I want to solve this problem: I am someone who can forgive many people board game error if it looks good.
While with video games, even the best visuals can soon wear out if the experience itself lacks, there’s something about the tactile pleasure of a board game’s gripping, gripping appeal. Its physical guide, actually pressing my button. Is this superficial? Probably! But, and I can’t stress this enough for my honesty in disclosing my critical bias, what it is.
And Space race is a board game looks good. Designed for 1-5 players, it has everyone taking on the role of a space developer (like the US or the Soviet Union) or a private company and basically just playing a series cards to do research, send astronauts (or cosmonauts) into space, complete missions and, after just seven turns, jostle to be the furthest faction along the progress tracker submitted and declared the winner.
Despite all the scientific design everywhere, it’s not a complicated game. You really just do more than draw cards and play them on the table, build an engine must be modified each turn by adding new cards to it, then changing its outcome to the quests or challenges you’re trying to complete to gain points (and thus move along the course). progress tracking).
I won’t go into the rules of the game, that’s not what these reviews are for (you can test them yourself if you want), but I found the game to be fairly easy to pick up and develop strategies for even on my first play, something that doesn’t really happen too often for me (I usually like/need to test the area water once or twice with a game I’m not familiar with before feeling confident enough to shoot for clear strategies).
It’s a far cry from my favorite game of the past few years in terms of the mechanical side of things — I’ve found a lot Space Race’s peripheral systems can be ignored without much consequence, which limits its complexity and depth a bit — but overall it’s a pretty engaging game when I’m changing and Adjust your cards every turn to try and squeeze new ways to get points from the Board.
Even so, I still love every second I spend with it, because of how amazing everything is. Space Race’s art is divided into two completely different camps; has its graphic design, board and token included, is 100% committed to a rocket scientist aesthetic, making the whole thing look like a bunch of blueprints. It’s simple, but also clean, and perfectly suited to the theme, so I learn it.
The other half is the card art of the game, and it’s a joy to behold. Every card in the game, from “celebs” like JFK to mundane quests to key pieces of technology to representations of mission control rooms is a stunning illustration, filled with color and character, and for the first few turns of this game, I couldn’t ‘ I couldn’t help but just sit there staring at each of them, resisting the impulses of my brain. I consider the best card images to be the “best” cards even if they are just low-scoring images.
Adding to the sensory pleasure of playing this game is the quality of the ingredients themselves. While the game’s meeples are fairly simple, the included plastic rocket tags are very detailed and the cards are printed on a thick, glossy material. The real star, surprisingly, is the panel (above), which is a touchpad-like foam pad that glistens in the lights, and is a wonderful thing when you have to press down and rub your hands all the time. night.
The game, to its credit, even has room for a sense of humor amid all the cooled scientific advances:
If you’re a lover of mid-range games (those that don’t last all night but don’t end quickly either), then be sure, the engine-building board games are pretty easy to play. Space race is a fun game. But if like me, you’re a fan of the physical fun of board games as well as its intellectual rigors, then this is something you should definitely try and get your hands on one. Possibly to someone who already has a copy, because of the fact that was Kickstarted with no retail release so it’s hard to find a fresh copy of your own.
