Race for the Galaxy

I'm pretty excited about this game. I've only played it twice and I can see it's going to be a favorite.

When I initially read the rules I was disappointed: I thought "this is Puerto Rico and San Juan". It described a game played over multiple rounds where you each choose whether to "Explore, Develop, Settle, Trade, Consume or Produce", sound familiar? It did to me.

One initial difference was obvious: It's not a board-game (no board!). Just a set of cards and a few (unimpressive) VP chips, hardly worthy of a box. One neat thing about this set of cards though is that you shuffle (almost) all of them together and then just play. The cards themselves have some nice artwork and funky titles "Terraforming Robot" and when you play the game you lay them in front of you to form your corner of the universe, thereby producing an end product which has more of a board-game feel to it than, say, Dominion.

Another difference is that you can all take on the same roll and gain it's bonus, but only actions chosen by players take place in that round, so if everyone chooses to Explore then you all do it and progress straight to the next round.

So, it doesn't "Feel" like Rico or San Juan but it's strengths are similar: "Should I produce now when it will help others more than me?" "Should I save this card until I can afford to play it or should I discard it to pay for another card?" (cards are used as currency, as in San Juan) "Do I place a final card to end the game or try and get more VPs first?".

A nice level of strategy. Not quite as "pure" as Rico since you're reliant on a shuffled deck of cards which, to a certain extent, influence the choices you make. But a good deal more strategy than San Juan or Dominion.

An excellent game, and easy to travel with - maybe for a ski trip?!