Monday, 19 October 2026

Race for the Galaxy

Thomas Lehmann · 2007 · Rio Grande Games

Players

2–4

On the box

30–60min

At our table

55min

Weight Medium· 2.99 out of 5

Text in the game Almost none

What it is

Race for the Galaxy is a sci-fi card game, one of the classics of its kind. Everyone builds their own galactic empire by laying planets and technological developments in front of them, trying to make it pay off more than everyone else’s.

Every card does several jobs. It can be a planet to settle or a technology to develop, but it’s also the money you pay for other cards with, because to play one you discard others from your hand. Planets also produce goods, which you consume for points or sell for more cards, and some of them can’t be bought at all: you have to conquer them with military strength.

Each round everyone secretly picks which phase to play. Only the phases someone chose take place, but everyone does them, and whoever called a phase gets a bonus. That’s where all the interaction is: you have to guess what the others will choose and take advantage of their phases, while choosing something different for yourself. The game ends when someone reaches twelve cards in front of them or the victory points in the middle run out, and whoever has scored the most wins.

How it plays

The most important tip is about balance. Since the game ends when someone reaches twelve cards, there’s not much room in front of you, and every card you put down has to be worth it: you need the right mix between cards that power up your actions and cards that bring in points. Filling up on upgrades doesn’t help much if, when the time comes, the points aren’t there.

Then there’s the synergy. Lots of cards work well together, and finding the right combination is really satisfying. At first the symbols are a bit scary, and people have been complaining about them ever since it came out, but a few games are enough to read them without thinking.

The nugget

And to think the symbols were supposed to be even more. Rio Grande wanted cards made only of icons, easier to translate, and Tom Lehmann made them. Except that even the playtesters, people who played it ten times a week, stopped wanting to play. So a few lines of text stayed on the special cards.