trying to say others can't block is toxic and against the spirit of the game. If someone has low point destinations and realizes they can't keep up with the point ceiling of someone with higher points destinations, it is within their rights to make sure that player doesn't reach their ceiling in order to stand a chance. Sometimes you have the weaker engine and nothing you complete matters half as much as whether or not the opponent gets their goals. Part of the game is figuring out what your role in it is to be in order to be relevant. If you get the blocking game wrong, then you've cost yourself even more points.

[castlerockgreg]

I agree 100% with this reply. The best players know that blocking is actually VERY difficult to do against the other top players. Top players always leave themselves an out. Furthermore, the game (and I always am referring to the standard US game and 2-player only) is much much much more about laying 6s and longest train. Think about it: 15 points would be a nice ticket, right? You get 15 points for a single 6-car track! Plus, enough of them and you finish early and don't need to block because your opponent is too busy laying 1s and 2s and can't complete tickets. Watch some games between the top top players and you will not see much blocking. Getting in each other's way, yes. Blocking, not a ton.

[Fusselkopp]

I have encountered players who blocked for the sake of blocking maybe twice here. Gave them a personal red thumb and moved on. I don't think there are so many of them.

[speedypuzzlement]

Watch some games between the top top players and you will not see much blocking. Getting in each other's way, yes. Blocking, not a ton.

I guess this depends on how we define blocking. I rarely see top players get entirely locked out of destinations. But grabbing a suboptimal* 6-route to make the opponent take more turns / deny the 15 points seems to happen often. Or clever placement of a suboptimal* shorter route to decrease the opponent's theoretical longest continuous path. I agree that top players have excellent technique to make it hard to guess their destinations (or to block them even when you know).

*not suboptimal in terms of winning, but in terms of maximizing their own score / longest path / speed / utility of blind draws

[TheLasertagguy]

Frankly, I'm getting fed up with people who play competitive arena games and complain about blocking. My strategy in this game (in any game) is to utilize play that secures a win. I hope other people do the same. That's why I play competitive arena games. It is specifically not against the rules to block and it would be impossible to make a rule to say when someone was or was not blocking. Frankly, this entire thread is bizarre to me.

Sometimes, the destination tickets cards I have lend themselves to blocking. Sometimes, they do not. I am always assuming the other player may block and I plan accordingly. If I surround every route to NYC or LA and you can't score a ticket, you should have planned better, not blame me for "blocking" you.

Describing playing an effective strategy as "winning at all costs" is not real. There is no "cost" to winning or losing here. Winning at all costs presumes I am giving up something extreme in order to win and implies it's cheating.

If blocking really frustrates you in this game, I encourage you to
(1) stop playing Ticket to Ride (I agree, you should get enjoyment out of a game);
(2) avoid arena games;
(3) only play with known opponents who will play to your preferred social norms;
(4) play the Euro map which has a mechanism (stations) for limiting the effects of blocking (although I had someone sneak in and brilliantly take both stations on a route); or
(5) play only 4-player games where blocking as a pure strategy is not nearly as effective.

[castlerockgreg]

I guess this depends on how we define blocking.

I'm not sure how to quote so I hope this works right this time.....I define blocking as going completely out of my way to prevent a big ticket from an opponent. For example, I have west coast tickets and opponenet clearly has LA-MIA (as evidenced by openly drawing all available black, green, red, and starting the game by laying 2-gray HOU-NO). If I then do everything I can to keep him from Miami by playing 6-red and 5-blue, etc., that's blocking. It's a completely viable strategy, but also risky. I'm probably sacrificing longest train, which is a 20-point swing, to block a 20-point ticket. If I mind my own business and make a long northern route to compliment my west coast, I'm probably better off.

[TheLasertagguy]

If I then do everything I can to keep him from Miami by playing 6-red and 5-blue, etc., that's blocking. It's a completely viable strategy, but also risky. I'm probably sacrificing longest train, which is a 20-point swing, to block a 20-point ticket. If I mind my own business and make a long northern route to compliment my west coast, I'm probably better off.

Like everything in a game with randomness, this is situational. What if you don't have the option for a long northern route? What if you block your opponent in the midwest where you can draw a long path? It's actually easier than securing Miami because of the shorter and non-colored routes. All of this is completely relative, which is why advanced players in my experience will play a blocking strategy depending on the tickets they have and the tickets they suspect their opponent has.

This adds even more nuance to the game. Do I signal to my opponent I'm going for NY in a sloppy fashion to encourage them to waste turns and length blocking NY when I don't have any NY tickets?

Again, this is a nuanced, situational game. I wish people who played poker with me would always play a set strategy. I wish experienced players wouldn't memorize cards in board games to give them an advantage. These are ridiculous expectations for games. It's the same, to me, complaining about blocking in Ticket to Ride. I want to play the best possible strategy and if someone plays better than me, good for them. BGA eliminates "cheating" as an issue, so anything is fair game.

For those of you that complain that blocking is ruinous or unenjoyable, why is your enjoyment at the expense of mine who would prefer all players employ all legal strategies to see who is best with this particular iteration of the game?

[castlerockgreg]

What if you don't have the option for a long northern route? What if you block your opponent in the midwest where you can draw a long path? It's actually easier than securing Miami because of the shorter and non-colored routes.......I want to play the best possible strategy and if someone plays better than me, good for them.

I'm not sure if you're criticizing what I said or not, but all I was doing was answering my definition of blocking from another player's post, and it was one example. In my example, I 100% have the option for a long Northern route because my opponent is desperately vying for LA-MIA. However, I 100% agree with your assessment; blocking is legal and viable....it's just also very risky for the top players. I just discovered this site three days ago but am currently top 20 in the Arena (whatever that is). I was consistently top 50 on DOW, and that includes with all the cheater scores (so really top 25). Not bragging, just saying I consider myself a top player.

Regarding your comment about blocking in the midwest, bad bad bad idea. Way too many routes for your opponent to sneak around you and you're busy laying 2-tracks when you should be trying to finish the game. On DOW, I used to host games called "I tell you my tickets" and would invite anyone under 1299 score (probably 200 ELO here) to try and beat me by blocking or not. I never lost a single game out of about 30 that challenged me. Most walked away finally agreeing that blocking is really hard against good players. Some told me I was lucky. HA!

Also, I'm a poker player too....so there's that. I'd say half of my losses on this site are from people who overdrew tickets and miracled "triple rivers" so to speak.

[speedypuzzlement]

I'm not sure how to quote so I hope this works right this time.....I define blocking as going completely out of my way to prevent a big ticket from an opponent. For example, I have west coast tickets and opponenet clearly has LA-MIA (as evidenced by openly drawing all available black, green, red, and starting the game by laying 2-gray HOU-NO). If I then do everything I can to keep him from Miami by playing 6-red and 5-blue, etc., that's blocking. It's a completely viable strategy, but also risky. I'm probably sacrificing longest train, which is a 20-point swing, to block a 20-point ticket. If I mind my own business and make a long northern route to compliment my west coast, I'm probably better off.

Yeah, I think that's a reasonable view. I'm rarely able to completely cut off opponents. For LA-MIA, usually I just prioritize claiming 6-black or 6-green (if fitting it into my plan is doable) and hope making them waste a turn is enough. Might not be blocking but it's certainly hindering. Or like you said, 6-red and 5-blue (but I only manage to convince myself to do that if all my tickets happen to be on the East Coast).

Funnily enough, all this discussion reminded me of a time I had Vancouver to Montreal and my opponent's opening moves were Vancouver to Seattle, shortly followed by Calgary to Vancouver. I've seen it happen to a >750 ELO player as well.