Race for the Galaxy

[Brel]

A new game called RACE FOR THE GALAXY (Published Rio Grande Games) has caught my attention.  Here are various information about this upcoming game:

From Bouldergames.com:

It's good to see Tom Lehmann busy again. First Phoenicia and now this game with up-to-your-neck strategic depth that can be played in less than an hour.

More later, but, for now, this from the publisher:

The players all compete to explore the galaxy by exploring new worlds and developing new technologies. Each turn each player chooses one action, but the others will share in the actions chosen. In the end, the player with the most points is the winner!

2-4 players, age 12+, 45+ minutes.

From Matthew Gray's Weblog:

In past years, I've posted about what the "hot games" (even if my opinion didn't line up) were at the Gathering. Here's my list of what I perceived as having a lot of people talking about it and playing it.

...Race for the Galaxy. This didn't get as much play, because there were only two prototypes, but most who played it liked it a lot, and everyone I spoke to thought the art was stunning.

From Gameblog:

Tom Lehmann

Before, Tom Lehmann simply didn't register on my radar. I'm too young or something for the TimJim Games and Fast Food Franchise to mean anything to me. However, now I take a look at my list of three most-anticipated games - Caylus Magna Carta, Race for the Galaxy and Phoenicia - and hey, two out of three are Lehmann's games.

I was completely unaware of Phoenicia until I read the designer preview at Boardgame News. After that, I was hooked. It sounds brilliant! I liked many bits of Das Zepter von Zavandor, but after playing once, I found the game lacking in many respects. Based on Lehmann's preview, he's went and fixed all the bits about Outpost (of which Zavandor is a rehash) I found lacking, excessive length and the clunky currency system being the two most important bits.

What comes to theme, I quite like Outpost's robot factories and whatnot, but very much prefer Phoenicia's ancient civilization theme (especially with the focus being somewhere else than military might) to Zavandor's bland high fantasy. I've browsed through the rules and expect to enjoy Phoenicia a lot. Must buy, it seems...

From Boardgamenews.com:

Race for the Galaxy is a card game of economic expansion set in space. It has two primary sources: the unpublished CCG Duel for the Stars that I designed in the mid-1990s (with assistance from Rob Watkins) and a Puerto Rico card game prototype. I designed this prototype, at Alea’s request, based on an idea that Richard Borg and I came up with, namely that cards could serve multiple purposes in an economic game: what you build, the money you pay, and the goods you produce.

This idea was merged by Alea with Andreas Seyfarth’s own Puerto Rico card game prototype to form San Juan. Players familiar with San Juan should find Race fairly easy to learn.

[Brel]

Race for the Galaxy is one of the hot games right now. The fans - Brian Bankler, for example, his Tao of Gaming is a must read - are babbling about it a lot, and no wonder, as it really is an excellent game. I once said an ideal game would be a quick card-driven development game with a science fiction setting. Race for the Galaxy is all this.

Well, the theme of the game could be just about anything, as the cards and their functions don't really connect. I don't mind, but if you're looking for a strong theme, this isn't your game. At least the card art is quite neat and captures the generic science fiction theme well enough.

Production engines in space

Race for the Galaxy is a card-based development or engine game. Like in San Juan, players both build cards and use them as currency to pay for the cards they build. The goal is to get most victory points. Victory points are mostly scored by building cards, but there are also other means.

Each turn is split in five phases: explore, develop, settle, consume and produce. In explore phase players get more cards. Developments are built in develop phase and planets settled in the settle phase. Consume converts the goods on the planets to victory points and cards, while produce creates more goods.

Each player chooses one phase to do each turn. Only the chosen phases are played. Everybody gets to play every phase that is chosen, but the players who choose each phase get special benefits. In explore, for example, everybody draws two cards and keeps one, but the players who choose the action either draws five more cards or draws one more and keeps one more.

Planets and developments

Both planets and developments give bonuses for different actions. Planets may produce goods and both planets and developments can consume goods to produce victory points or cards. The biggest difference between planets and developments is different phases: planets are settled and developments are developed.

However, some planets are military planets and those are different. They aren't paid in cards, but need to be conquered. Each player starts with a military rating of zero. There are cards that give military bonuses (and minuses) and if your military power is equal or larger than the price of the planet, you can play it for free. That's an effective way to play worlds, but takes some infrastructure.

