Players: 3-4*
Playing Time: 30 minutesYou can play with up to 8 players with a second copy of the game.
The Components
The Space Dealer box is jammed with high-quality components, including:
Cardboard Bits: Most of the game bits consist of linen-textured cardboard, whihch is used for a variety of purposes.
The board is made up of cardboard rectangles depicting planets which are linked together using either straight or angular connectors. Together these planets and connectors form a ring. Different shaped connectors allow for the ring to be created for any number of players from three (which forms a triangle) to eight (which forms a long oval, and as noted elsewhere, requires another copy of the game).
Each player also constructs a player area out of cardboard bits. It consists of his planet and a couple of cardboard rectangles which show how power goes from generators to technologies on his planet.
Finally, each player also gets a spaceship, which is rather cleverly made out of two pieces of cardboard to form a slightly three-dimensionsal ship, with places to put goods and a sand timer.
Besides being sturdy, the cardboard bits feature a variety of art, all of which is evocative.
Wooden Bits: Space Dealer includes fifty small wooden blocks, which are used to represent four types of goods and "attack" markers (which can be generated by certain types of technology). There are also eighty-eight wooden cylinders (in eight colors) which mark the victory points and technology counters for the different players. A pretty good effort has been made to make each of the eight colors distinctive. I find the two shades of blue a little similar, but that's an easy enough problem to avoid.
Sand Timers: These one-minute sand timers are used to time actions in the game. They've mass produced sand timers, so you have to be a little careful to make sure that all of your timers keep running; out of the ten I got, there was one that liked to stop sometimes. I can't particularly fault that, because that happens sometimes with the sort of timer that you can affordably mass produce for a game. I suggest running the timers before any game and pairing up the slowest and fastest ones to give everyone a pretty fair distribution.
CD: The game also comes with a CD which acts as a 30-minute timer for the game. You put it in your CD player, and it'll tell you as the major minute marks go by, and also play music that slowly increases in speed, to play up the drama of the fast approaching deadline.
As noted, Space Dealer can play with 8. Here's how it works:
All of the cardboard bits in Space Dealer are double-sided. Thus the board, the player areas, and the space ship each include a different player color on the back. Each copy of the game also comes with all the wooden player markers needed for 8 players. Thus, when you purchase two sets of this game, you'll automatically have all the cardboard you need for 8 players (and twice as many wooden bits, as it happens).
Overall, Space Dealer comes with a humongous amount of stuff that's all high-quality and attractive. The CD really goes beyond the norm to give you a great game timer. As a result, it earns a full "5" out of "5" for Style: terrific.
The Gameplay
The object of Space Dealer is to score the most points by delivering goods within the 30-minute time limit.
Setup: A ring of planets is laid out in the middle of the board. It has player home planets and neutral planets alternating with each other. Each player puts his space ship on his home planet.
Each player is given a home planet player card, with locations for his technologies, and a deck of six initial technology cards. A generator is taken from the deck to power two power slots, then a mine is placed in one of those two slots. The other four cards (two mines, a depot, and a generator) are held back to be used later.
The Technology Cards: Much of the gameplay centers around the technology cards. There are three decks of them, for three different levels of technology (1, 2, and 3). A player may only draw cards based on his civilization's current technology level, which starts out at 1 (meaning that he can initially only use his remaining 4 cards in his hand).
Most technology cards are powered. A society can have up two generators. At start generators can each power two power slots, but better generators can power three or four slots. At the beginning of the game a player will thus have two power slots from his one level-1 generator, but that can increase to eight slots by the end of the game (using two level-3 generators).
Technology cards come in two main types:
Vertical cards require one power slot. They feature an action which you can use and a trading demand which other players can fulfill.
Horizontal cards require two power slots. They feature an action you can use, but no demand.
You can never block demands that you've previously built, which means that you can build horizontal cards on top of vertical cards (because they don't cover the demand area, just the action area), but not vertical cards on top of vertical cards (because that would cover a demand).
Here are the most important sorts of cards that show up during the game:
- Mines. These let you produce goods.
- Depot. This lets you store up to 4 goods.
- Convertors. These let you change good type.
Generally, these cards get better at higher tech levels. Thus, the TL1 mine creates 1 good of a specific type, while the TL3 mine creates 2 goods of one of two different types.
THere are more complex cards that give you various extras (such as an extra sand timer) or which let you sabotage other players' timers. Some don't even require power slots.
Order of Play: All play is simultaneous! The game is controlled by sand timers. For most actions, you must start a sandtimer, wait for it to run out, then move it to take an action. Here are the four main sorts of actions:
- Raise Tech Level
- Build Technology
- Use Technology
- Move Ship
Raise Tech Level: You can run a sand timer on your home planet to increase your tech level. Every two times you run the timer, you increase your tech level by one, to a maximum of 3.
