The Black Campbell

This was one I stumbled onto on Kickstarter — Dante Lauretta, an planetary scientist at University of Arizona and the head of the OSIRIS-REx mission, while doing the massive amounts of waiting that come with the space program, and some of the members of his team decided to build a game based on their experiences in rocketry. The game hit its goal with little issue, and arrived today, only a few months behind the initial expected date (which is pretty good for most Kickstarters.)

Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration is a board game for 2-4 players. Each player attempts to build a launch vehicle, choose a good payload for the mission they’ve drawn — be it a lander, orbiter, or rover — and attempt to get the necessary delta-v to reach their goal. Each mission gives you “data points”. Reach 10 data points first, and you win.

It’s a simple concept and execution, and has a nice educational aspect to it, which is why a bunch of education and space science-related groups have gone gaga for the game. But how is it as the game? Turns out, pretty good.

I tried two games with just myself and my five-year old daughter (the minimum suggested age is 7.) She was able to grasp the basic concept — pull a mission card that give you the necessary delta-v, and the number of data points received for the size of the spacecraft for the mission; build a launch vehicle with a first stage booster (and possibly extra boosters), a second stage lifter, the payload spacecraft, the fairings to protect the same, and using gravity assist. These elements are drawn from a player hand of five cards, drawn from a deck of cards that include other “action cards” that allow you to salvage parts (dig through the discard pile), draw extra cards, or financial audit another player to steal their cards. There are also cards where you lose pieces for “national security” (the result of the Air Force commandeering one of OSIRIS-REx’s boosters) and Government Shutdown. These add a nice sense of the bureaucracy surrounding trying to get your robot into space. The rocket you build and its mission go on a simple gameboard — one per player — where you track your build, your data points, and the delta-v you have. Once you have enough to go, you discard all the cards, draw a new mission, and start over (unless you have SpaceX’s Falcon booster…that’s reusable.)

The two-person game was fun, but adding another player really brings it to life. With the kiddo and wife, we had a very competitive game  that lasted about 45 minutes. We all really enjoyed the game and I’m hoping some of the stretch goals expansions hit the market soon.

Is it worth it? Oh, yeah.

Style: 3 out of 5. While the cards and boards look nice, and are purposefully simple in their graphics, the cards could have been of better stock. They’re a bit flimsy after the cards for the Thunderbirds game, but that’s hardly fair…Modiphius does superb production value on their stuff.

Substance: 5 out of 5 — the game is deceptively easy, but there’s a lot of strategy to it. Have a high energy mission? You really want NASA’s SLS booster system, but there are many cards for it, as it is still a rare launch platform. Want to get ahead for your next launch? SpaceX’s Falcon is the way to go. Maybe auditing that guy next to you to hopefully nab that Atlas second stage is a good idea. Maybe a trade for that right fairing is the way to go. the rules are simple; the game play can be hard.

It’s worth it.

Here’s the Xtronaut website highlighting space outreach and the OSIRIS-REx probe, and here’s the just-posted link to buy the game through Amazon.