Race for the Galaxy Review - with Tom Vasel

Tom takes a look at this older card game in space from Rio Grande
00:00 - Introduction
00:49 - Game overview
08:43 - Final thoughts
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Find more reviews and videos at www.dicetower.com

[@HansJoachimMaier]

it is fun to see the board game shelf 11 years later :)

[@thadrine]

Out of the almost 100 games that I own, this one is easily in my top 3.

[@wongyip7394]

Whats the other two?

[@jfridy]

If you ever played the card gane San Juan, this is CLEARLY related. Both games were working at the same time as a collaborative effort, and when San Juan was produced, he went back and retooled the design more to make this. It is a bit rough the first game or two, but became a huge hit at our game club.

[@DodgyEthics]

I really want to want this game. Sometimes design decisions in games confuse me so: they paid an actual artist (of sorts) to come up with some reasonable artwork... Then they let a 10 year old create all the symbols and card graphics in Paintshop Pro. (possibly not pro) "I know you may be the artist here and we love what you've done, but Lil Timmy's on his last legs and his dying wish was that we go with his design. So I'm afraid it's brainmatter grey with a dodgy gradient and giant black borders, also we're gonna use this rustic, 90's 'my printer's running out of ink' matte-finish 'cause actually we are literally going to print it on my printer from the 90s, and I'm running out of ink, and I can't afford to replace it, or pay you. How does that sound?" Any chance of a reprint in the works? Or any games which just supercede this, that don't look grotesque? This is supposed to be a thematic game right... ?? Right??!! I can't take this! :(

[@TrevorJust]

Own this game and it is amazing, our group in California can't stop playing it Regards, Trevor

[@delusionsofyou]

I'd bought this game after reading that it's a fantastic three player game but I've yet to play it after seeing just how complicated it looked in the rules. Based on this review though I expect I'll have to try to get it out at this week's gaming session. :) Thanks for the review Tom!

[@mephistopheles292]

Can't wait for dice tower con! July 5-8th!

[@whatshendrix]

If RftG is multiplayer solitaire, so is Poker.

[@dwk1986]

I love your review parts, but at lest with this game- the explanation feels awkward and just confused me more as a person who hasn't yet played the game.

[@shanerion]

Stabz McGee Yeah this rules explanation was...... awful

[@marceldouwstra5847]

Did you actually switch ties? :D

[@valosmith]

Great explanation. Thanks for the video.

[@iconochasmmetal]

I've heard the solitaire comment before a few times, but you could say that for many dominion scenarios, ascension, and a host of other games. One of the main strengths of this game is piggybacking on peoples' actions - anticipation and playing the odds is the key to this game. It does take a bit longer to learn than most, but the payoff is worth it. Plus you can also play it online to help figure it out faster (like someone said with Keldon's AI) or boardgamearena.

[@Overthought7]

Thanks for the review!

[@thatPUNKdude]

Tbh, I never found the game too complicated. Once you read the instructions, and look over some of the symbol explanations, you learn the patterns of the symbols and they become quite self-explanatory. Taught my buddies. They caught on in about 4 or 5 turns.

[@delusionsofyou]

Excellent I'll check that out. Thanks very much!

[@OctavCyrus]

I haven't played this game, but it kinda looks like Puerto Rico with a space theme!

[@maxwellhoward3654]

What is the order of turns? If were are all exploring, who gets to draw first?

[@amunt3r]

If you're interested, buy the digital version first. It has a tutorial that guides you through the basic strategies. I can't see myself playing with friends, though. It's like a solitaire puzzle, rather than a fun, competitive, head to head thing.

[@brandonspicer2482]

For example, I thought the bonus ability of the explore card can only be used if at least two players play the same card. Is this not true? Everyone gets to play the bonus on the specific card they play?

[@jfridy]

It actually is very easy to play, after one or 2 plays it makes perfect sense. On board game geek some people had made a computer version to practice on.

[@GrandElemental]

I agree. Also, if you watch the more "professional" games, the element of watching your opponent(s) will increase a lot.

