Recently, Amy & I purchased Ticket to Ride Marklin, the German map version in the Ticket to Ride boardgame series.

Ticket to Ride Marklin

Compared to other versions of the game, Marklin is considered to have the most advanced play, namely because it introduces the concept of "Passengers" who travel along the routes you build, picking up cargo points along the way.  (FYI, Marklin is the name the largest model railroad company in the world, based in Germany.)

Is this passenger traveling light due to TSA restrictions?

When our game arrived, we unpacked it to discover a broken piece among the components.  One of the purple passenger figures was missing a suitcase for some reason.  When I shared this via Facebook, I had to chuckle at the story my friend Adam Stevanovic posted regarding this character's fate:

That's the Purple Man, a notorious one-suitcase train bomber. He obviously is trying to bomb that Rebel Alliance railroad that he is standing on. You can even see the restraining bolt Darth Vader had installed into his ankle. Poor little rebel scum – sniff- they never had a chance!!!

But seriously, on Tuesday morning I dropped an e-mail to the Customer Service folks at Days of Wonder, makers of the game.  That afternoon they replied stating that "the replacement parts for your Days of Wonder game were shipped today."  On Thursday afternoon, they arrived.

Replacement piece arrived in less than 3 days!

Now that's great Customer Service.  Thanks again, Days of Wonder!