The Forgotten Planet, Game Review

Throughout history mining has always been an important part of building civilizations. The ores and minerals have provided the material for developing new a greater things. As we have expanded throughout the galaxy, mining has become no less important. And now, the energy crystals are more important than just about anything else ever mined. A new source of the minerals has been discovered, and the race is on.

The Forgotten Planetpits 2–4 players in developing a mining operation on a distant world on the edge of known space. The environment is harsh and the planet is unstable so you have to use robots, which creates its own concerns.

Players start with one each solar collector, robot, and each energy crystal resource. There is a limited area available for mining, which eventually puts you and the other miners in conflict. Your strategy needs to include collecting power to run your robots; mine; and build more robots, bases, or walls; which in turn allow you find new mining sites where you can collect the crystals you need to sale to the merchant guild or use to build. There are options open to you, and the other miners, so you have to plan ahead for success.

Three of us sat down with The Forgotten Planet, without looking at the rules beforehand. At first, the rulebook looks imposing. However, the rules are presented in four languages, so they are easy to get through. As one person started reading the rules the other two of us started sorting the pieces. In a short time we had the basic concept of the rules and were starting our first turns.

The rules are easy to understand and the game is recommended for ages 12+. During the first game of the two we played, we referred to the rulebook a few times. For the second game we only used the book to choose a different layout for the board. We had the concepts and were willing to give our strategies a second chance.

The game is well balanced. The first game was decided by a tie breakers based on the number of crystals players had. The second would have probably ended with a different winner if there had been one or two more turns, the rules allow a way to push to an end game, which I did. Both games we played completed in the time frame presented of 75 minutes.

The Forgotten Planetfrom giochix.it, and designed by Michele Quondam, is a good strategy game. I come to this conclusion based on two aspects. First, how close both games were to determine a winner, Second, I, and the other two players, were discussing strategy options the next day. When a strategy game doesn't get you thinking about the strategy, it isn't intriguing enough to play again. This is one game that is not going to be collecting dust in our group.

Thanks to giochix.it for a copy of The Forgotten Planet.

This article was first published in Utah Geek MagazineSept/Oct 2016.

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