Lunar Skyline

• Designer: Charlie McCarron
• Publisher: Dead Alive Games
• Players: 2-6
• Age: 10+ 
• Time: 15-30 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link:  https://amzn.to/48ZTHWC
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Get ready to blast off into the future with Lunar Skyline—the electrifying trick-taking card game where strategy meets high-stakes bidding and construction! 50 years after the Lunar Rush, where new wondrous materials were discovered on the Moon, the settlers are gearing up to build the first lunar metropolis. As one of a few visionary building and architectural firms, you’re competing to shape the skyline of the metropolis and leave your mark on the Moon for the ages!

In each game, the cards feature two suits/icons, giving you the flexibility to follow the lead card with either suit. You can also win tricks with expert ace pilots (which can be played high or low), or use your underground connections to smuggle in the resources you need. Every trick you take brings in valuable resources for your architectural masterpiece, but the real challenge is outpacing your competitors to complete your contract bids before they do. Nail those bids first, and you’ll get to pick from the lucrative bonuses that can launch you to victory. In Lunar Skyline, the future of this metropolis is in your hands!

The deck in Lunar Skyline is made up of 66 cards.  There are 6 suits, numbered 1 to 10, each with 2 resource icons on them. There are also 6 Ace Pilot cards, one for each of the resource icons.   Based on player count, the deck is created, using all the Ace Pilot cards and then possibly removing some ranks if not playing with max players.  Each player is given a Building card and a Reference card to start.  

It is recommended to play 3 rounds in the game, but you are free to play as many as you agree upon.  To start a round, the deck is shuffled and hands are dealt out (15/12/10 cards for 2/ 3-5/ 6 players).  Some cards will be undealt.  Finally, reveal N+1 contract bonus cards and place them faceup on the table.  

Optionally, add in the Skyline Bonus Module.  Based on the player count and the number of rounds to be played, form the 6 Skyline Bonus stacks. Each of these cards has 2 icons at the bottom of it – and they can be collected at the end of the round.

Players now look at their hand and all secretly and simultaneously choose any of their non-Ace cards to be their building bid.  This bid is the number of Tricks that you are trying to win in this hand.  The player with the highest Building Bid gets to lead the first trick; if there is a tie for highest, determine randomly between those tied players.  There is a Lead Card indicator (it’s actually on the detachable box lid!) that can be placed on the table and rotated to point towards whoever has the lead.  

Once a card is led, play goes clockwise around the table, and each player must follow by playing a card that matches an icon shown on the Lead card.  Note that whenever an Ace is played, the player must instantly declare whether it is a High card or a Low card.  If you are unable to follow an icon on the Lead Card, then you get to Smuggle a card. Choose any card from your hand, reveal it to everyone, and then place it horizontally under your Bid Card in the Resource area (it is rotated to show that it was a Smuggled card rather than a traditionally won trick).  It counts as a won Trick for the purposes of your bid.

The player who played the highest numbered card with a led icon wins the trick, and takes all non-Smuggled cards which are placed in a single stack and one of those cards is chosen to be on top.  This is important because only the top card will score points and count for bonuses. This stack is placed upright under the Bid Card in the “Resources” area.  If there is a tie for the highest numbered card, the last played one wins the trick.

At the end of the trick, check to see if any player has met their bid this turn; starting with the winner and going clockwise.  Any such player must choose one card from the Contract Bonus cards still available.  Some of these cards offer a flat reward while others have conditional scoring.   The winner of the previous trick leads the next trick. Continue playing until all the tricks are played (i.e. all player hands are empty).

At the end of the round, the players now calculate their scores.  

• DISCARD TRICKS – Players must discard tricks that are in excess of their bid.  They are free to choose which tricks to discard (as it may matter for their bonus card), and there is a -2 point penalty for each trick discarded in this way.
• MATCH ICONS – one point for each resource icon on a visible card that matches a resource icon of the Bid card  (remember that only the top card of each trick counts for this scoring)
• CONTRACT BONUS – if you have a Bonus card, score it based on the criteria listed on the card

Additionally, players that have met their bid can collect a Skyline Bonus card that matches the suit of their Bid card (if it is available, and they do not already have that card).  If more than one player could claim it, they are chosen by the player with the higher bid card first and then in descending order.  

At the end of the designated number of rounds, players also score a Skyline Bonus determined by the number of different Skyline Bonus cards they were able to acquire.  The player with the most points wins.  There is no tiebreaker.

My thoughts on the game

As you’re probably aware, we’re big on trying out new trick taking games, so I was excited to give this one a shot.  Lunar Skyline deviates from the “usual” in a number of ways including a neat bidding system, a unique trick counting system and the ability to follow cards based on two “suits”.

So, let’s start out with the “suits”.  This can be a bit confusing at first because for me, the suits are really the six different icons.  Most cards have 2 icons on them and, when you follow a led card, you must match an icon from the led card.  Traditionally, people think of the “suit” to be the color in the background – but here, that is really only relevant if you’re playing with the Skyline Bonus module.  For all other intents and purposes, the card is identified by the one or two icons on it and not the color.

Once you get your head wrapped around that, you still have to figure out how to make a bid in this game and then how to successfully meet that bid.  One of my big gripes about some trick taking games (I’m looking at you, Taiki) is that they have extremely strict bidding systems where the penalty for missing the bid is huge.  

While there are penalties in Lunar Skyline for missing a bid, they are only moderate in severity – as you lose 2 VPs for each extra trick that you take above your bid.  This penalty is also mitigated somewhat because having extra tricks gives you a bit of leeway in choosing tricks that score for your bonus card better.   

What makes it so difficult to predict your trick count is that you essentially win a trick every time that you slough.  If you are long suited in a color, you can likely count on collecting at least a few of those cards as tricks – and that will likely change your bid accordingly.   As you score points for matching icons on tricks taken, bidding a card in the long color could turn out good as each collected trick with that color in it will score you 2VP (as both icons will match).

In general, I am a bit conservative in bidding, choosing a lower bid if I can’t make up my mind – because while there is a 2VP penalty for overtricks, you also only get a Bonus Scoring card if you hit your target number.  Further, the quicker you hit that target number, the more choice you will have over the available Bonus cards.  It feels like the extra points from the Bonus Card tend to outweigh the penalties of taking too many tricks – and those hands seem to score more than not reaching the bid and never getting the Bonus card.  Of course, YMMV.

If you play with the Skyline Bonus module (and we have always done so) – it does put a bit of a premium on hitting your bid exactly and the possible end-game VP bonus is meaningful.  I’d definitely recommend including this when Lunar Skyline is played.

Lunar Skyline definitely has a couple of neat ideas in it, and it would be worth a go if you’re looking for a trick taker that offers something new.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mark Jackson (1 play): Huh. I found Lunar Skyline under-developed and produced for flash rather than ease of play. 

Dan B. (1 play): I agree with Mark more than Dale but will rate a little better than Mark does.. possibly because I played with three: I suspect with more players it will get far too chaotic.

I think the basic problem with the game is one I have seen in other trick-takers with major additional elements – if you keep the trick-taking strict then it’s hard to make the additional elements work, so the trick-taking tends to be made loose to compensate. Usually it ends up being much too loose (e.g. not required to follow suit) and then it doesn’t feel like trick-taking at all. Lunar Skyline doesn’t go that far but the dual suits, smuggling, and playing aces high or low make it looser than I prefer. It was still kind of OK with three players.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it!
• I like it. Dale Y, Steph H
• Neutral. Dan B., John P
• Not for me… Mark Jackson

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/48ZTHWC