Ticket to Ride: Poland expansion hits Xbox May 13

Marmalade Game Studio will release the Ticket to Ride: Poland expansion for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on May 13. The studio also confirmed that a Ticket to Ride: Pennsylvania expansion is in early development for Xbox.

In the digital Poland expansion, the physical game’s Country Cards are replaced by Country Coins. At the start of a match the game places small piles of coins on country nodes. When a player builds a connection that links two countries, they collect a coin from each intervening node if any remain. Country Coins are added to players’ final scores, creating a decision between expanding a network to complete tickets and racing to collect coins before opponents do.

The expansion adds two locomotives, two carriages and two playable characters. Locomotives are named Polonaise and Copernicus. Carriages are called Kujawiak and Orbiting Greatness. New characters include Regina Kamińska and Kacper Pawlak.

Filipa Semedo, concept and 2D artist at Marmalade Game Studio, described the visual research for Kacper Pawlak’s design: “I spent a lot of time researching 1950s Poland. The Polish government, highly influenced by the Soviet Union at the time, advised people to act and dress modestly. But American influence directly contradicted that. Since many Polish people had family in the US who sent them clothes, designs such as the American ‘A’ silhouette dress grew in popularity in Poland. Alongside fashion, jazz music became really popular with Polish youth too. We added a lot of that new subculture to Kacper Pawlak’s design.”

Poland is the fifth Ticket to Ride expansion to debut first in digital form for Marmalade’s Xbox release, following Heart of Africa, Japan, San Francisco and a full digital version of Germany that includes the Passenger mechanic. The Poland map will be sold on the Xbox Marketplace and is included in the Round the World Ticket bundle, which collects ten expansions. Buyers of the bundle receive expansions that have already been released immediately, with remaining expansions added as they launch.

Mike Rosser, creative director at Marmalade Game Studio, outlined the studio’s selection process for the Round the World Ticket: “We aimed to have a good mix of expansions in the Round the World Ticket so that there are maps in there that appeal to all players. Some are more competitive, such as the India Expansion. Some are much more relaxed, like the co-operative vibes of the Japan Expansion. We also wanted a balance of complex maps that can take a while to play, and simpler, faster maps. By doing this, players always have a great choice available, regardless of how much time they have to play. It was also important that we offered a mix of classic fan favourites like the Switzerland and Nordic Expansions along with more niche maps like Poland. We’re proud to have released some digital debuts too, like a full rendition of the Germany Expansion complete with its iconic Passenger mechanic.”

Marmalade confirmed the Pennsylvania expansion as an exclusive reveal for Xbox readers and said it will appear on Xbox in the future. Ticket to Ride and its currently released expansions are available now on the Xbox Marketplace, with Ticket to Ride: Poland joining the lineup on May 13.