There are about 30 card powers and most cards have two or three different powers. That leads to a huge number of different combinations, and indeed, all cards are unique (there are two of some basic developments) even though powers aren't. If you've played San Juan, that would mean that each indigo plant, for example, would produce indigo and have another power (or cheaper price).

Simultaneous depth

The play mechanism is based on simultaneous action selection: phases are selected and played at the same time. That can lead to fast games. With newbies, the game can easily take 45 minutes. Really swift players make it in 15 minutes, while most people will probably take between 20 and 30 minutes per game. That's very effective. Number of players doesn't make a huge difference.

Race for the Galaxy is a deep game, but there's a fairly strong luck element as well. Of course, better player will draw more cards and will succeed, but unusually good or bad luck can make or break the game. That's the price for lots of variability and I for one accept it. Flexibility is more important than a set strategy, but some strategic thinking is necessary to win against competent players.

The deepness means that for most folks, it'll take several games before they get the game. Experience with the cards is necessary and getting hang of the card iconography will take time. Once you get them, the icons on the card are very clear and effective, but it'll take few games.

Overview

This all means that Race for the Galaxy is not a good game if you don't want to give it enough effort. It's just not very good for random, casual play. Someone who plays with lots of different people might find the game frustrating, as it is best played with experienced players. Then again, world is full of easy, welcoming games, so I don't really mind. Instead I cherish this gem of a game, as there's plenty of learn and new things to figure even after several games.

Another reason for disliking the game would be the lack of interaction. Race for the Galaxy is by no means a multiplayer solitaire game. Only newbies don't care what their opponents do. However, there are only few things you can do to harm your opponent. Holding on to the key cards they need is one of the most direct actions. So, if direct interaction between players is your thing, look elsewhere.

To me, Race for the Galaxy was the best game of 2007. I'm a huge fan of San Juan, but from the first designer previews at Boardgame News, I knew Race for the Galaxy would be even better. I wasn't disappointed: this is indeed a rare gem and easily in my all time top 10, after only ten games. It's just that good.

Rating: 10 out of 10 Stars!!!

By Mikko Saari (msaari)

Source: boardgamegeek.com

[vladsee]

We just played this game a while ago at Mark's place and its quite an enjoyable card game.  Its got a nice sci-fi theme with simple world building elements to it.  Players simultaneously flip cards that determine the phase and activity to be done.  Depending on the phase, you get to play the corresponding cards which have specific bonuses and victory point contributions.  You can "custom make" your world like a military type world or an economic powerhouse and have different ways of achieving victory.   

[John]

Would love to have a copy of this game! Kept missing my chance to get a copy though... Wil! When's the next ordering date and can you get this for me please?!

[benjie]

We just played this game a while ago at Mark's place and its quite an enjoyable card game.  Its got a nice sci-fi theme with simple world building elements to it.  Players simultaneously flip cards that determine the phase and activity to be done.  Depending on the phase, you get to play the corresponding cards which have specific bonuses and victory point contributions.  You can "custom make" your world like a military type world or an economic powerhouse and have different ways of achieving victory.   

Is it easy to learn? I have a copy but I never bothered to play it because I'm too lazy to read the rules

[vladsee]

Hi Benjie,

Mark Stevens, the guy who visited Mark H yesterday, taught it to him and Mark H. taught it to us in turn.  Its easy to learn as I picked it up after a few card plays.  Rules are only 8-10 pages.  I noticed that it seemed thick because the german rules are also included.  Despite being clueless, I still won by 1 victory point!

[Tristan T. Angeles]

The game might be better than San Juan, but do you think the girls will dig the theme?

[Brel]

The game might be better than San Juan, but do you think the girls will dig the theme?

I know that girls appreciate the game San Juan.  For "Race for the Galaxy", I doubt it.  hmm I'll get to test this soon.  Right now I'm trying to reserve time to learn Agricola.  haha 

[Furious Pau]

My girl doesn't like science fiction, so she probably wouldn't touch this even with a ten-foot pole.

Btw, how does this game play with 3-4 players. So far I've only played it 1-on-1.

[vladsee]

I think this game is best with 4 players. Thats how many we were when we played it. 

[maskmanjoe]

The game might be better than San Juan, but do you think the girls will dig the theme?

