Reviews of Race For The Galaxy

There is no doubting the parallels with San Juan, and one cannot help but talk about it in those terms. But whilst San Juan is a spin off of Puerto Rico and tied to an existing theme, RFTG is able to hyper jump to long lost galaxies and a fresh experience!

The mechanics are so close to San Juan it doesn’t matter. Role selection, using cards to build things, and victory points all work in a similar way. The game flow even works the same. Like many games you invest early and then race to cash in on that investment.

Similarly if you have large production and consumption bonuses you will need to make sure you produce and consume as much as possible. The flow of the game requires a cohesive strategy if you want to succeed. No one strategy will work because of the unique nature of many of the cards. This is a real plus in my view and suggests that the cards you are given dictate your strategy.

My feeling was this was a far superior product to San Juan. To my mind San Juan is a pretty tired replication of the much better Puerto Rico. It has its place as a shortened form of PR, yet for me RFTG has a far greater range of imaginative possibilities.

I say Race to the Galaxy is a winner and fits nicely into my games collection.