Comet
Designed by: Peter Prinz
In Comet, players are trying to save the animals of the world before the comet arrives, and the goal is to score the most points.
The board shows the landscape broken into hexagons of different terrains, including ‘nest’ spaces where animals begin their journey to the safe haven at the top of the board. You begin with a hand of cards, and the first action you’ll take is to hatch one of them; placing the card on the table and putting one of your three savior tokens onto the appropriate nest space on the board, representing that animal starting its journey. On subsequent turns you can hatch again (you can have up to three animals on the board at one time) or you can move your saviors.
Moving means discarding a single card for the two hexagon movements shown on it, and you can give both movements to one savior or split them. Additionally, if you have cards with the rainbow hexagon on them, these can be played to move onto any adjacent hex. Critically, however, you can skip over other savior tokens (including your own) so timing of movement is important: it might be better to wait and let someone skip over you if it means you can subsequently skip them.
All this hatching and moving costs you cards, of course, so the final basic action is resting. When you rest, you draw a new hand of cards, including one of the available gold cards, which might be an animal or might be a special action you can play alongside a standard turn.
When your saviors reach the safe haven, two things happen: the savior token returns to you, ready to start a new journey for a new animal, and the rescued animal gives you both points (scored at the end of the game) and a special power, which can be used once between rests. The special powers considerably change up the game, letting you skip certain areas or even introduce new animals that you can place judiciously in order to skip over them. When the cards run out, the end-game is triggered and after using up their last cards in hand, players tot up the value of their rescued animals (animals in hand or still in transit on the board do not count) and the player with the most points wins.
Sam says
This is a fun game that, for me, suffers mildly by comparison to one of my all-time favourites, The Quest for El Dorado. In both, cards are played for movement across a landscape of varied terrains. Both are a race of sorts. Both are fast-moving and involve hand management. But there are significant differences too, not least in that while blocking in El Dorado is unhelpful, in Comet, you want other players in your way – in order to skip them. Comet’s ‘rescued’ powers are also an intriguing addition to the basic three of hatch, move, rest (you also begin the game with a unique special power) and these give Comet some depth to repeat plays, and the occasional ‘big move’ of playing multiple cards and powers and pulling off something special is pleasing. But overall Comet feels like a solid effort, rather than a gold standard.
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Take That!
None to speak of, but there is interaction of sorts on the board, in how the savior pieces use each other to navigate a path to safety.
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Fidget Factor!
Pretty low. Hatching and resting are both very fast. Only moving might give pause for a moment's scrutiny.
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Brain Burn!
It's a game of reactive, tactical play rather than shrewd long-haul strategies. What cards do you get when you rest? Where are your saviors on the board? What powers do your rescued animals bestow upon you? Managing these three spinning wheels is key.
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Again Again!
Lots of variety on the cards and turn-by-turn randomness in the smaller beats of the game.
