Blocking on purpose.

[Silene]

In games like TTR or Carcassonne and the likes: i enjoy being blocked in reasonable situations.

It shows me my opponent is taking me seriously. That's respectful.

It means I have to fight for my win and I like having a challenge.

Maybe it shows me a weakness in my play that I can learn from and grow stronger.

I don't play boardgames to be cuddled. If i wanna be cuddled I don't do something where win/lose is even a thing.

I avoid 3+ player games where blocking is a thing because that makes everyone vulnerable to other player's decision when only one opponent pays the effort but everyone else is profiting.

[Andrew416]

Blocking is part of the game. End of story. Go play monopoly otherwise? That's what makes this human, you have no guarantee.

[Vivavi]

I don't play boardgames to be cuddled. If i wanna be cuddled I don't do something where win/lose is even a thing.

Silene, this was excellent use of the term coddled, and I had to post because the mixup with cuddled somehow made your point even more strongly. Way to go with a typo

[Jeroenpenguina]

Every single person whose sole goal is to block just to block have poor sportsmanship! I have already played with 3 different people, JUST TODAY, who did nothing but bloc, block, block. They didn't even try to complete their own routes! What is that all about?? People who play like this take the fun out of this game!

Were you playing a regular game or arena?

[Ceaseless]

Every single person whose sole goal is to block just to block have poor sportsmanship! I have already played with 3 different people, JUST TODAY, who did nothing but bloc, block, block. They didn't even try to complete their own routes! What is that all about?? People who play like this take the fun out of this game!

Were you playing a regular game or arena?

Regular games, I don't see any Arena, including during that approximate timeframe. The games they speak of with nothing but blocking may or may not be real, at least as described, but whatever went down didn't happen in Arena.

[Jeroenpenguina]

In Arena I, and also some others, play with more blocking.
While in regular games I usually don't.

Tournament I also might block if necessary.

[Mr_Magic]

Blocking is part of the game. End of story. Go play monopoly otherwise? That's what makes this human, you have no guarantee.

They will just complain that someone is hogging all the houses.

[Ceaseless]

Blocking is part of the game. End of story. Go play monopoly otherwise? That's what makes this human, you have no guarantee.

They will just complain that someone is hogging all the houses.

Or rigging the dice.

[Vader300]

I’m late to this but wanted to share my perspective on blocking. Anyone who complains about blocking comes across as a sore loser. Ticket to ride is a game of strategy where the object is to have more points than your opponent, not to complete the most destinations. Blocking is a crucial component of the game and often necessary especially if you know your opponent is going for a long route. For example, if you know your opponent is going for Seattle to New York, letting your opponent complete it vs successfully blocking it is a 44 point swing. That is huge!

The game is designed this way intentionally and blocking is an intended part of the game. There is a reason why both players play on the same board and why double routes are disabled for 2-3 player mode. If blocking wasn’t considered a component of the game, the game makers could have easily made it a roll-and-write game. If you cannot accept blocking, then ticket to ride is not the game for you. I encourage you to explore roll-and-write games such as knister, splitter, and roll to the top where everyone gets their own board.

I’ll also add that when your opponent is intentionally blocking you, that is often a reflection of your play and that you made your routes too obvious to guess. Every time someone successfully blocks me, I try to reflect on things that I should have done better to keep my routes more obscure. A lot of things can give your opponent cues, and making your routes and intentions hard to guess is often the difference between good players versus the best players.

[speedypuzzlement]

I’m late to this but wanted to share my perspective on blocking. Anyone who complains about blocking comes across as a sore loser. Ticket to ride is a game of strategy where the object is to have more points than your opponent, not to complete the most destinations. Blocking is a crucial component of the game and often necessary especially if you know your opponent is going for a long route. For example, if you know your opponent is going for Seattle to New York, letting your opponent complete it vs successfully blocking it is a 44 point swing. That is huge!

The game is designed this way intentionally and blocking is an intended part of the game. There is a reason why both players play on the same board and why double routes are disabled for 2-3 player mode. If blocking wasn’t considered a component of the game, the game makers could have easily made it a roll-and-write game. If you cannot accept blocking, then ticket to ride is not the game for you. I encourage you to explore roll-and-write games such as knister, splitter, and roll to the top where everyone gets their own board.

I’ll also add that when your opponent is intentionally blocking you, that is often a reflection of your play and that you made your routes too obvious to guess. Every time someone successfully blocks me, I try to reflect on things that I should have done better to keep my routes more obscure. A lot of things can give your opponent cues, and making your routes and intentions hard to guess is often the difference between good players versus the best players.

Well said. Completing tickets in Ticket to Ride is like making long words in Scrabble - it is often seen as the objective of the game but is not the optimal strategy. Of course there is Duplicate Scrabble where everyone plays on their own board and the random draws are fixed - perhaps Alan Moon should make a similar version for Ticket to Ride.

https://www.meeplelikeus.co.uk/scrabble-1948/