Rio Grande Games Roll for The Galaxy Board Game

For context, my GF and me are quite avid board gamers, and basically have one room in our flat filled with nothing but games. Delivery: As always, perfect delivery. Thanks amazon. :) Production quality: Very good. The dice are well made, the planets and developments are on very sturdy cardboard, the only thing I could criticize at all is that the dice strip (on which you place your dice after rolling) and your "home board" are printed on thin cardboard. They look sturdy enough since they're not being moved around during the game, though. Rules complexity: Medium-high ~ high. This is one thing one has to be aware of, this game scares new players off with it's endless flood of symbols. However, and this is a huge improvement, unlike Race for the Galaxy most effects are *also* explained in the text this time. For advanced players the symbols convey the function much faster, but for newcomers the explanation is handy. Still, expect 1-2 practice rounds with inexperienced gamers. Strategic complexity: From what I can tell (about half a dozen games so far) it's very deep. It has the same overall balance as Race for the Galaxy in that most efficient strategies to gain victory points would take longer than the game will last, but just barely so (so there's incentive to gamble on the game dragging on). There's quite a few ways to build, and it depends not only on draw or roll luck, but also on how predictable you will become (a production-heavy setup means lots of free easily predicted phases for the other players) and how predictable the other players are. Luck factor: This was what I expected to be the downside of Roll, but really, it's not. The draw-luck when drawing new tiles can be problematic (but if you discard unwanted tiles you get a 1:1 replacement so it isn't that bad), but the dice-luck has minimal effect due to the huge number and variety of ways of messing with the results of a roll. Basically just about every development you can get allows you to re-assign dice in some manner, and plenty of the non-starter dice (you start with a few dice of the type which is good at gaining money or new tiles, other dice colors are specialized in other areas) have wildcard sides allowing even more re-assignment. Overall, big recommendation from me. I thought I'll be getting a fun "sidedish" to Race for the Galaxy, instead we got a clear replacement in all areas apart from box size. ;)

A medida que vas conociendo las fichas, desarrollos y facciones, te das cuenta de lo realmente ingenioso que es este juego. Además sus desarroladores son muy activos y aclaran dudas en la comunidad. Para mí un equilibrio delicioso entre azar, estrategia y psicología del adversario. ABSOLUTAMENTE recomendable. Rio Grande: ¡Queremos una versión en español YA! Lo volvería a comprar si lo editaran en español sin duda.

I decided to get 'Roll for the Galaxy' for a few reasons. 1.) I love 'Race for the Galaxy' but it is hard to get into the gaming rotation with any of my gaming circles, because 'Race...' requires a bit of dedication and a few play throughs for casual gamers to get comfortable with it. 2.) It seemed to get some good reviews and watching play-throughs of it, made it seem it didn't lose too much of the heart of the game while making it more accessible. For those that have 'Race' and want to know if 'Roll' is worth it. Here are my thoughts... - If you are someone that loves 'Race' but similarly have a hard time getting it on the table, because there is always someone new there, etc. Get this game. - If you want the basic feel of 'Race' but get through it quicker, probably get this game. I have a few friends that believe this takes longer, but I believe that unless you are playing with all hardcore 'Race' players, once you get past the dice assignment/reassignment mechanics, this game flies regardless the type of gamer you are playing with, hardcore or otherwise. Will I still play both? If I ever have an option to play 'Race', I still will. This doesn't totally kill 'Race' for me. However, practically speaking, 'Roll' is going to get much more play for me. Easier and faster to teach (the dice assignment/reassignment/dictate mechanics created the only hiccups and were easily worked out in the intro game. This game has all of the icongraphy of 'Race', but for the new player it is not even remotely as overwhelming for some. Some will toss the caveat that it is easy to 'cheat' in this game, because your rolls are hidden. A few responses to that: a.) Obviously, if you are gaming with someone that has a compulsive cheating problem. Do not play this. Play 'Coup' or 'Sheriff of Nottingham' instead. ;) b.) If you want to play it anyway, I think the assignment/reassignment/dictate mechanic really dilutes just how far a cheater can benefit by switching dice faces. c.) One of the fun aspects of the game is figuring out brilliant ways to assign/reassign dice to make great moves. It is a mini puzzle to solve every turn. d.) You still do not know the actions your opponents are going to back, you can just guess. In my opinion, for the reasons above, in ways it is actually harder to benefit to cheat by changing dice in this game, than it is in others. Or to put it differently, you can survive the cheating with more success. Now, for those that have no experience with either 'Race' or 'Roll': It is a typical euro-esque game where you are playing for the most Victory Points. In addition, you are building a space empire. (The end game is triggered when a player gets 12 tiles in play that are a mix of settlements(planets) and developments(technologies)) The dice represent your workers. Your workers can do 5 different functions: - Explore (Gain money or scout for new tiles to eventually build) - Develop (Spend dice to build a development. Developments give you VPs plus powers the augment general rules) - Settle (Spend dice to build planets. Planets give you VP's plus various types of new dice/workers) - Produce (Put production on a legal planet.) - Ship (Take production from a planet and trade it in for money or VPs) Money is used to put exhausted workers back into your cup to roll them into their activities again. The activities that you get to do each turn are the active activities the players pick. Each player can only pick one, but dice rolled for the other activities are used if your opponents pick them. Additionally, there are assignment/reassignment/dictate rules that allow you to assign your dice to the various activities/functions above in different ways. Definitely watch a review or a playthrough to get a better idea how it works. Once you get the hang of it, the game moves fast, most of the time, players taking their turns at the same time. Yet, each turn there are always decisions to make, and some turns some very interesting decisions. And yet, the interesting decisions are not so complex that the AP (analysis/paralysis) traps are not very long. It is a fun game. It can be played casually, but has some nice depth if you want to wade in it. Go get it. Get it now! Most of you that do will be glad you did.

Sobre el envío 5/5: Llegó a tiempo y bien empacado. Sobre el juego 5/5: Este juego me encantó con la primera partida. Cada jugador empieza con las bases de un imperio (de manera aleatoria) el cual le dará ventajas dependiendo de lo que le haya tocado. Nuestros trabajadores (dados) nos sirven para descubrir, conquistar, colonizar, investigar, desarrollar o viajar/cosechar. Al principio contaremos con una determinada cantidad de dados, pero conforme avanzamos podremos tener más y cada uno cuenta con diferentes utilidades. El juego no cuenta con mucha interacción entre jugadores pero se compite contra ellos para ver quién es el primero en conquistar una determinada cantidad de planetas o el primero en conseguir cierta cantidad de puntos. Es un juego que todos deberían probar.

Versione con i dadi del celebre Rice Galaxy; a mio parere più divertente e giocabile anche in solo con regole che trovate su Bgg!