Sure, we all have ideas about how, if given the opportunity, we could make the world a better place. Some might add a little extra atmospheric protection from the sun, while others might throw some more freshwater into the mix, or fewer volcanoes or earthquakes. Sadly, with the possible exception of Elon Musk, none of us will ever get the chance to actually craft a planet of our own. But this fun, complex Planet board game acts as a pretty interesting simulation.
In Planet, players are charged with building the best ecosystem that will allow life to flourish and grow. To start, they get a 12-sided, 3-dimensional planet core. Over the course of each game’s 12 rounds (one for every side of each player’s planet), players must strategically place magnetic “landscape tiles” that are divided into sections representing four components of any balanced ecosystem: oceans, deserts, mountains, and frozen lands. The way players arrange their planets allows them to collect animal cards that are matched with certain landscape configurations: for instance, the bear card goes to the player with the largest forest next to a mountain range, while the biggest tundra next to an ocean gets the penguin card.
There’s an added complication in the form of a secret landscape designation for each player, but the basic goal is to collect the most animal cards in addition to other points and multipliers that are awarded throughout the game. Whoever does that can say their planet is the most habitable for animal life, and thus wins the game of Planet.
Like a lot of fondly remembered games before it, Planet is a good mix of strategy and luck, as players attempt to arrange their planets according to both the luck of the draw and how their opponents' planets are arranged. And the more times you play, the more strategic nuances will become clear to attentive players.
Create Your Own World With The Planet Board Game
Each copy of Planet comes with four planet cores (meaning you can play with 2-4 players), 50 magnetic landscape tiles, 45 animal cards, five natural habitat objective cards, and a first player token. As you might expect with a complex game, it also comes with an illustrated copy of the game’s rules. And all these components are made with high-quality materials that provide maximum durability and playability. In other words, they're built to last.
Planet typically takes between 30 to 45 minutes to play and is a little on the brainy side, so it might be too complex for players under the age of 8. But the game was engineered to encourage useful skills such as strategic thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. It's also meant to build general awareness of the environment and the relationship between different ecosystems on our own real-life planet.
So if you’re ready to try your hand at constructing a thriving, teeming world from scratch, head over to the Fat Brain Toys online store right here, and buy your copy of Planet right, today.
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