Our last Kickstarter that had an initial predicted 2020 delivery date had finally made its way to us this past week. It is a game that we were excited to back because of how cool it looked and the game play is one we enjoy… polyominoes. Planet Unknown is by Adam's Apple Games.
Since my daughter loves to punch out cardboard pieces, she, my mother and I had prepped the game that afternoon and played it that night.
We also played Fantasy Fluxx which has the same game play as the other Fluxx games (see Entry #55). Because of that, there is no need to talk more about this specific version of the game.
BGG Description
Our planet has run out of resources, and we are forced to move. We have discovered a series of planets and sent our rovers to test their environment with the hope of colonization. Our rovers have confirmed 1-6 viable colonization options.
Planet Unknown is a competitive game for 1-6 players in which players attempt to develop the best planet. Each round, each player places one polyomino-shaped, dual-resource tile on their planet. Each resource represents the infrastructure needed to support life on the planet. Every tile placement is important to cover your planet efficiently and also to build up your planet's engine. After placing the tile, players do two actions associated with the two infrastructure types on the tile. Some tile placements trigger "meteors" that make all planets harder to develop and prevent them from scoring points in the meteor's row and column.
Planet Unknown innovates on the popular polyomino trend by allowing simultaneous, yet strategic turn-based play via the Lazy S.U.S.A.N. space station in the center of the table.
—description from the publisher
Weight 2.26/5
A Little More Info
There is one little (or major) difference in a 3+ player game than there is in a two player game; with two players the station commander only moves the S.U.S.A.N. one depot clockwise each turn instead of picking which depot section they want.
This could be either good or bad depending on your style of play. Players who are good at planning turns ahead of time would love it, those who struggle with that will more than likely not enjoy this aspect of the game.
The game includes a private objective module, an event deck module, and it also has solo mode as well. We haven’t used any of those options yet (plan to in the next few games).
What we like about the game
We are fans of polyomino games so this fits right into our collection nicely. We really enjoy that the game is not just placing a piece on the map but includes the five different terraforming tracks on the player boards to help you fill in and make your planet habitable. Is one track more powerful than the others? I would have to say no. There is a good balance between them all.
The next thing we like is that with the game corporation boards and planet boards each have a symmetric side and an asymmetric side. The symmetric side allows all players to play the same game with the same rules and everyone has the same planet. The asymmetric side allows each player to control a unique corporation with a unique set of rules and choose from an individual unique planet to terraform. This does give you the freedom to mix and match and setup your own unique game.
Another thing regarding this game that we like is that the rule book may seem daunting but it is full of good information about the game. However, the last half of the book is better than the first which provides details and clarifications regarding the corporation boards and planets. See next section about the first half of the rule book.
We do like that the lazy S.U.S.A.N has two sections to it where we can mix up what each depot has from game to game. And that the storage trays are very nice and have covers to prevent pieces from shift in the box.
The last thing we want to point out is that the game is actually pretty fast because everyone takes their turns together so there is little downtime between each players turns. Even when teaching a new person to the game and helping them out to understand what is going on, the game is quick. Once you know the basics, the game just flows.
What we don’t like about the game
Unfortunately, there are a few things that could be better in our eyes with the first being the box for the deluxe edition is just a hair too short to properly store the fancy Lazy Susan in. Overall, the way everything fits in the box is great but because it does not fit all the way securely without lid-lift we have to subtract a few points.
The wash on the plastic pieces were suppose to make the "pop" but most of them don't look good at all. The unfortunate thing is that we can not get replacement to fix the issue. Some people like the way they look but for us, we just look past the impurities.
Now to the rule book. As stated in the previous section, the second half is great but the first half could be better. Pages 3-7 could have been written better. A one page, maybe two pages at most, summary of the rules then more in-depth detail of each tack would make it easier to read and understand.
As a side note to the rules, we feel that Planet KSB-4156 (the basic planet) should have another planet ice area in the Southeast quadrant to assist with moving the water resource track better. We added a house rule that if a water piece is connecting to another water tile section that is correctly placed over an ice area, we will advance the track. This may change as we play more and can better grasp a more balanced strategy.
The last thing, semi-spoiler alert, is that there is a specific set of Civ cards (1 per tier) that gets you more points for having additional copies of it at the end of the game. However, as I just mentioned, there is only one of each card per tier. So with a lower player count and because you randomly pick cards during the setup of the game, the chance of getting multiples of them is pretty slim. If there were at least two copies of each, the odds are better at getting the additional matching cards.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are a fan of the polyomino; this game is a must have for your collection.
If you are a fan of space and planetary games; this game is a must have for your collection.
If you are a fan of… well… games in general; this is a... well you get the point (a must have in your collection).
Planet Unknown is very likeable game. We have enjoyed the few games we played so far at both two and three players. We are looking forward to trying out the modules and teaching others how to play it too.
(All game images are from BGG User Uploads)
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