Express Route Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Express Route, a cooperative pick up and deliver board game published by The Op. Express Route is a Pandemic style game that will have players trying to deliver packages across the US.

Family-weight co-op games have been popular since the inception of co-op games. Some of the behemoths of the hobby lie in this sphere: Pandemic, Sky Team, Horrified, Flash Point: Fire Rescue… the list goes on and on, growing larger each and every week with new releases and Kickstarters.

With so many of these titles releasing so rapidly, how does one break through the noise and establish itself among the titans of the industry? And more importantly, can Express Route reach those heights? Let’s find out!

In Express Route, 1-4 players will be cooperating together to deliver packages all across the Continental United States. As is tradition with co-ops, players can lose in several ways: here, players lose if the demand for packages to be delivered gets too high, or if they fail to deliver eight packages before the twenty-four Event Cards are revealed. Players win if they are able to deliver all eight packages, both hitting the extra demands found on the Delivery Requirement Tokens and keeping the losing conditions in check along the way.

On a player’s turn, they will move one of the shared vehicle pawns, and/or pick up/drop off packages. Each package is required to start in a particular city, and is required to be delivered elsewhere. Turns are quite simple, with movement points for the shared pawns being different for each player, depending on how they decide to upgrade each pawn.

Speaking of upgrades, the upgrades in this game have huge impacts, but have a high cost: in order to purchase an upgrade, players must discard one of their delivered packages, thus cutting into their progression towards victory. Is it worth upgrading the carrying capacity of a particular vehicle’s pawn if it sets you back from victory?

Work together, upgrade wisely, and plan accordingly to win this