I Don’t Want to Live on This Planet Anymore – 5 Great Space Themed Board Games
With heat waves, hurricanes, and the general population, it’s clear Earth’s days are numbered. Let’s explore what life could be like if we could all just work together for even a few minutes.
Space Base
Space Base combines tableau-building and rice rolling into a fun engine building space board game that has players trying to establish the best space port in the galaxy.
It plays kinda similar to Catan, but rather than generating resources from your terrain tiles, you choose based on where you have different ships dock at different ports. Space Base has tons of replayability from the wide array of ships, but the expansions add even more.
Spaceteam
Spaceteam is the embodiment of “easier said than done”. Players work together and are tasked with performing various tasks to keep the ship running and fix various malfunctions.
Each malfunction requires a different tool to fix. But while you’re trying to fix the Coddle Control Panel, with the Kilobypass Transformer, you’re desperately asking around to find the Quasipaddle that you need to make the damn thing work in the first place! But the only person who can get you the Quasipaddle is busy with their own problems. Plus, you just remembered that you’re a robot without a speech module. Good luck.
With only 5 minutes to get everything done, what could be a smooth journey among the stars quickly devolves into manic chaos!
The Crew – Quest for Planet Nine
The Crew: Quest For Planet Nine was the 2020 Kennerspiel des Jahres winner, so in terms of space themed board game, you can expect some high level strategy here. The game seems like your typical cooperative trick-taking game, but with 50 levels of difficulty to choose from, there’s a lot more than you might expect.
In space, no one can hear you scream. And that’s causing problems for our crew. While players are working together in order to win tricks together, there’s no communication allowed. Plus, it’s not just a matter of winning the trick, it’s about who wins and how that will be key in moving onto the next mission successfully.
The Search for Planet X
It’s so cute that while all those other nerds are looking for the ninth planet, we’re already looking for the tenth planet. Search For Planet X isn’t actually so much about traveling to space, but rather looking for our next destination. Players are astronomers using the latest technology to investigate and search among the stars for what could be our next homeworld.
Search for Planet X uses a free no-internet-required app to aid in the gameplay. Players will survey different objects in space and use the results from the app to help narrow the search. It comes down to logic, scientific deduction, and sound reasoning to find this mysterious next planet. Once the planet is found, players tally up their points and whoever contributed the most to the discovery is named the winner!
MLEM: Space Agency
If the box art for MLEM isn’t enough to sell you on at least checking it out, I feel like you and I will never connect on a truly deep level. Which is fine, but it is disappointing.
This family-friendly push-your-luck game has players exploring the depths of space. Send your catstronauts into the wild beyond and make decisions which will ultimately decide the fate of the mission. Will you aim for the far reaches of the galaxy for the potential of seeing sights hitherto unknown?! Or will you play it safe, knowing you could never do anything to risk the life of Commander Princess Mittens.
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