Board Game Arena

I swear arena is rigged so that players with higher elo get the routes with higher points. You can call me crazy if you want. I get 3 cards and they total 23 points if I connect all routes. My opponent get 2 cards and they are worth double. This happens every time I play someone with high elo in arena. I can pick 3 cards and not get a double digit route. It can’t be that it just happens to me.

In your last two arena games, you’ve drawn LA-Miami (20) and Portland-Nashville (17) which are both double digit tickets, so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

Besides, you will find that most of the “high elo players” don’t actually rely on tickets for the bulk of their points. Usually they win by route points, longest, and playing for tempo. In fact, sometimes they accept negatives (uncompleted tickets) to close faster or claim longer routes or block. So not getting high point routes is not necessarily a bad thing.

Often whether a ticket is good or bad is not actually about its point value, but whether it allows you to complete it with long routes or not. For example, as a standalone ticket, Helena-LA (8) is significantly better than Boston-Miami (12) despite having a lower point value. Sometimes (frequently, in fact) large tickets can be a liability. If you get small tickets, go fast, fight for sixers, and try to win longest.

Anyway, what incentive could BGA possibly have to “rig” arena in such a way? It doesn’t make much sense.

Certainly it can be frustrating when the tickets or locomotives seem to favor your opponent. Any correlation with ELO is most likely a coincidence. Even if higher ELO biased towards better tickets, it would still be completely fair. The solution in any case is to improve your personal skills in order to handle the situations where luck is not on your side.

For two-player, this means learning to trigger the final round quickly. As your opponents get stronger, the chance of the game ending in 28-30 turns gets higher. Keeping more tickets or drawing past 46 cards often slows you down. Plan for 20-21 draws (44-46 cards) and 8-12 routes, squeezing out as many points (including longest path) as you can. Of course you can keep more tickets and aim for synergistic plans with fewer trains, but this is rather inconsistent because you allow the opponent to decide when the game ends. And memorizing all the tickets is essential for blocking, which holds the majority of the game's complexity.

Of course, it is rigged. It is a secret strong players don't want to be known.

I can proove it. At the beginning, I always picked Chicago-Little Rock (7) or Denver-El Paso (4), and loosed all my games.
Since I became a friend with BGA admin, I pick Van-Montreal around 50% of my games, and I could reach 500 Elo.

Cedroc92 wrote: ↑03 May 2026, 08:23 Of course, it is rigged. It is a secret strong players don't want to be known.

I can proove it. At the beginning, I always picked Chicago-Little Rock (7) or Denver-El Paso (4), and loosed all my games.
Since I became a friend with BGA admin, I pick Van-Montreal around 50% of my games, and I could reach 500 Elo.

Please gimme your contact

Just kiddin', I know how to play

Steeldemon wrote: ↑30 April 2026, 23:53 I swear arena is rigged so that players with higher elo get the routes with higher points. You can call me crazy if you want. I get 3 cards and they total 23 points if I connect all routes. My opponent get 2 cards and they are worth double. This happens every time I play someone with high elo in arena. I can pick 3 cards and not get a double digit route. It can’t be that it just happens to me.

I'm guessing it might be a shock to you to hear that the strongest players don't necessarily even KEEP the highest point ticket(s) they draw