ORBIT (“Orbital Race Between Interstellar Tourists”)

• Designer: Reiner Knizia
• Publisher: Bitewing Games
• Players: 2-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30-60 mins
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/46hj7Ou
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

Come one, come all to the Silo System, the beating heart of our galaxy, for the race of the decade! We’ve recruited the best tourists in all the cosmos: travel-hardened explorers who will compete in the ultimate contest. These pilots must race to visit all the planets in the Silo System, surfing upon orbital paths, teleporting between hyper jump portals, and beaming through hyperspace. Enjoy your dream vacation on one of our luxurious planets or lavish space stations as you witness the ultimate interstellar marathon. All the eyes of the galaxy will be watching this decennial event celebrating the unification of our systems under Silo Supremacy.

ORBIT (Orbital Race Between Interstellar Tourists) is a 24th century tactical space race with simple turns, yet challenging possibilities. Players compete to visit all planets of the system, then return to their starting planet first.  On your turn, you play a card, activate its actions in any order, then draw back up to your hand size. Cards allow you to do a combination of things: move your ship, collect energy for bonus movement, advance planets along their orbit, or even reverse the orbital direction of a planet.

Players can enjoy a randomized set-up across two unique game boards. The game also includes a few variants: two-player dual ship mode, four-player partnership mode, and a stationary planet.  ORBIT is the third and concluding game in the Cosmic Silos Trilogy by Reiner Knizia.

(FWIW, I have been calling this the SOAK series – I had not heard the “ Cosmic Silos Trilogy” moniker to date, so I made up my own… SOAK: Series Of Acronymed Knizia’s…  Also  CST just doesn’t have a good ring to it.)

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Vantage

• Designer: Jamey Stegmaier
• Publisher: Stonemaier Games
• Players: 1-6
• Age: 14+
• Time: 120-180 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4n02eOl 

The history of narratively-driven adventure board games goes back at least to the 1980s with Tales of the Arabian Nights. Games like this use chart lookups, dice rolls, and, most importantly, a giant book of outcomes based on the choices you make. These outcomes are often memorable, whether good or bad for your character. And those memorable moments resonate for gamers who are fascinated by the open-world and creative possibilities of RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, but don’t want the demands placed upon the players in terms of time commitment or world-building. Being able to quantify winning and losing likely plays a part as well.

But there are drawbacks. A randomized series of events doesn’t grant the same narrative cohesion that well-written RPG adventure has. Some players are also frustrated by a lack of player control. Sure, you want to enjoy the story and maybe even revel in some schadenfreude when it comes to your opponents, but if outcomes are purely unpredictable, there isn’t much of a game.

There have been attempts to mitigate those drawbacks in similar designs since the ‘80s. 2011’s Fortune and Glory ditched the adventure book in favor of an easier-to-manage deck of cards. 2012’s Agents of SMERSH opted for a co-operative approach to increase player investment during other people’s turns. 2020’s Forgotten Waters used an app to manage the story beats, allowing for a more cohesive narrative. And all of these games are reasonably enjoyable and successful in their goals. But no game has managed to so thoroughly answer these common complaints as Vantage. Continue reading →