Designed by: Corné van Moorsel
Powerships is a racing game for budding space pilots – players race ships around the galaxy, passing buoys (Powership’s original design featured boats…) and trying to be first to hit the finish. But on the way, there are obstacles you need to avoid hitting!
The hexed game board is modular so can be set up in a variety of ways, none of which accurately represent the galaxy. Powerships isn’t about accuracy, because if it was even the most clumsy space pilot could probably avoid bumping into a planet… instead, players spend each turn making some simple decisions. You can add, or subtract, a die to your speed on the control panel – the dice only go from 1-3, so two dice means you speed could be anything from 2 to 6. You roll a new die, and have the option of re-rolling any dice you already had, with the subsequent total defining how many hexes you’ll move this turn. Before moving, you have the option of turning your ship 60˚ – one side of a hex. Then you move, along a straight line, and hopefully don’t bump into anything!
If there are planets or other obstacles in your way, you crash – and when you crash, your movement is compromised! Your control panel has less room for dice (albeit you can repair damage on any subsequent turn when you don’t roll dice) and you lose all current dice, effectively starting from stationary on your next turn.
Other elements effecting you in the galaxy are special hexes that may push or rotate you, interrupting your progress only temporarily before you continue. Clever play can use these to your advantage! First to the finish is the winner, although you can keep playing to decide positions if you like (an ongoing league would make all finishing positions interesting!)
The game also comes with the optional rule of comets – extra obstacles that move!
Powerships is a really excellent race game, and great with a larger player count. The 3-sided dice (who knew it was possible?) system is intuitive and fun, and really conveys the sense of needing to manage your speed on a combination of long straights and tight corners. The hex grid is refreshingly open compared to most racing games restrictive lanes - here there's the opportunity to spot short cuts and racing lines that others may have missed. Great fun!
Negligible.
On the whole, very low. Powerships moves fast!
They key here is to plan not just for your current turn, but your next one too.
Both dice and the board bring variety, and you can also play a slow-going, reactive path through the busy system, or a high-speed, slam-the-brakes-on-hopefully-hard-enough tactic around the edges of space.
2-7
Players
8+
Years
30-60
Mins
Sam says
I really like Powerships. It's a family game where the well-trodden method of rolling dice is freed from the possibility of dud roll after dud roll ruining someone's enjoyment. Like Formula D, another racing game that has evolved the traditional chuck-dice-and-hope into something better, the dice-rolling here is managed by player tactics, so there's enough in here for you to still celebrate the roll you really needed (just as likely a 1 as a 3!) or bemoan your fate when it doesn't come up - but not so much for you to feel your destiny is totally out of your hands. Good fun!