John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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Galaxy Trucker
I have only played Galaxy Trucker with 2 players. I can only assume it is just as good, or better, with more players.
Brief Overview
Galaxy Trucker is a 2-4 player tile-laying, space adventure game. Each player simultaneously builds ships that will be taken on a journey for money(cosmic credits). After building 3 ships and at the end of 3 journeys, the player with the most money wins.
Building Ships
Ships are built simultaneously with tiles. All players pick tiles up from a face down pile in the center of the table. Each player will be scrambling to complete a ship as fast as possible. Finishing a ship before others allows a person to start ahead when the journey starts.
The Journey
During a journey, cards will be flipped to see what lies ahead. There are many things that can be encountered on a journey. Most things will be encountered by all ships, except for a couple that get decided by who is ahead on the journey. Depending how a ship is built and how much crew a person has, will decide how well the journey turns out.
That's all there is to it?
My description doesn't sound like much, but there are many aspects to both parts of the game. Building the ships requires a person to decide whether they want cabins for more crew members, cannons for more firepower, engines for more speed, cargo holds for goods and batteries to power double engines, double cannons and shield generators. On top of that, everything must be connected correctly. During the journey, a lot of the time, players can't control if their ship gets hit by meteors or cannon fire(this is decided by dice and how well the ship is built). But there are decisions to take goods off a planet, use crew to gain money or goods and use engine power to go ahead of players. Most decisions to gain things often lead to slowing players down, giving other players a chance to catch up. Being ahead of everyone gives that player extra money when the journey is over.
What's to like?
 I enjoy the theme. I'm usually not into sci-fi or space themes(Race for the Galaxy, my second favorite game right now!?!?), but this one works for me. It's a fun theme. The rulebook was a pleasure to read through because of its theme.
 The components are very nice. From all the boards to the small batteries; especially the crew members.
 The puzzle-like ship building is nice. All players building simultaneously works well.
 Journeys are very fun. You never know how your ship will look at the end of one.
 The destruction of a ship is one of the best parts of Galaxy Trucker.
  The play time can be changed. Players can always choose less journeys or more journeys, depending on how long everyone wants to play.
 The rulebook includes team play variants. There is a regular and experienced team play variant. I have not played either myself, but it's nice that it can be played that way.
 There are some decent decisions to be made in the game. Players can take a peek at some of the cards from the journey and build their ships according to them.
What's not to like?
For 2 players, the tension during ship building is not there. I just don't feel the tension. Most of the time when 1 ship is built, the second one isn't far behind. So there isn't that tension of not being able to finish at all. This could be cured with different players who build ships faster, forcing me to hurry with my ship.
Personally, between my girlfriend and I, ship building takes way to long. We are sort of perfectionists when it comes to building the ships. Since it takes a little while to make sure there are no exposed connectors, it takes longer than it should. This could also be cured with different players who would force the time to go quicker.
The game feels too fiddly for it's lighthearted nature.
Hmm...
Overall, Galaxy Trucker is a fun game. It's a fun theme with some nice decisions to make on how to build a ship. The style of play my girlfriend and I have for this game makes it last longer than it should. For how lighthearted the game is, it feels way too fiddly and I think those reasons alone will stop this game from being played often.
What to do now...
The opposite of what I will do... Play it! 
[i]This is the first review where I recommended to play a game that I myself would choose not to... most of the time. I believe it is a good game and can definitely see why others will enjoy it.
All images are from the Galaxy Trucker gallery.
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david landes
United States
oak hill
Virginia
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This game is a MUCH better four player game. Not only do more players push the time to build down, but the good pieces available to build the ships in four player 3rd races run out very fast. If you want to see carnage in a much quicker game.. try four player before you give up completely, but make sure it's with people who can take a joke.
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John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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dklx3 wrote: This game is a MUCH better four player game. Not only do more players push the time to build down, but the good pieces available to build the ships in four player 3rd races run out very fast. If you want to see carnage in a much quicker game.. try four player before you give up completely, but make sure it's with people who can take a joke.
I would like to, but the theme and fiddlyness won't work for the people I play with. Like I said, I do think it is a good game.
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Simon Lundström
Sweden
Örbyhus
Now who are these five?
Come, come, all children who love fairy tales.
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Once you starting building that leel 3 ships with three other persons pressing you, those "no open connectors" go out the windows.
The pressing while building ships is the game. The first go you don't use the timer, the second you go a bit light on it, but the third and onwards, it's just hectic like hell. That's what makes the game fun.
About the fiddlyness I don't really see it. Sure, you need table space and a couple of mugs to store the space men, money points and battery counters in. But is that fiddly? Perhaps it is…
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Jay Sheely
United States
Pleasanton
California
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Oh yes, try playing with The Wunderkind who won his first 20 plays of GT. Including his learning game against me, the pro. When you play with 4 people and they're building like crazy, there is quite a bit of tension.
The whole point of the building part is that you have to go fast and live with the imperfections.
Anyways, fun review to read of one of my favorite games.
Sorry, one more thing... The expansion is well worth it and in my opinion makes the game. Playing with it set on full dificulty results in a very hard game to survive.
