OUR REVIEW
WOnders in Space
Among the Stars
Spacestation building with cards
Among the Stars is a card game, and our goal in this game is to construct a space station by placing cards which show different stages of extensions and development, basically a self-sufficient town around a central energy supply. Each card costs money to place, sometimes also energy (cubes) and earns you points, sometimes instantly, sometimes at the end of the game.
After four rounds (= years) the space station is finished; on a small game board that only shows players‘ scores (somewhat unclear) and the current round you can easily determine at any given moment you is in the lead and will win in the end.
At the start of the game each player choses a race and a color and places his Main Reactor Card on the table. Next to this card you can place other cards which form the space station. The trick in this game is the WHERE of each card placement, as cards yield a higher score in some positions or additional points at the end of the game.
The game comprises 156 square cards; on top the name of the card is given, and to the right the cost for placing the card; underneath you see a picture of the location and beneath this a bar with text explaining how you can rise the points listed in the top left corner. The statement could, for instance, be that there will be two more points when this card is placed next to a certain other one; if this text has a yellow background, the points are generated at the end of the game.
Some locations can only be placed once into a space station, others raise in value when they are present several times. Sometimes additional points are limited (for instance, “One victory point for each blue card laid out, maximum eight”).
The location cards are color-coded for five categories: Administration – Blue, Business – Yellow, Military – Reed, Recreational – Purple and Diplomatic – Green.
Other cards ( so called Objective Cards) – there only a few of them on display in a game – define targets which score additional points for a player who achieves them (for instance “5 victory points for the player who has most yellow cards in his station”).
An additional version of the game – which we did never use at all – allows you the implementation of so-called conflict cards (Dispute): They cost money, too, and a player scores additional points which are deducted from another player’s score (maximum 4).
And, not to be forgotten, besides the main reactor you can acquire and display additional energy-reactor cards.
The races mentioned in passing at the start have different characteristics, which yield bonuses, too, albeit small ones (for instance, „Garrn'Athak'Nok" can once per year (= round) look at the hand of another player, remove one card and give him one of his own).
Now for the game itself:
At the start of a round players are dealt six cards each and 10 money units. All players now choose a card and lay it out face-down. The remaining cards are handed to your left neighbor (the direction changes in each round), then the hidden card is reveals and now allows each player one out of three different possibilities for an action:
1) The card is placed into your space station and you pay the cost (exactly here, if not before when choosing a card the pondering starts. How can I with which card accrue the maximum of points where??)
2) Build another power reactor; this costs one unit of money and the card you chose is discarded. On the new reactor card you put 2 energy cubes, just as you did at the start of your game for your main reactor. Some locations (cards) not only cost you money but also energy expenditure to build them.
3) Cash in the card you played for three units of money.
When all actions have been implemented the victory point marker of each player is adjusted accordingly on the victory point track. Remember: There are no victory points for Actions 2) and 3).
Now you choose another card from the five you received from your right neighbor and the pondering and fiddling starts again, and so on, until all cards have been used. Well, does a bell ring for the experienced players? “Among the Stars” is a somewhat adapted clone of “7 Wonders”.
A new round begins: New money, six new cards, our space station keeps growing. With time it is getting bigger and bigger, expanding in different directions – but: If you run out of space you cannot keep adding there. This is one of the differences to Bauza’s master piece, but much more important is the fact, that not only the choice of the right card causes you some headache (“This card would be of most use to me, but should I really leave that one to my neighbor who has good use for it??::J but also the question of “where does the new card yield the highest score and do I have room left there?! …).
When playing „Among the Stars“ you should keep a careful eye on what your fellow players are up to; when one of them, for instance, lays out mainly blue cards, because there is an „Objective Card“ on display yielding additional points for that should I compete with him or would it better to build more yellow ones that also earn additional points; if one already has several multiplier cards it might be better to exchange the one I hold for money instead of handing it on to him.
The rules are extensive, precise and don’t leave any questions unanswered; looking up is easy and quickly done, the rules are nicely designed, even picturing the fictive Aliens, but they are only available in English, and the card texts are in English, too, but always short, and very minor knowledge of English is sufficient to understand them. Aside from the cards the components comprise cardboard money pieces and clear plastic energy cubes.
These game from Greece is a favorite presence on our games table, the replay value is very high; some friends do to like the pondering, others like exactly that characteristic. The duration is definitely longer than the 30 minutes named on the box, we take approx. 70 to 90 minutes for a game, but we are considered to be slow players.
Compared to „7 Wonders“ the longer duration must be emphasized, but especially due to this players who like a more long-term planning prefer „Among the Stars“, albeit the fact that this game does not have the elegance and all-over perfection of the archetype.
Christoph Proksch
Players: 2-4
Age: 12+
Time: 30+
Designer: Vangelis Bagiartakis
Artist: Odysseus Stamoglou, Antonis Papantoniou, Giota Vargia
Price: ca. 35 Euro
Publisher: Artipia Games 2012
Web: www.artiiagames.com
Genre: Development game with cards
Users: With friends
Version: en
Rules: en
In-game text: yes
Comments:
Easy access
Keeps its entertainment and replay value
Takes longer to play compared to statement on the box
Compares to:
7 Wonders
Other editions:
Currently none
My rating: 5
Christoph Proksch:
Among the Stars is a very well-done variant of „7 Wonders“, with quite a bit more fiddling and puzzling, and therefore a somewhat longer duration.
Chance (pink): 2
Tactic (turquoise): 2
Strategy (blue): 1
Creativity (dark blue): 0
Knowledge (yellow): 0
Memory (orange): 0
Communication (red): 1
Interaction (brown): 0
Dexterity (green): 0
Action (dark green): 0