Build Technology: You can put technologies in your "planning area" at any time. This can be a card from your hand of tech level 1 cards that you're initially given. Alternatively, if your TL is 2 or 3, you can draw two cards from the appropriate deck, discard one, and place the other in your planning area.
To build a technology, you must put a timer on it. When it's complete, you can move the technology out for use, which means adding it to a power slot--without a slot, you can't build the technology.
Use Technology: This means using the action of a technology card, such as producing a good (with a mine) or transforming a good (with a convertor). You place the timer, and when it's done you take the action.
Notably, you can't leave goods on mines: you must either place them in a depot or on a ship at your planet. This can be a notable constraint.
Move Ship: When you're done loading goods on your ship (which can take up to 8), you can place a timer to move it one "orbit". When it's done you shift it either one planet clockwise or counterclockwise. Since there are neutral planets in between each pair or player planets, it takes at least two moves to get to another planet.
The object of moving your ship is to accomplish those demands that other players created when they built their own technology. Each demand requires one or more good in specific colors. If you arrive at the planet with the specified goods, you may discard the goods, then claim the demand with one of your victory point markers. Each demand can only be met once.
Each demand actually gives VPs to both the player who fulfilled the demand and the owning player, though the fulfiller gets more points.
Once you've fulfilled a demand, it's easier to get home: one sand timer will bring an empty ship back to your home planet.
Ending the Game: The game ends after 30 minutes. Players finish their final actions, then they count up all their points based on fulfilled demands. The player with the most points wins.
(The game actually suggests using the planetary ring as a scoreboard over the course of the game, but in a fast-action real-time game, that's just asking for trouble.)
Advanced Rules: The advanced rules include some of the more complex cards, which you may indeed want to keep out if everyone is new to the game, and two more rules. First, you can now trade technology cards in your planning area (but no one ever trades in a real-time game). Second, the neutral planets now have demands of their own. They're closer, but not as valuable (for the cost in goods).
Relationships to Other Games
Looking at the mechanics, Space Dealer isn't that unusual. It's a civilization development and non-interactive trading game (meaning that you trade with the system, rather than the other players). There are any number of Civ Light games which feature the first sort of game play, though they usually have interpersonal trading. Non-interactive trading is less common but shows up in games like Serenissima. Though I've seen these elements before, they're still a lot of fun, and I think that well-designed games that incorporate them tend to do well.
However, Space Dealer really distinguishes itself by taking those elements and putting them into a real-time game. When you get beyond the field of pattern-recognition (e.g., Set, Ubongo), real-time games are pretty uncommon. I've reviewed a few, such as Tom Jolly's Camelot and Light Speed.
When I talk about game relationships, I'll often mention a game's supplements. Here, of course, it's worth noting again that Space Dealer is a supplement to itself, since up to 8 people can play with two copies of the game.
The Game Design
Let me say most simply: Space Dealer works and is a lot of fun.
A lot of this comes about because of the real-time element. Things often seem frenetic, as you're desperately trying to figure out all the information at the table, plan what to do next, carry out your last actions, and move your timers to the next one--at the same time. One of my players said that the game was "adrenaline inducing" and he's quite right. The first two times I played I was almost physically exhausted by the time I got done, and every tense moment in between was a lot of fun.
However, beyond that, the possibility of tech development and the entire production-conversion-delivery cycle make for interesting game play. And, I can pretty definitively say that it's not always easy to find the correct path (particularly in real time). I hosed myself with stupid decisions during my last game, proving there's the opportunity to do poorly (or well).
I also want to briefly comment on the possibility of playing with 8 players: it works, but I'm not convinced that you wouldn't be better off playing two simultaneous games. Sure, there's some opportunity to trade with more distant people when you have eight, but for the most part, you're just playing with your two neighbors. Nonetheless, if you really want a game that 8 people can play in simultaneously, and that doesn't suffer from downtime issue, this will answer that requirement.
Space Dealer's one flaw is that it can take a bit of time to set up and explain the rules--particularly since you have to be pretty careful about rules explanations since there isn't a lot of time to follow up when you're actually playing. Combine that with the fact that you're usually too tired to play a second time, and it can sometimes be a bit too much trouble to get the game out.
Nevertheless, I think Space Dealer is great. It earns some kudos for being unique, but it's also a very enjoyable game with some serious strategy behind it--yet enough luck (through the card draw of technologies) to keep you on your toes. I've given it a full "5" out of "5" for Substance.
Conclusion
Space Dealer is a frenetic real-time game that's exhausting, exciting, and overall, a lot of fun. The technology and trading systems offer interesting choices, and the difficulty of figuring out your best choices are just compounded as the clock counts down.
