Title: Galaxy Trucker
Designed By: Vlaada Chvátil
Art By: Tomáš Kučerovský
Published By: Czech Games Edition
Released: 2021
Player Count: 2-4
Time to Play: 30 Minutes
Ages: 8+
Overview:
Race to build the best ship, then watch it get blown to bits. Try to save as much of your loot as possible and make it back home with the most money. This is Galaxy Trucker in a nutshell!
Galaxy Trucker is a space exploration game where players build their ships in real time and then once everyone is assembled, players send their ships outward to explore the galaxy and find treasure. Watch out for asteroids though or you might wind up losing pieces of your ship on impact! Equipt your ship with blasters to blow those obstacles out of the way, or shields to negate impact. Use batteries for stronger support or boosts of speed. Add crew to your ship to enable you to explore more stuff. Don't forget to make friends with the Aliens, because allies are always a good thing and they are even better at flying a ship than your co-pilot is.
What's purr-ty cool:
Absolute Craziness: One the the most enjoyable parts of Galaxy Trucker is the real time element to the game. Players are working simultaneously to build their ships. As time winds down, players sift through piles of various ship upgrades to try to design the best ship, by connecting pieces together to help with defense, storage, exploration and more, but the moment someone finishes their ship, the real countdown begins and players have a limited time. It's chaotic and it's great.
Once time is up, everyone locks in their ship designs and then the best part of the game happens, your ship starts it's journey and tries to avoid all the obstacles coming your way, which usually results in ships crash landing, or losing half of their structure. All your hard work goes up in a blaze of fiery glory and you try your best to hang on to as much collected stuff as possible.
Once the end of the exploration phase is reached, the player with the most money wins. It's truly a blast to play, especially for those who like a bit of randomness in their games. You can prepare your ship as strategically as you would like, but if others are faster, you make have to skip the strategy and just try to piecemeal something together before time is up. If you are lucky enough to finish your ship in time, there is still no guarantee a belt of asteroids isn't going to mess with your plans. Honestly, luck based games are not always my favorite but in the case of Galaxy Trucker it works well and is enjoyable.
Components: I cannot write this review without commenting on some of my favorite components in the game. First up we have the astronauts. They are itty bitty and oh so cute. As are the aliens. I like the color selection for the aliens. The batteries also made me laugh as they look so much like wintergreen Tic Tacs (they are even about the same size), that I decided to store them in an empty Tic Tac holder. There is something funny to me about thinking that the spaceships are powered by mints.
Theme: Normally, space games are not my thing. Up till now, I have not really found any that I would keep in my collection for the theme alone. In fact, very rarely will I even attempt to play a game with a space them, because odds are it just will not do it for me. This is odd because I actually I actually enjoy learning about space, I just apparently do not like space games...until now. I am happy to announce that Galaxy Trucker is the FIRST space game that I have played where I loved the game and theme. I think the whimsical art might be what does it for me. It's bright, it's quicky, it's about building a spaceship out of sewer pipes. What's not to like?
The cat's meow:
"This space ship looks like a good place to take a nap! Maybe I can protect it from the asteroids?" - Pudgy Cat
Disclosure: Pudgy Cat Games was provided a copy of this game in exchange for a review, however, this review reflects the honest thoughts of the author.
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