Depends on the type of girl. Like what Paulo noted if she's not much into sci fi (or boardgaming for that matter) it wouldn't fly with her. On the other side of the coin, we've got a regular girl player in our Arkham Nights who's really into it, and I'm sure she'll jump on the chance to play Race as well if we manage to get a copy

[vladsee]

The game might be better than San Juan, but do you think the girls will dig the theme?

Depends on the type of girl. Like what Paulo noted if she's not much into sci fi (or boardgaming for that matter) it wouldn't fly with her. On the other side of the coin, we've got a regular girl player in our Arkham Nights who's really into it, and I'm sure she'll jump on the chance to play Race as well if we manage to get a copy

Sci-fi just so happens to be the theme of the game but as with many euros, its nothing more than a backdrop.  Once you start playing, you won't notice the space stations and aliens much but will pay attention to the bonuses, capabilities that each card will give you and how to play each card to give you the maximum victory points.       

You can approach it the other way around and highlight to her thats its more of a simple card strategy game with the theme of building a space empire. 

[Brel]

I've managed to play this game last night (2 players).  It's definitely deeper than "San Juan" but I wouldn't say it is a better or a lesser game.  If you are a fan of PC space-sim games like "Master of Orion", "Alpha Centauri", and such there is a large chance that you will like "Race for the Galaxy (RFTG)". 

RFTG is easy to learn if you know how to play "San Juan" but I agree with most comments I've read that you need to play the game a couple of times to get the hang of it and somewhat memorize the various icons.  But the good news is there are actually not that many icons because most of them are used as combinations.  So once you get a description / explanation of each you'll realize they are quite intuitive.  Although I still had some difficulty teaching the game (compared to Agricola) because of the icons.

In the game, players are mostly immersed with their own "universe" and most of the time they are looking at their cards checking the effects of each.  So I also agree that RFTG is a multiplayer solitaire game.  If there are many players, it may be difficult to track everything and it may be quite easy to cheat.  So this is a game for honest players only! 

Like "San Juan", the best (and maybe worst) part of the game is the difficulty of choosing which cards to play as almost everything is useful.  But this is what I like most from RFTG.    Right now, I am looking forward to play this game again!

[Brel]

How to Play Race for the Galaxy (Advanced)

By Osirus, eHow Editor

Why is Race for the Galaxy one of the most popular games in recent memory? Probably because it's like San Juan, only more complex. However, even the most complex games have some reasonably straightforward strategies that can help you win.


Things You’ll Need

- Race for the Galaxy game
- 1 to 3 opponents


Instructions

[STEP 1] Make your opponents do your dirty work for you. If you want to colonize a planet, before choosing the colonize role, see if anyone else is likely to do so. If that's the case, you can benefit from their choice and save your action for exploration.

[STEP 2] Know that not all actions are created equal. Explore and consume each have two cards, which confer different benefits. In the early game, you should likely explore to keep one extra card, unless you have nothing decent to build. In the late game, once your economy is flowing, the choice of cards may be more helpful.

[STEP 3] Consider that military might requires commitment. The downside is, the military strength you gain only benefits you for playing the few military cards in the deck. The upside is, if you have those cards, then you can play them for free--and some of them are quite good. If you build up a military early, consider digging for the big military cards like rebel home world.

[STEP 4] Manage your resources carefully. Choosing consume will let you sell them in the way you like and having no way to convert them will let them stay where they are, but as soon as you gain a consume ability, you will be forced to consume your resources--in a non-ideal way, if you aren't careful.

[STEP 5] Know that early victory points are always nice, but try to focus on economy with your first few cards. This means cards that either reduce the cost of putting future cards in play or cards that will let you draw more cards.

[STEP 6] Synergize. If you have cards that benefit you in a certain phase (explore), or that help when playing a certain type of card (diamond), try to build even more cards that do the same, that way you can specialize and reap double benefits every round.

Tips and Warnings

• Try not to skip many building rounds if possible.
• Watch out when another player has 10 cards down; they could build a planet and diamond building in one round and end the game!

Source: ehow.com

[John]

For fans of this game, Mr Keldon Jones, creator of the Blue Moon AI which lets you play the Blue Moon card game by Reiner Knizia in your PC, now brings us his latest creation: the Race for the Galaxy AI!!! Get it while it's hot here: http://keldon.net/rftg