Kaleidos and Ticket to Ride

We had some friends over the other night and Elaine suggested we play Kaleidos and Ticket to Ride. Prior to the first puzzle, our friends seemed a bit hesitant about Kaleidos. Neither of them scored particularly well during the first round, but they caught on quickly and by the 3rd round they were scoring as much as Elaine and I. They really enjoyed the game. In fact, we recommended stopping after 8 rounds, but they begged for 1 more. It's really too bad that this game is so difficult to find. It seems to appeal to everyone. I will continue to pull it out with newbies.

Next, we tried Ticket to Ride. Elaine and I finished first and second by a pretty good margin, which you would expect. Todd completed 2 very short routes early. I then recommended that he focus on completing long sections and lengthen his train. Instead, he focused on blocking me, which he did several times, but I was eventually able to out manuever him and complete my routes and have the longest train. In the end, I he didn't help him position, although he likely did cost me the game. Had he instead focused on buiding long sections, I think he would have had a great chance of winning. I think they enjoyed the game, but they enjoyed Kaleidos a lot more.