My long delayed order from Boulder Games came in early this week, so I finally have a copy of Race for the Galaxy in my hands! Race for the Galaxy is a card game that came out in 2007 and promptly sold out. It's similar in some respects to San Juan in terms of the mechanics, but I've been told that it is a much richer game. I played it at Dan's game night with Andrew, Eric, and Matt, all of whom have played it before, though only Eric has had really extensive experience with it. One aspect of the game that takes some getting used to is the symbology. Rather than using word descriptions only, these are used to convey the powers of specific cards. It definitely takes some getting used to, and I can see how a bunch of novices would completely botch their first game. But once you get used to it, it becomes a very elegant way of conveying a lot of complicated information without cluttering the display.
After a single play, this has become my favorite card game, and I think it will be a while before I am tired of it. The neat thing about it, which it shares to some degree with San Juan and Puerto Rico is the fact that there are both tactical and strategic elements to good play. It's strategic because you have to develop a long term plan that allow you to build combination of cards with powers that complement each other. At the same time there are tactical aspects that dictate what roles to choose at a particular time, and to a limited degree, how you might anticipate the roles selected by the other players. Conflict is very muted in this game, and some have argued that it is basically multi-player solitaire. I can definitely see how one might feel that way, though I think a very important aspect of good play is paying attention to what the other players are doing and leveraging off of that. There's also a much more diverse mix of cards than San Juan, so I think it will be awhile before I figure out all of the paths to victory, if ever. Regardless, the key, as in San Juan, are the 6 point bonus cards. When I have some time, I need to sit down and analyze what each of them do and the combinations that work well together.
Oh, and I came in second. I drew New Sparta as my starting world and went with a military conquest strategy pretty much from the beginning, though I didn't really get going until almost the end of the game. More importantly, I think I have the mechanics down pretty well, unlike, say, the first time I played Puerto Rico, when I was nearly as confused at the end of the game as I was at the start. Looking forward to playing this into the ground!