[@howlers8]

I think this might be the one I saw the other day when I was in the comic/game shop the other day.

[@resid3n73vilfan21]

Wow sounds like a great game I usually dislike card games that involve using points to determine a winner but I think I can make an exception for this one.

[@Alandric1911]

its really not that bad. I discounted it due to comments saying it was complicated but watched a video of some gameplay and found it to be awesome!

[@iconochasmmetal]

I find that the expansions do add a lot. The tiles offer different strategies, and the prestige adds a whole other dimensions as well. In addition to that you can play with takeovers if you choose to do so. This has been my favourite game for a while, so I'm just being a picky nerd. This is a good review, I hope it gets more people to play RftG.

[@rhettpeter83]

Thanks Paulus. Hope the last 8 years have been happy ones

[@AlexTheUruguayan]

Originally was meant to be what San Juan was chosen to become - a card game version of Puerto Rico.

[@Gnor27]

My english or americanish isnt so good so I need subtitles. Can you subtitle your videos? KZbin subtitle is oftenly wrong and miss the words. Thx.

[@Alloniya]

no available in my country(

[@gino_leone]

I love your reviews..but now im only confused about the game :)

[@wroot_lt]

No direct interaction, but you still have to race with your opponents, mess their action phase expectations, end the game prematurely before they build something huge, etc. It looks very hard, but after a few plays it becomes very fast and smooth. I agree, that i like the expansions only for cards. I like the simplicity of the original game (cards for planets, resources, money), don't like new mechanics, it makes fast game unnecessary cumbersome.

[@djlowtek]

lol. why? Just played it for the first time last saturday and loved it.

[@ryanbrown9102]

Seems like Tom succeed to show very good that he is actually know how to play the game. To play... To explain is different story.

[@mf-h3659]

I think this game is amazing ... but man, youre right, is it a tough cookie to teach to new people. What i would recommend for anyone interested is checking out 'en dot boardgamearena dot com ', as they have a cracking free version on there, and people always playing it. And THEN, get some other people to learn that way too. And then actually play some real games. I would play this a LOT with the real kit if i could, but its very offputting for a lot of people. Amazing game though.

[@jamstrat]

This is a great great game. I would recommend downloading Keldon's AI from BoardGameGeek.

[@ellenripley4640]

I don't agree on the "multiplayer solitaire" assessment. At least in the two player game it becomes very important what the opponent does. If I have more production worlds than my opponent, keep playing phase V and IV is a solid strategy. If the opponent produces and consumes faster, it would be idiotic.

[@Melopeed]

It's not my cup of tea, but people at my gaming club seem to like it.

[@decakjeisaozasuncem8843]

ok here some words about it, its one of the best ever made, so how fun is it actually ? if you are amateur player this game is not so interesting if you are a good player of this game then its interesting, very interesting if you are a master and really know how to combine cards for more points = EPIC GAME !

[@apkryptos]

I don't know if i'm going to buy this game. Almost everyone in my gaming group tells me it's great but i still don't know if it's too much of a pain in the ass to learn all of the symbols.

[@RhinoBarbarian]

To each their own.

[@bowietsang920]

You suck at this game if you find it solitaire. If this game is played the right way, it becomes in many ways a medium-level interaction game theory exercise. No one explores because everyone is being benefited. No one uses the phase III expand card because good players will "steal" your expand and trade away the good on the windfall world for cards advantage. There were many times all players chose phase IV trade when they had no goods at all anticipating someone using the phase III card.

[@arniepye]

Really really bad explanation of how the game is played

[@decakjeisaozasuncem8843]

you lost me at "and these cards have different phases"

[@xshadowscreamx]

tiny epic galaxies looks more attractive.

[@dragonofblood]

Because it's boring as fuck.

[@Kubilius]

Race for the galaxy - solitaire game, you cant influence your opponent (well, with expansions you sort of can, but not really) ... it puzzles my why so many people like it, I found it very boring and graphics outdated :/

[@dragonofblood]

I hate this game so very much