Xtronaut — or “the game of Solar System exploration” — has the distinction of being (to my knowledge) the only game ever designed by the leader of a space mission. Dante Lauretta is indeed the principal investigator of OSIRIS-REx, NASA's New Frontiers spacecraft currently en route to the asteroid Bennu, a piece of which it will bring back to Earth in 2023. Professor Lauretta's Q&A, also in this issue, reveals some details of the game's conception, production and reception, whereas here the focus will be on the game itself.
The game's purpose is straightforward: assemble a rocket in order to fulfil an assigned scientific mission of Solar System exploration. Each mission gives points according to its difficulty, and the first player who accumulates ten points wins (usually two to three missions are needed). Xtronaut is mostly based on a deck of cards from which players can draw spacecraft components and other special cards that affect the game in various ways. The key condition to be met for launching a successful mission is ‘delta-v’, a unit representing the impulse you need to make all the required manoeuvres for a successful outcome. Each mission has a different delta-v objective depending on its complexity. The game cleverly adds some complications (all the spacecraft components must be of the same aerospace manufacturer and players cannot keep more than five cards in their hand at the end of their turn) that stimulate interaction and trade between players, forcing them to cooperate even if they compete for victory. Special cards include gravity assists to add delta-v and action cards that activate a variety of effects, from drawing more cards to cancelling the mission of an opponent or being blocked by government shutdown.
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