Episode 231: Skymines

In Skymines by Alexander Pfister and Viktor Ko bli key, Published by Deep Print Game and distributed by Pegasus Spiele, the players are investors in companies mining the moon or the asteroid belt. The game takes place over seven rounds and the player/investor who has the most CrypCoin at the end, wins the game.

Now the game board has two sides (played slightly differently) and there are a couple additional modules in the box, but for this rules gist we are just going to discuss the main game.

Each player starts the game with a hand of cards that will be slightly different from other players based on which starting research token they chose. This starting research token does two things. 1.) it moves the player up on one or more mines, which signifies their investment in a company and it removes cards from their starting hand placing them on the top of the board in the separate piles to be claimed later.

In the planning phase, players are choosing cards to play in 3-5 spaces (depending on what they have unlocked) under their board. The cards can be use in various of ways. They can give resources which can be used to purchase more cards for your hand or move up the mining tracks. As you move up the mining tracks the can unlock ongoing abilities or actions only you can use. You can also get stock which most likely will be worth points at the end of the game. You can also play energy cards, which will allow you to expand out the mining companies and reap all kinds of benefit and more importantly increase the stock value. You can play a field scientist which moves you up the helium track for end game points and to unlock a new place to play a card during the planning stage. You can play a research scientist which will move you up the research track (if your card play and timing are correct) which will earn you resources or points and also unlock a new place to play a card.

On your turn you can take one action, possibly using one of you allotted action points to do all the things I have already mentioned. Also there are bonus actions all over the board that do a plethora of things.

At the end of the round you chose ONE discard stack above your board to bring back to your hand, then place the cards you played this round in different stacks.

Players do this for 7 rounds. At the end of the game player evaluate to value of each company and sum up all the stock they own. Also add the point you received from various tracks to find who is the mining victor. Now lets get back to the table and see…..