Complete space! Part 2

It is often necessary to choose games according to their theme, because this can be decisive, whether the game will go "hurray" or make you simply shrug your shoulders. One of my favorite genres is Sci-fi, so in my next three reviews I will be looking at three different but very interesting games about space. Second Review - Roll for the Galaxy .

One of the most iconic space board games is Race for the Galaxy. It is a great and very deep card game, but it is often only played by those who have known the rules of the game for a long time. This is because the rules of the game are a real Chinese alphabet with peculiar iconography and lots of weird symbols. I've played the game at least 6 times, it's very good, but almost every time I look at that little box, I get goosebumps because I imagine how hard it is to learn and understand. But recently the game's "big brother" - Roll for the Galaxy - came out. This time, let's take a look at this game and see if it's a pretty good alternative to the original.

Subject matter

At your disposal is a space empire where planets and technologies are discovered. During their turn, players can explore, colonize, discover technology, produce or consume. Sounds great, but in reality, like Race for the Galaxy, this game has no theme. Pretty soon you're not looking at what's on the cards anymore, you're just reading the text, which is the benefit you'll get from colonizing a given planet. Now, when I'm writing the description, I'm exploring the game areas and I see that they have very cool things on them, like an asteroid belt, an organic alien ship, a galactic gas station, etc. However, I had never seen or explored it during the game.

Components

Apart from a very ugly font and poor contrast with what the game name is written on the box, the components are excellent. The box contains 111 dice. I didn't write - 111. They come in different colors, where each color's dice have different symbols and options. Each player has their own plastic bowl to roll the dice with. The game has by far the best shields I've seen. Information about the placement of the dice is hidden behind them. They are, first of all, very large, and secondly, all the rules are written on them in a meaningful way, where you can easily look if you have forgotten something. The playing fields are made of durable cardboard and have good iconography.

Mechanics

The game is about manipulating and using the dice effectively. Players start with 5-7 dice and 3 starting spaces to be the first to discover or build a 12-space empire consisting of technologies and planets. The basic mechanics of the game is "engine building" (if anyone has ideas how to translate this in Latvian, please write in the comments), which determines how you build your system, which becomes more and more efficient in each subsequent round, if in the first round you can do very little, then at the end of the game the range of possibilities is very wide.

I'm not a big fan of this mechanism, because very often the end of the game leaves you feeling like you've finally created your system and now you can collect points, but the game is already over. In my opinion, this is characteristic of most games with engine building mechanism.

But the biggest innovation of the game is precisely in the choice of actions. Each player can perform 5 types of actions - explore, develop technology, colonize lands, produce or consume the goods produced. On your turn, you roll the dice and then arrange them behind the shield according to symbols that are one of these five actions. However, you can activate only one of them, and not only you, but also your opponents will be able to do this action. Therefore, to ensure efficiency, you have to keep an eye on what your opponents might do, otherwise all unused dice will end up back in the box and will not benefit your economy. This mechanic is great because it keeps you thinking and keeping track of your opponents actions, but you can never 100% trust that one of your opponents will trigger an important action.

Multiplayer

Definitely can't complain about that, only a few of the 55 different fields are used each time. There are a lot of different ways to create different synergies, you can also win by colonizing new planets, developing technologies, as well as simply selling the produced products and collecting victory points in this way. The game is quite short and don't be surprised if someone wants to play it twice in a row in the evening.

Rating

I can recommend Roll for the Galaxy , I think it's an improvement on the classic Race for the Galaxy and overall a more refined game, but there are also "buts". This time it's two. As I mentioned, I don't like that the end of the game comes quite quickly and it can leave you feeling like your system never really started working when it was all over. The second "but" is about the rules. Although much easier to learn than Race for the Galaxy, the dice activation behind the shield, the exploration, and the cargo transportation parts are very confusing at first, with a few little extra rules that can often be confusing to a new player. Most likely, a new player will only be able to properly enjoy Roll for the Galaxy starting with the 2nd game. However, the game's uniqueness and solid mechanics outweigh these shortcomings, hence the rating of 7 out of 10 points.

Kristaps

The game can be purchased: in the Brain Games store at K. Barona street 55, Riga, or in the Brain Games online store - here.

Expansion - Roll for the Galaxy: Ambition

Images: Board Game Geek

Board Game Geek rating: 7.6