Pyramid Review
Space Shuffle
Published by Playroom Entertainment
Designed by Chris Baylis
Art, graphics by Design Edge, Inc. & Elisa Anya Jaeger
60 full-color cards (five Space Commander ID Cards, 55 planets in five colors), planet sheet, full-color rulebook; $9.95
Playroom Entertainment wants to be like Out of the Box -- both companies seem like savvy teams, specializing in small, easy, often educational games. Furthermore, neither seems to have produced a dud thus far. Space Shuffle, Playroom's new card game about our solar system, isn't going to change that perception.
The object of the game is to score the most points for the planets you play. Everyone receives a Space Commander ID Card -- which is really just a cheat-sheet with the planets and their order listed for convenience -- and a hand of seven cards. On your turn, you play a card into one of the piles in the middle of the table, score points for it, and draw a card to replace it.
There are 55 Planet Cards, showing the 11 bodies of our solar system in five different colors. (Yes, this is just a shorthand born of convenience. They know the Sun isn't a planet, etc.) No more than five solar systems can be in play at once, though the different Planet Cards can be added to any system regardless of color. If you wish, you may start one of the systems with a card -- any card will do. If you choose to build on something someone else has already begun, you must play the heavenly body adjacent to it. For example, if someone starts a . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 11, 2005
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