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ANDROMEDA
by Alan R. Moon
art Doris Matthaus
publish Abacus/Rio Grande
Players: 3-5
Duration: 60 mins.
PACE: Quick. By the time it is your turn, you should know what you want to do.
COMPLEXITY: Light. Pretty easy to pick up and play, but still has interesting decisions, and a hold-your-breath kind of luck.
LUCK: High. This game is fun. There are decisions to be made that affect your luck, but there is luck in card draw, luck in the 'shake' Many decisions though.
TENSION: Medium. Ah! the Cosmic Puck. Will your cube come out when you need it to?
VICIOUS: Low. Mostly just friendly luckfest.
SOCIAL: High. The beating-the-odds aspect of the game is funny and will get everybody talking.
VISUALS: Excellent. One of the best. Illustrated cards and board, nice wooden cubes, and cosmic ashtray.
THEME: Low. The setting fits well, and fine-tuning your 'ship' with abilities is interesting. Space setting is a plus because it is so underused in family games. By the way, this game has nothing in common with the TV show of the same name.
GAMER APPEAL: Maybe. Lots of luck, so beware those of you who can't get past that.
NON-GAMER APPEAL: Yes. My friends really like it.
2 PLAYERS: No.
REPLAY: Good. Good game to play with non-gamer friends who aren't ultra-serious.
RATING: 8/10
I've played 10+ times.
Good with 3-5 players.
Best with 4-5 players. |
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Quick summary | NEWS FLASH: Andromeda is a bit of a luck fest. Now that that's out of the way, can I tell you that is a fun luckfest? Great graphics, neat decisions, interesting theme: really it all has nothing to do with the game, but you can't alway put fun in a box. (Actually, maybe Alan R. Moon has put fun in a box! Get it? Get it? =) Basically the main drive of the game is to get sets of cards. The more of one card type you have, the more stuff you can do. What makes the game so interesting is that you exchange cards with other players in a really neat auction. It's hard to picture, but basically, the starting player -- Player A -- gets to pick someone else's bid -- Player D. Then Player D gets to pick, say, Player B's cards, etc, until everyone's cards are picked up. So if you offer good cards, you'll get more options because you'll get to pick sooner. After that neat auction, you can choose to spend your card sets either: improving your ship, moving your cubes to planets, or SHAKING! Improving your ship can go one of two ways: Either increase you 'cargo hold' (the number of cards you are allowed in your hand), or the special abilities track, each improvemt on that track lets you bend a rule a certain way. Or you can move cubes to a planet, thus increasing your odds. Odds for what? SHAKING! You grab this big plastic silvery cosmic ashtray-thingy, turn it upside down and shake all the cubes on one planet. There is a little hole that one cube can fit out of, and if it's your cube, you get to move it to a moon (which is an important way to get victory points), and if it isn't yours, it gets sent back to earth (improving your chances with the next shake.) I find this a fun game to be able to pull out partly for it's quirkiness. Luckfest. Fun. Great for nongamers. |
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