Rio Grande Games Race For The Galaxy

Race for the Galaxy can be included with those card/board games which require a little more thought than the boardgames you see in the shops like Cluedo or Monopoly. If you can make your way past the rulebook which is in itself no mean feat then you will find a complex, cunning strategic card game underneath the harsh exterior.

The mechanics of the game are simple enough. Place cards from your hand on the table in front of you to gain Victory points, once one player has placed 12 cards the game is over and the player with the highest victory points wins.

Each player starts with one world in front of them and 4 cards in their hand and the game consists of rounds split into phases. At the start of the round each player chooses a phase: Explore, Develop, Settle, Consume or Produce. Any phases chosen by one player are then performed by all players in the order shown above. Players who choose a particular phase gain a bonus for the phase that they chose. Phases that are not selected by any player are missed for that round.

Explore allows player to draw and keep a certain number of card

Develop allows a player to place a development

Settle allows a player to place a world

Consume requires a player to consume resources on those worlds that produce resources. A resource is indicated by having a face down card placed on the world; and

Produce allows a player to produce a resource on all wolrds that produce resources.i.e. place a face down card on that world

Cards are either developments to be built or worlds to be settled. The cards you have in your hand are the equivalent of money, and each card has a price. Once you pay the price for a card (by discarding other cards) you can place that card down on the table. Development cards are placed in the develop phase and worlds are placed in the settle phase. In addition, some military worlds must be conquered which means placing developments with military bonuses such that your total military equals or exceeds the value of the world being placed. The advantage here is that if you have the military you do not have to pay to place the world. Both types can help the player not only in providing victory points, but also by providing further benefits to particular phases that the player may take in the future.

Victory points are also earned from consuming resources provided that you have developments placed that allow you to do this. So the strategy comes from being able to decide which cards from your hand to place down on the table. Do you go for a relatively cheap development that enables you to consume resources for victory points or save up for an expensive world which provides no benefit but does give you a large number of victory points in one hit. The clever interplay between cost, resources and military means there are many different methods to accumulate victory points and the key is to work out how best to leverage the victory points you have in your hand and in some cases betting on what you can get from drawing cards from the pack.

This is without doubt my favourite game of the moment as I seem to find new nuances to gameplay everytime I play it. The first expansion "The Gathering Storm" also adds additional elements to the game including a solo play version which is also very absorbing.

The learning curve is steep but mercifully short, and that's where things really take off. It's no Monopoly, but fortunately it's no 400-page-rulebook wargame either. What it is is a beautifully designed, beautifully rendered card game for 2-4 players, with just the right amount of interaction between them, and a replay value that goes off the scale.

If you enjoy games, you'll be playing this one a LOT, and for many years to come, and each time you'll be figuring out yet another route to success, yet another strategy to hinder your opponents, and loving every minute of it.

Thoroughly recommended for anyone with even a hint of a strategic game-player's bent.

Anyone familiar with Puerto Rico or more specifically, PR's card based spin-off San Juan will find the mechanics of "Race for the Galaxy" very familiar.

The game is playable by 2 to 4 players (preferably 3 or 4).
The maximum number of actions per turn is 4 - one per player but it is possible for all four players to select the same action.
There are six actions to chose from

Explore (players draw new cards)
Develop (players may put a development card into play by discarding a number of other cards to pay for it)
Settle (players may put a new world into play by discarding a number of other cards to pay for it)
Consume- Trade (player gets to cash in a trade good for more cards)
Consume - 2xVP (player gets double VP for any trade goods consumed)
Produce (produce trade goods on worlds which can do so)

If any player selects an action all the players get to do that action too. but the player who opted to do that action gets a bonus of some sort.

The purpose of the game is to have the most Victory Points when the game ends (normally when one of the players get 12 cards into play).

Victory Points are obtained by a couple of different mechanisms:
Having cards in play (each card has its cost in cards to get played and its VP value printed on it).
Selling trade goods.
Some special cards ( Cost 6 developments) also provide additional 'bonus' victory points at the end of the game for having certain combinations of things.

As in San Juan, learning which combinations of cards work well together is the key to success.

One (valid) criticism of the game is that there is little direct competition with the other players. There is subtle interaction however, particularly in selecting which action you want to activate this turn.
If, for example, you want to put out a new card you need to Settle or Develop, but you may need another card in your hand in order to pay for it
Do you take Explore this turn to make sure you have a card for next turn or do you take Settle (say) and hope/guess that one of your opponents will take Explore?

Overall there is a fantastic balance to the game and although there is an element of luck in the drawing of cards this is less important than making the best use of the cards that one does draw.

The space theme is fun and provides an element of rationale, but it doesn't drive the game and the lack of open conflict between players can make it feel like a competitive solo game - more like playing golf (say) than tennis. However it is varied and involving enough to overcome these quibbles and as it only takes around an hour to play a game, it makes an excellent short filler or gives the chance to play multiple games in an evening.