Space Alert is a cooperative team survival game. Players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of the galaxy. The missions last just 10 real-time minutes (hyperspace jump, sector scan, hyperspace jump back) and the only task the players have is to protect their ship. During play, the central computer will announce the presence of various threats on one of the supplied 10 minute soundtracks that also acts as a game timer. The threats vary from space battleships and interceptors to different interstellar monsters and abominations, asteroids or even intruders and malfunctions on the spaceship. Players have to agree who will take care of which task and coordinate their actions (moving around the ship, firing weapons, distributing energy, using battlebots to deal with intruders, launching guided missiles, etc.) in real time to defend the ship. Only a well-working team can survive 10 minutes and make the jump back to safety. The game offers several difficulty levels, huge variability and a unique experience for one to five player teams. One mission lasts only about 30 minutes, including setup and evaluation.
Authors: M?n & Elwen Year: Q4 2020 Players: 1?4 Age: 12+ Time: 30 min/player Theme: Players lead rival expeditions to a newly discovered island. Explore jungles, find artifacts, and discover the Lost Ruins of Arnak! Mechanics: A unique combination of worker placement and deckbuilding
Hailing all Starship Captains! Get ready to embark on a maiden voyage through the cosmos in this euro-style action selection and engine building game for 2-4 players. • Manage a diverse crew of cadets, ensigns, androids, and officers—each with different special roles and capabilities. • Earn medals to promote and train your crew for even greater effectiveness. • Explore an ever-shifting galaxy full of dangerous pirates and interplanetary missions. • Upgrade your ship with powerful engine building technology for maximum synergy. • Boost your reputation with three distinct galactic factions for bountiful rewards. Explore a galaxy full of dangerous pirates and interplanetary missions, as you manage, train, and promote your crew to improve their diverse skills. Then harness the power of cool alien technology to help your crew tackle goofy missions through the stars and beyond. Author: Peter B. Hoffgaard Players: 1-4 Age: 12+ Time: 25 mins / player Theme: Train your crew, upgrade your starship, and take on daring missions as a new starship captain in an ever-shifting galactic adventure.
In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration. Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home. Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms. You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has a unique effect and illustration, and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more). Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization is the new edition of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, with many changes small and large to the game's cards over its three ages and extensive changes to how military works. Through the Ages is a civilization building game. Each player attempts to build the best civilization through careful resource management, discovering new technologies, electing the right leaders, building wonders and maintaining a strong military. Weakness in any area can be exploited by your opponents. The game takes place throughout the ages beginning in the age of antiquity and ending in the modern age. One of the primary mechanisms in TTA is card drafting. Technologies, wonders, and leaders come into play and become easier to draft the longer they are in play. In order to use a technology you will need enough science to discover it, enough food to create a population to man it and enough resources (ore) to build the building to use it. While balancing the resources needed to advance your technology you also need to build a military. Military is built in the same way as civilian buildings. Players that have a weak military will be preyed upon by other players. There is no map in the game so you cannot lose territory, but players with higher military will steal resources, science, kill leaders, take population or culture. It is very difficult to win with a large military, but it is very easy to lose because of a weak one. Victory is achieved by the player whose nation has the most culture at the end of the modern age.
