Space Race

NASA

Review by Kerry Lloyd

Designed by Dean Houdeshel Fantasy Unlimited P.O. Box 16, Marietta, GA 30061
Released: 1984
Price: $5.00 per booklet $11.99 for 2 booklet set with pair of 10-sided dice
Complexity: Intermediate
Solitaire Suitability: High

A kiwi fruit is an ugly, rough, greenskinned fruit with a lot of sweet, tangy and very tasty pulp on the inside. Space Race is a kiwi fruit among games. It is a paper and pencil game for any number of players involving the race to put the first man on the moon and beyond if the expansion set is used. Mission planning, economics, and technological progress are all part of the play. in a multi-player game, the winner is the player to accumulate the greatest number of Victory Points (VPs) and Technological Points (TPs) while accomplishing his space goals. In a solo game, the player matches himself against the U.S. and/or the U.S.S.R., in a fairly accurate historical scenario.

There are two booklets in the Space Race game: the 32-page original including a pair of card inserts listing the various space missions and their chances of success, and the 64-page expansion set with a brightly colored cover showing the lift-off of one of the early space shuttle missions. I would recommend getting both books if the idea of the game appeals; the expansion set adds considerable interest to the basic game. If you don't already own percentile dice, you need a pair to play Space Race.

Recreating the early years of the space effort with Space Race is an exciting and pleasurable experience, and I can understand the reactions of the NASA people at successes and failures. I too had astronauts die, and I was sufficiently wrapped up in the game that it hurt a bit. Historical accuracy is maintained rather well in the game's design, although the actual occurrences in play will frequently get out of the true historical time sequence. I got Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon in just eight years one time! Although simple in play, Space Race is not just a once- through-and-forget-it-game. You can always try to better previous scores.

In the original game, play is relatively simple-you have ten years (turns) in which to put a man on the moon. Each player receives a certain amount of money at the beginning of each year and allocates funds for cost of missions planned for that year, research to be completed in future, satellite launching and investment.

Once all planning and spending for the year is done, mission success is attempted. Players take turns checking for the success of their missions, one mission at a time, until all missions scheduled for the year have been tried. The order of missions tried can be important since more VPs are awarded for the first success on a particular mission type than for subsequent successes. After all scheduled missions have been attempted, research scheduled for the given year is completed, and the additional TPs for this activity are accumulated.

The expansion set adds 18 additional missions, numerous new optional rules sections and a set of space spectaculars and altitude/duration records for players to use. Expansions rules cover problems like mission delays, advanced mission planning, publicity, rescue missions, possible budget cuts, overruns (a common problem in the government), insurance, and reduced VPs. Most of these are very good ideas and should be incorporated into the game. Some of the others like espionage and counter- espionage or new types of satellites are fun, but have much the same effect on the game as does the nuclear variant for Empire Builder--who knows what's going to happen?

By itself, the original Space Race is a good game, involving only the first ten years of the space program. The game really blossoms, however, when the rules and extra missions from the expansion set are added and becomes a very interesting challenge. Not everyone might be interested in recreating the exciting years when it seemed NASA and the space program pervaded our lives, but for those who felt their hearts lift with the blast- offs of the various NASA missions, or those who enjoyed The Right Stuff, this is the right stuff.

More Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #5
To Game News List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2000 by Dana Lombardy.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com