Constellations - An Introduction

 Constellations - An Introduction

Game Specs

• Advertised Player Count: 2-4
• *Actual* Player Count: 2-4, as advertised!
• Playing Time: 30-60 minutes (I think there can be some analysis paralysis, but it's a fairly straightforward game, and so it generally moves pretty well)
• Age: 8+
• Premise: Players are playing stars from their hand to place constellations in the night sky!

There's really not much more to this game than the premise says! Each Star card is based on the real types of stars in the universe, and they come in one and two star values. Additionally, the makeup of star cards in the deck contains the same frequency as that of the night sky, which is really cool! I enjoy this game, but also primarily bought it because my toddler really enjoys astronomy, and I thought this might be a great way to teach him more about astronomy when he gets older. Players claim Constellation hexes, and then discards stars to match or exceed the requirements of a single Constellation hex. They then place that Constellation in the night sky (on the table).

Not a huge surprise, but it looks cool too! I feel like it elicits the right feel for what the game is: simple, but nice.

Players score points each time they play a Constellation. The number of points is determined by the following:

1. The constellation's native point value
2. Two bonus points for each matching adjacent constellation (players are rewarded with VPs if their constellation is adjacent to other constellations that they actually match up with in the night sky)
3. One bonus point for each matching gem (the little colored icons on each side of each hex; here, they're referring to the gems that complete a matching pair with an adjacent constellation)
4. And finally, if none of the gems on the constellation form a matching pair with any adjacent constellations, the player loses two points

There are some variants on the game that are worth looking at depending on the difficulty you'd like the game to present. 

Bottom Line: At the end of the day, I think it's a fun little game! It looks good, it's light, it's easy to teach and learn, and it's satisfying (to me, anyway!) playing a game that can incidentally teach us about the world (or galaxy) around us. I wouldn't call it a "must own" or anything like that, but I do think it's worth picking up if you've got young'uns with whom you might want to play it!