The Hotness
Games|People|Company
Kairo
Eclipse
Rex: Final Days of an Empire
Wiz-War
Mage Knight: Board Game
Dixit 3
Ora et Labora
Agents of SMERSH
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
Twilight Struggle
Midnight Men
War of the Ring
Dominion
A Few Acres of Snow
Agricola: Die Bauern und das liebe Vieh
Agricola
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (second edition)
7 Wonders
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Serenissima
1812: The Invasion of Canada
Arkham Horror
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Kingdom Builder
Le Havre
Risk Legacy
D-Day Dice
Super Dungeon Explore
Evo
The Castles of Burgundy
Race for the Galaxy
Nexus Ops
Power Grid
Core Worlds
Dominant Species
Battlestar Galactica
Twilight Imperium (third edition)
Dungeon Petz
Kingdoms
Star Trek: Fleet Captains
Dungeon Run
7 Wonders: Cities
Quarriors!
Mansions of Madness
Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin
BattleCON: War of Indines
Elder Sign
Exile Sun
Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game
Puerto Rico
Information
Designer
Artist
Publisher
Year Published
2007
# of Players
2 − 4
User Suggested # of Players
Best with 2, 4 players
Recommended with 2, 3, 4 players
(547 voters) [poll]
Playing Time
60 minutes
Mfg Suggested Ages
12 and up
User Suggested Ages
12 and up
(128 voters) [poll]
Language Dependence
Some necessary text - easily memorized or small crib sheet
(207 voters) [poll]
Honors
Subdomain
(212 voters) [vote]
Category
Mechanic
Expansion
Expands
Family
Primary Name
Race for the Galaxy
Alternate Names
Dobyvatelé Vesmíru
Galaxia: la conquista
Борьба за галактику
レース・フォー・ザ・ギャラクシー
銀河競逐 (银河竞逐)
레이스 포 더 갤럭시
Website
 Corrections
 Customize View
xml RSS Feed 
Share
Facebook Twitter Delicious Google
ObjectID: 28143
Description Edit | History

In the card game Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by playing game cards in front of them that represent worlds or technical and social developments. Some worlds allow players to produce goods, which can be consumed later to gain either card draws or victory points when the appropriate technologies are available to them. These are mainly provided by the developments and worlds that are not able to produce, but the fancier production worlds also give these bonuses.

At the beginning of each round, players each select, secretly and simultaneously, one of the seven roles which correspond to the phases in which the round progresses. By selecting a role, players activate that phase for this round, giving each player the opportunity to perform that phase's action. For example, if one player choses the settle role, each player has the opportunity to settle one of the planets from their hand. The player who has chosen the role, however, gets a bonus that applies only to him. But bonuses may also be acquired through developments, so one must be aware when another player also takes advantage of his choice of role.

BGG Marketplace
Pg. 1 »
Like New £24.50 8-Feb-2012 flag
New $21.95 4-Feb-2012 flag
Like New £42.99 2-Feb-2012 flag
Like New €28.00 29-Jan-2012 flag
Like New €28.00 27-Jan-2012 flag
Like New $20.00 22-Jan-2012 flag
New $38.00 17-Jan-2012 flag
Like New $23.00 15-Jan-2012 flag
New €29.99 11-Jan-2012 flag
New £23.99 9-Jan-2012 flag
Pg. 1 »
22d 20h 23m
0 bids
3h 1m
1 bids
20d 2h 47m
0 bids
9d 21h 44m
0 bids
11d 22h 39m
0 bids
14d 17h 37m
0 bids
18d 4h 32m
0 bids
19d 9h 33m
0 bids
5d 23h 52m
0 bids
3d 18h 51m
0 bids
More Information Edit | History

Race for the Galaxy's development began when Thomas Lehmann, at Alea's request, started work on a card game version of Puerto Rico in parallel with Andreas Seyfarth's own. Their independent efforts resulted in some degree of collaboration, and though some of Mr. Lehmann's design ideas did make it into what eventually became San Juan, he continued to develop his concepts, taking the theme and other elements from an unpublished customizable card game he had previously designed.

Race for the Galaxy benefits from an unusually thorough development process, involving thousands of test games and the deliberate design of an unusually coherent iconography (by onigame and the graphics designer, Mirko Suzuki) as well as a unique approach to player interaction that prevents direct conflict and encourages "parasitic conflict".

Expansions and BGG FAQ

Three expansions have been published, adding new cards, game features, start worlds, as well as supporting up to 6 players and solo play.

