Space Exploration

First Rat

For generations, the rats in the old junkyard have been telling each other the great legend about a moon made out of cheese and they want nothing more than to reach this inexhaustible treasure. One day, the little rat children discovered a comic in the junkyard that described the first landing on the moon, and thus the plan was born: Build a rocket and take over the cheese moon!

Fortunately, the junkyard has everything the rats need to build their rocket, and the other animals are willing to support this daring venture — at least if they're well paid. Of course, all the rats work together to achieve this mighty goal. However, each rat family competes to build the most rocket parts and to train the most rattronauts so they can feast on as much of the lunar cheese as possible.

In First Rat, each player starts with two rats and may raise two more. On your turn, you either move one of your rats 1-5 spaces on the path or move 2-4 of your rats 1-3 spaces each as long as they end up on spaces of the same color. Your rats can never share the same space, and if you land in a space with another player's rat, you must pay them one cheese, borrowing cheese from the back as needed. After movement, you collect resources (cheese, tin cans, apple cores, baking soda, etc.) matching the color of the space you occupy or move your lightbulb along the light string, which will boost your income in future turns. (More lights in the junkyard makes it easier for you to find things!)

If you end movement near a store, you can spend resources to buy a backpack or bottle top — or you can steal an item instead, with the rat then returning to the start of the movement track. You can also spend resources to build rocket sections (and score points) or spend cheese in bulk as a donation (and score points).

When you pick up apple cores, you move around the rat burrow to pick up comics or stored food or raise one of your rats from the nursery. Alternatively, you automatically get a new rat when one of your rats reaches the launch pad and boards the spaceship. When a player places their fourth rat on the spaceship — or places their eighth scoring marker on the board — the game ends, and the player with the most points wins. In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most rattronauts in the rocket wins.

First Rat includes a solo mode as well as variable game set-ups described in the rulebook.

Lift Off

1950/1960: The race into space is in full swing! We're making great progress on the techniques for supplying astronauts and space-ready machines, for optimizing launch conditions, and of course for designing the much-needed rockets. All this to explore the sheer vastness of space.

But in Lift Off, not only are two superpowers competing for the most glorious milestones of space travel, no, we players are also very involved. In this game, we each play a private space agency that wants to develop in their own areas. We must hire specialists, improve our rockets, and expand our capabilities because soon we have to decide which missions we want to carry out and what we want to bring into space. Only those who plan ahead and properly manage the resources available will win this race to the stars...

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1950/1960: Das Rennen ins All ist im vollen Gange! Die Techniken zur Versorgung der Raumfahrer und Maschinen, optimierte Startbedingungen, sowie die Konstruktionen der Flugkörper machen große Fortschritte. Dies alles um die schier unendliche Weite des Alls zu erkunden.

Doch in Lift Off konkurrieren nicht nur 2 Supermächte um die glorreichsten Meilensteine der Raumfahrt, nein auch wir Spieler mischen kräftig mit. Hier spielen wir jeder eine private Raumfahrtagentur die sich in ganz eigenen Bereichen entwickeln will. Dazu heuern wir Spezialisten an, verbessern unsere Raketen und erweitern unsere Fähigkeiten. Denn bald müssen wir uns entscheiden welche Missionen wir durchführen wollen und was wir ins All bringen wollen… Nur wer hier voraus plant und richtig mit den verfügbaren Mitteln wirtschaftet, wird am Ende Sieger des Rennens zu den Sternen…

Cosmogenesis

In a game of Cosmogenesis, each player creates their own planet system, starting from a star and an asteroid belt. To do this, they use the elements available on the different sections of the central board. In each round, players obtain one element from each of the four sections over four turns and with these elements players form planets and moons. These then collide with each other, causing them to increase in size, develop rings, form atmospheres, and of course create life. Players do all of this in order to fulfill their own objectives, which like the rest of the elements of the game, are obtained from the central board; at the end of the game, these provide the victory points that determine the overall winner.

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En una partida de Cosmogénesis, cada jugador creará su propio sistema planetario partiendo de una estrella y un cinturón de asteroides. Para ello se valdrá de los elementos que ofrecen los diferentes sectores de la nebulosa representada en el tablero central. En cada ronda, cada jugador obtendrá un elemento de cada uno de los 4 sectores a lo largo de 4 turnos. Con estos elementos, formarán planetas y lunas, colisionarán unos con otros para aumentarlos de tamaño, formarán sistemas de anillos, crearán atmósferas y por supuesto vida. Todo ello con el fin de cumplir sus propios objetivos, que también se obtendrán del tablero central, y que al final de la partida, proporcionarán los puntos de victoria que determinarán el vencedor.

Star Clicker

Star Clicker is the new cooperative game of Christophe Raimbault - author of Colt Express - in which players are kids trying to save their planet from evil aliens while their parents are in mission far far away.
“Easy, we’ve seen our parents do it so many times!"
"Let’s click on that button...”
“Oups, sorry for the missile in your ship bro...”

How to play?
Starclicker is a cooperative game in which you embody a pilot kid trying to save its planet from an Alien attack. At your turn, click and reveal one of the 9 buttons from your Spaceship Dashboard and do its action: move forward one tile, shoot, make a quarter turn or joker (choose among the 3 actions). When three of the buttons of the same zone are revealed, hide them. When you shoot a friend, shuffle the three buttons of the colour of the shot. When you shoot an alien ship, remove it from the board. When you land on a new tile, flip it to reveal its hidden face. There can be nothing, a meteorite or a satellite. When an alien ship reaches the planet, it damages its shield. Once there is no shield left the next damage is the last one and game is over. You and your team win when all the communication satellites have been repaired and before the mothership is empty or planet destroyed.

—description from the publisher

Spaceteam

Spaceteam is a fast-paced, cooperative shouting card game in which you race to repair your malfunctioning spaceship.

Your goal is to ensure that all ship systems are functioning properly before time runs out. Each player must deal with the various malfunctions in their sector by flipping cards from the malfunction deck in front of them, and fixing the ship's systems. You'll have an arsenal of disorganized space tools spread among all players' hands, but finding the right tools can be harder than you think, especially when your Spaceteam is franticly worrying about malfunctions in their own sector. If that wasn’t hard enough, you’ll also have to deal with complications such as wormholes and asteroid fields, which require the coordination of the entire Spaceteam. There are no turns; everyone plays and shouts at the same time. Victory is achieved if enough malfunctions are corrected to reveal the 6 hidden System-Go Cards before time is up.