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John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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Zimeon wrote: About the fiddlyness I don't really see it. Sure, you need table space and a couple of mugs to store the space men, money points and battery counters in. But is that fiddly? Perhaps it is…
Fiddlyness for me is in relation to the game experience. If a game is incredibly fiddly, but it gives an unbelievable experience, I don't mind at all. Galaxy Trucker with 2 players feels fiddly compared to what the game offers in terms of it's experience. Then when the game is done I'm looking at everything I need to put away and I'm always thinking, "I would have rather played something else." Plus those batteries... don't know how many times I dropped one on the floor.
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Chad Weaver
United States
Denver
Pennsylvania
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You are really pounding that word "fiddly". How do you define it? It seems you can't describe what you don't like using any other words and it is making it difficult for me to understand exactly what you don't like.
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Levi E
United States
North Dakota
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From the BGG glossary:
fiddly - adj. Requiring lots of turn-by-turn maintenance which tends to bog down the ebb and flow of the game.
I had to look it up for myself.
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Chad Weaver
United States
Denver
Pennsylvania
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netlevi wrote: From the BGG glossary:
fiddly - adj. Requiring lots of turn-by-turn maintenance which tends to bog down the ebb and flow of the game.
I had to look it up for myself.
Thanks man. I had no idea there was a BGG Glossary.
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John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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Then I am using the word fiddly wrong. The batteries are always a pain and like I said before, when I'm done with he game I look at everything I need to put away and I always think it wasn't worth what I got out of the game. Almost as if there's too many pieces for a game that doesn't give that great of an experience. It's hard to explain. I understand it's only the two player game that I am basing it on. I'm sure it won't go over well with the group I play with though.
I always figured fiddly to be about the components of a game and how it is a burden to use. Whether it be very small pieces that are hard to handle or lots of pieces that are moved around a lot. Or even to set up a game or put away a game.
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Chris Schenck
United States
Dayton
Ohio
GO BUCKS!
Stop touching me!
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absurdjohnny wrote: Then I am using the word fiddly wrong.
I always figured fiddly to be about the components of a game and how it is a burden to use. Whether it be very small pieces that are hard to handle or lots of pieces that are moved around a lot. Or even to set up a game or put away a game.
That's a fine usage of the word. Regardless of what the glossary says, the way "fiddly" has been used on BGG for years is to indicate anything that's high-maintenance -- whether it's upkeep rules during play, setup/teardown of components, or an overly complicated exception-riddled rulebook.
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John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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I'm very surprised at how people reacted to this review. Almost everything about what I said was positive. The few points I thought were negative, I acknowledged that it was due to the style of my play or because I had only tried with 2 players. It is a good game. With 2 it's not for me and I won't get the chance with more players.
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Chris Schenck
United States
Dayton
Ohio
GO BUCKS!
Stop touching me!
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absurdjohnny wrote: I'm very surprised at how people reacted to this review.
I'm not.
Generally, two types of people read reviews, and both of them are more interested in the bad things said than the good things. The first type is the reader who is considering buying the game. They're going to want to pry about the bad points to explore whether it would be a turnoff to them as well. The second type of review reader is the fan. This person already loves the game being reviewed, and wants to discuss/clarify any perceived slights against the game they love.
Anyway, this was a good, solid review all around -- like all of your "absurd" reviews are. Thanks!
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cbs42 wrote: absurdjohnny wrote: I'm very surprised at how people reacted to this review. I'm not. Generally, two types of people read reviews, and both of them are more interested in the bad things said than the good things. The first type is the reader who is considering buying the game. They're going to want to pry about the bad points to explore whether it would be a turnoff to them as well. The second type of review reader is the fan. This person already loves the game being reviewed, and wants to discuss/clarify any perceived slights against the game they love. Anyway, this was a good, solid review all around -- like all of your "absurd" reviews are. Thanks!
And then, while already classifying, there is the third kind of review readers: The ones who have bought the game and now want to make sure the game is actually worth the money they paid for it. These readers are only looking for positive points, since everything bad would mean a loss of money... 
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Mark Runyon
United States
Columbia
Missouri
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What is "leel"?
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Kevin Elmore
United States
Missouri
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absurdjohnny wrote: I would like to, but the theme and fiddlyness won't work for the people I play with. Like I said, I do think it is a good game.
That's pretty much key. I have a friend who won't play this, as he does not appreciate being rushed during the game. He's not struck with analysis paralysis in other games, but he clearly does not like being punished for making a hasty decision. And with this game, it's not too unlikely that you'll regret placing that one piece because you were afraid that you wouldn't find something better. As stated by others, in a 4-player game, it becomes harder to build a perfectly smooth ship.
You really do need players who don't mind the fast-paced craziness of grabbing tiles and screwing each other over. If they don't mind the chance that they may end up with a fragile ship that could split in half with a single meteor, then lots of fun can be had. But, the time factor can make things unbalanced for some people. For example, I tend to do very well in building my ship. Even in phase 3 in a 4-player game, I can usually end up with a smooth ship with redundant internal connectors; I just have that puzzler mind. If I'm up against players who aren't quite as quick at problem-solving, then the scores are very skewed. It's very hard to get four players together who are of equal skill in this game.
But if you identify who the good players are, you force them to play the expansion cards *grin*
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