  • The first is The Gathering Storm (2008), adding goals, solitaire play, another player, and drafting rules.
  • The second is Rebel vs Imperium (2009), adding military takeovers and another player.
  • The third is The Brink of War (2010), adding prestige and search rules.

A BGG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page for Race for the Galaxy and its expansions can be found at the Rules FAQ or by setting the BGG search to "wiki" and entering "Race FAQ".

Race for the Galaxy AI:

Rio Grande Games granted permission to release a Race for the Galaxy AI to the public. Great for solitaire play and refining your RftG skills. Posted by mrkeldon, may he be granted much Thumbs and GG!.
BGG Thread: Race for the Galaxy AI
AI Link: http://keldon.net/rftg/

Online Play


Comparison to San Juan

Some of the significant differences between San Juan and Race for the Galaxy include:

ROLE SELECTION
San Juan: Players pick roles one at a time in turn order. A role that is picked is unavailable that round to be picked by other players. Each role has exactly one bonus for the player who picked it.
RftG: Players pick roles secretly and simultaneously. Multiple players can possibly pick the same role; that phase occurs once, but each selecting player receives a bonus. Two roles have two versions with different bonuses.

TRADING
San Juan: Selling goods is limited only by number, you do not need a card or a role to sell your good. Nevertheless both are able to let you sell more goods.
RftG: Selling goods is limited by card abilities, i.e. you need not only the good but a "customer" card too, i.e. you need a good and a card which consumes the good for new cards or VP, however the number is not limited as long as you have the goods and the customers.

THEME & GAMEPLAY
San Juan: Tightly linked to Puerto Rico creating a gameplay experience that feels like a simplified, faster version of the boardgame (with no shipping).
RftG: Space theme is completely independent of Puerto Rico, taken from the older, unpublished CCG that RftG is descended from.

6-COST CARDS
San Juan: Their only function is to generate end-of-game victory point bonuses in exactly the same spirit as the "big buildings" of Puerto Rico.
RftG: Function as end-of-game victory point bonuses, but also provide benefits and advantages during the game.

EXPANDABILITY & PLAYERS
San Juan: Two expansions available in Alea Treasure Chest that add new buildings and events (which work like roles, but are used once and then discarded).
RftG: Three expansions have been released, with each one adding more cards and some new game features. The base game is for 2-4 players; the first two expansions each add one more player.


Awards :

Microbadges:

  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan
  • mb RftG - Keldon's AI fan
  • mb RftG - Game Genie Server benefactor
  • mb Race for the Galaxy fan

Components:

  • 5 Start World Cards
  • 109 Game Cards:
    • 59 World Cards
    • 50 Development Cards
  • 4 Sets of 7 Player Action Cards (28)
  • 8 Duplicate Action Cards (For Experienced 2 Player Games)
  • 4 Summary Sheets
  • 28 Victory Point Chips (18 x "1"; 6 x "5"; 4 x "10")
  • Instructions

