A new board game released late last month looks to capture the drama and excitement of the Gemini and Apollo missions. Apollo: A Game Inspired by the NASA Moon Missions by Buffalo Games is a cooperative game where one side portrays the astronauts and another plays a mission controller. Each side has limited information and can only share that info using info tokens, which are a rare commodity.
Apollo – A Game Inspired by the NASA Moon Missions
Description: Apollo is a cooperative family strategy game where players work together to get to the moon and back. One player plays as Mission Control- informing the astronauts’ decision-making and resolving crises on the ground. The rest of the players are astronauts that need to roll dice and allocate them towards things like resolving flight stages, repairing systems, and completing experiments in order to gain perks and further the completion of the mission. The information in the game is based on real mission data from NASA’s Apollo and Gemini missions.
Players: 2-5
Ages: For ages 12+
US Price: $29.99
Availability: Exclusive to Target.
In this game either everybody wins, or everybody loses. But the goals are by no means easy to reach. And once you reach one goal, the deadline for another looms quickly.
But before I get too deeply into gameplay, lets take a look at the components. Both sides of a common screen are brilliantly printed. The astronauts get to look at a version of the Apollo Lunar Module control panel. The mission controller, and there’s generally only one, looks at a a mission control station complete with pens, pencils, binders and a coffee cup.
There are also functional boards for each side, which are impeccably designed to look like actual buttons and switches.
If you wanted to buy this game just for the graphic design, I couldn’t blame you. But the gameplay is impressive as well.
I’ve played a number of games where one side has more information that the other in a cooperative setting. The intensity of knowing something another player needs to know, but not being able to tell them, can be frustrating. But this game includes a way to manage your communications which works well … until things start breaking down.
I haven’t been able to play this with anyone due to the pandemic, but I really love the design and the subject matter. After reading through the rules, this game sure seems like it’ll be a winner to me. I’m looking forward to getting this game to the table once once my weekly board game group starts meeting again.
Keep an eye out for a best space-related game list coming soon.
Here’s a how-to-play video from Dice Castle:
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