Space Explorers

I like Splendor but it got a little old over time. This game has the spirit of Splendor but with a much cooler theme and added mechanisms that make it more exciting. It adds actions that are more interactive with the other players so you don’t feel like you’re solely focused on your own cards.

Cool game. Fun. Iconography could be a bit larger and more clear and intuitive. Nonetheless, still fun.

Fun to play. Really gets going after a couple play throughs. A lot of tactical decisions to be made.

This is one of those games I refer to as palate cleansers -- its a relatively short engine building game which can be completed in as little as 20-30m once you are familiar with it -- thus its a great game to play between longer games. It resembles Splendor, but, as with the game Gizmos (also an excellent short engine-builder), it adds a small mechanic which provides more depth than Splendor does. If you like Splendor (or Gizmos) youll probably like this game.

This game is quickly rising to one of our all-time favorites. It scratches the itch of being simple enough to explain, quick to set up, deep enough to always be stimulating, and short enough to play over and over. You are in charge of a research hub, recruiting scientists to come work for you, not with money but opportunity to advance their field. Get enough skill built up in each division, and you can launch a space project for even more bonus points. The game ends when any player has recruited 12 researchers to come work for them or when all the bonus projects have been built. Each game lasts about 20 minutes. This is an engine-building game with some unexpected dynamics that are pure joy. As you specialize your engine, the divisions you specialize in get cheaper to advance, not harder. This mimics the way real-world research in that its hard to get started, but you can always stand on what youve previously done. Next, as you expend resources to get skill, you dont return those resources to the supply... you give them to the player next to you. And you quickly learn that hoarding resources doesnt advance you, doesnt really hurt them, utilizing them provides for bursts of advancement, more opportunities to select from, and a small economy of zero-sum goods. Which ever researcher you added -last- brings in its ability while removing the one that was previously there. In other words, parts of your also engine go away, so you can trade up or shift priorities. Sometimes that means making a hard choice: do you want to enhance your engine to get more things, or do you want to assure yourself a bunch of points. Some researchers come with their own specialties, which provide additional boons for as long as they are visible. The game plays well with 2, easily adopts up to 4 (where it has an entirely different feel), and theres an online instruction book for how to play solo. I have to say this is perhaps one of the best instruction manuals Ive ever seen written -- text is short, precise, and clear. Everything has a minimalist, clean, pictorial example with annotations. The games icons take a moment to pick up, but theres also a reference card for every player, and if theres still questions theres a verbose card glossary in the instructions as well. Add to that each card has a number up in the corner on its face so you can instantly cross reference to your guide. Flavor text is enjoyable and not interlaced with how to play instructions. The art work is beautiful 1950s muted colors, and even that some cards are just closer cropped photos, yet even this just provides more detail. The cards are made of good stock, the cardboard tokens feel of high quality, the print quality is sharp, and unique, simplistic, eye-catching symbols both mesh in with the theme and supplement anyone having problems distinguishing colors. In short, they got form working with function brilliantly. The game feels very well balanced, theres numerous strategies that can be employed to win, and everything feels fair after repeated playings and when mixing experts and newbies. Im struggling to find something negative for a Cons section, other than I wish this had been put on my radar much earlier. If you like games such as Splendor, then youll like this, and vice-versa.

This game appears simple enough, but there are several features that allow for complexity and strategy. Each game goes quickly, and you never know if youre winning or not until its over. If there is one downside, I would say its the lack of variety in the artwork, which speaks to the games low-budget development. Nevertheless, the artwork provided is beautiful 1950s style retro futurist that scratches a particular itch that other games dont. And that the rules are thematically linked to the space race concept (sharing research benefits everyone, research is conducted from the bottom up, etc.) is just a marvelous little attention to detail that shows the creators care deeply about what they were doing. This would make a lovely gift for the space lover in your circle!

Love the art style and how it got my kids asking question about space travel. Fun and quick to play when you get the hang of it. Game makers were responsive to my questions and the quality of all components was *ahem* out of this world.

Fun game that plays quickly.

As always from 25th Century, great production quality and nice mechanics.

I love, love the art and aesthetic of this game! 1960s spacecraft and artwork, everything looks great. And it shares some engine-building mechanics with Splendor, which helped me pick it up quickly. Youve got to pay attention to your active bonuses, and remember to use them, but once you get going, its simple. I really like the limited-economy research tiles mechanic, where you pay tiles not to a bank, but to another player; makes for some interesting strategic options. We play with a couple of extra project tiles, just to keep the game going, because its fun. Plays well as a 2-player game.