Sleeve information
150 cards 63mm by 88mm

Versions
[Add Version]
Pg. 1 of 3 » 3
レース・フォー・ザ・ギャラクシー
Nick: 
Japanese Edition
Publisher: Hobby Japan
Artist: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan
Year: 2010
Size: 10.83 x 7.48 x 2.56 inches
Japanese
Release Date:  
View
Corrections
Link Image
Race for the Galaxy
Nick: 
Italian edition
Publisher: Gamesinitaly, Ghenos Games, Giochix.it
Artist: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan
Year: 2009
Size: 10.63 x 7.48 x 2.76 inches
Italian
Release Date:  
View
Corrections
Link Image
Борьба за галактику
Nick: 
Russian first edition
Publisher: Smart Ltd
Artist: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan
Year: 2009
Size:  
Russian
Release Date:  
View
Corrections
Link Image
銀河競逐 (银河竞逐)
Nick: 
Chinese edition
Publisher: Wargames Club Publishing
Artist: Martin Hoffmann, Claus Stephan
Year: 2008
Size: 10.83 x 7.48 x 2.56 inches
Chinese
Release Date:  
View
Corrections
Link Image
레이스 포 더 갤럭시
Nick: 
Korean Edition
Publisher: Korea Boardgames
Artist: 
Year: 2008
Size:  
Korean
Release Date:  
View
Corrections
Link Image
Images
Gallery: All | Game | People | Creative Hot | Recent
[Browse »] [Upload »] [Link Image]
Pg. 1 of 28 »
Files
Title | Hot | Recent
[Browse »]  [Upload File »]
Pg. 1 of 10 »
4 Custom Card Template
A Photoshop CS 2 file used as a template for creating the images in my custom mini-expansion at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/631746/custom-mini-expansion-17-new-cards-many-new-stra I haven't tried it, but I assume the file will work in later versions of Photoshop too. The file is compressed using 7z format which can be extracted using http://www.7-zip.org/
2012-01-06
4 Race for the Galaxy - Card-sized rule summary
A Race for the Galaxy card-sized rules summary. Print on US Letter-sized paper and trim down to size. Simply print double-sided (or print one side, flip the paper over and place on top of your paper feed and print the second side).
2011-12-11
1 Lithuanian rules
Žaidimo taisyklės lietuvių kalba
2011-12-04
8 Voxen's (1st) RFTG Expansion v0.9
A standalone RFTG expansion, containing 57 cards, designed by ErikPeter Walker. For special rules and more information, check here: http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/356/
2011-09-11
2 English Tuckbox in powerpoint format
2 English Tuckboxes in powerpoint format 1) For 4x9 Action Cards, 5 Start World, 4x4 preset cards 2) For the remaining 93 game cards
2011-08-28
2 Keldon's AI Easily Modded Card File
Updated to include all the expansions.
2011-07-24
2 PDF of starting worlds
Tired of digging out the starting worlds after a game? Print this (low quality), cut, sleeve and let the worlds in the deck. It includes base game and 1st expa worlds.
2011-06-30
3 All of the 6-Cost Developments one page - plus allowed searches
This player aid is designed to be printed on 2-sided 8.5 x 11 cardstock. It contains all the 6-cost developments from the base game plus 3 expansions - ordered and grouped in a logical fashion and for the other side of the card - a list of the allowed searches with a little text to prompt your memory as to what the icons mean.
2011-04-20
26 Teaching Guide for RftG from The How to Play Podcast
(Black & White Version) Here is a short outline to keep with your game and assist you when you need to teach the game. The outline includes an opening hook, a step by step outline on a suggested order in which to teach the meat of the rules and some beginning strategy. To hear an example explanation using this outline or to learn the game yourself listen to "The How to Play Podcast Episode #27: Race for the Galaxy" available at www.howtoplaypodcast.com
2011-04-10
17 RFTG compact player aids
A smaller, streamlined version of the player aids, detailing the round phases and their bonuses. PDF file with 2 alternative sizes a) Designed to be printed out the same height as the game cards, e.g. to make it more obvious which phases a card's powers are in. b) Larger, designed to fit inside a RFTG expansion box. If you'd like to change any of my wording for your own use, GeekMail me, I can send the Photoshop file for you to tinker with. Many thanks.
2011-03-10
Statistics
Board Game Rank: 13
Strategy Game Rank: 16
Num Ratings: 16637
Average Rating: 7.88
Standard Deviation: 1.53
Num Views: 1215674
GeekBuddy Analysis: Analyze
Similarly Rated: View
Avg. Game Weight: 2.9
Fans: 1437
Personal Comments: 4584
Users Owning: 18004
Users Wanting: 527
Users Trading: 364 [find trade matches]
Has Parts For Trade: 4
Want Parts In Trade: 5
Price History: View
Total Plays: 198571
Plays This Month: 689
Linked Items Relationship: Expansions for this Game
Sort: Category: Mechanic:
Pg. 1
Rank N/A
Num Ratings 11
Average Rating 7.36
Average Weight 2.50
Num Owned 12
Prev. Owned 1
For Trade 0
Want in Trade 129
Wishlist 827
Comments 13
Year Published 2012
Rank N/A
Num Ratings 2987
Average Rating 8.13
Average Weight 3.01
Num Owned 5998
Prev. Owned 164
For Trade 71
Want in Trade 217
Wishlist 698
Comments 797
Year Published 2009
Rank N/A
Num Ratings 1557
Average Rating 8.09
Average Weight 3.33
Num Owned 3609
Prev. Owned 61
For Trade 36
Want in Trade 193
Wishlist 615
Comments 451
Year Published 2010
Rank N/A
Num Ratings 4723
Average Rating 8.17
Average Weight 2.97
Num Owned 8790
Prev. Owned 309
For Trade 130
Want in Trade 175
Wishlist 650
Comments 1424
Year Published 2008
User Information
Use this tool to rate games, save comments, and manage your collection.
Front Page | Welcome | Contact | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertise | Support BGG | Feeds RSS
Geekdo, BoardGameGeek, the Geekdo logo, and the BoardGameGeek logo are trademarks of BoardGameGeek, LLC.