educational

Matter swirls around a new born star, coalescing on the planetoids that orbit it. Planets evolve, grow and migrate in their orbits, forming a unique solar system by the end of every game. Planetarium is a game of creation, chaos and terraforming on the grandest scale.

Players are competing to crash combinations of elements onto planets that then allow them to play cards to evolve the planets in a variety of ways, with each player looking to evolve planets in the system to suit their own secret endgame goals.

On a turn a player will firstly move a matter or planet token in a clockwise direction around the star. The board is mapped with a series of lines, tracing orbits around the star, and it is along these lines that the tokens are moved. If a matter token moves onto a space occupied by planet token then the matter token is placed on the player's mat (on the respective planet). In the same way, planets can also be moved onto matter tokens, placing the matter tokens on the player's mat.

In the second part of a turn a player can play Evolution cards from their hand at the cost of the matter tokens they have collected on their player mat (some cards have other special requirements to play). If a player plays a card, they score the cards points and check to see if their card has changed the state of the planet from hostile to habitable by checking the total habitable and hostile points played to the planet (some end game goals require planets to be hostile or habitable). The player may then draw a card from one of three decks, Low Evolution (cards that score less points but require less matter to play), High Evolution (cards that score more and are harder to play), and Final Evolution (cards that can only be played on a player's final turn).

The thematics of the game have been developed with an eye on the science, led by a scientist working on NASA's search for life on Mars. Evolution cards thematically include all kinds of planetary phenomenon, from asteroid impacts, atmospheric effects, to geological events. Final Evolution cards mark the relatively stable state a planet is in at the end of the solar system's development and include classifications for the final planets such as Hot Jupiter or an uninhabitable frozen dwarf planet.

The game consists of a beautiful game board with handfuls of matter tokens, approximately 36 Evolution cards and 16 Final Evolution cards (all with unique space art and flavor), player mats, and player and score markers.

From the Publisher:

Which team has the biggest brain? The new mental fitness game based on the original best-selling Nintendo™ DS title. Speed and accuracy count - not smarts - when answering questions at the Big Brain Academy. Challenge your brain in five fun categories: Analyze, Compute, Identify, Memorize and Think. Teams collect chips based on the number of questions they answer correctly. Big Brain Academy keeps minds nimble and players laughing! Your team's goal is to collect the most chips. Game includes 330 cards, dry erase pen, puzzle pieces, red revealer, sand timer, scale, scoring chips and spinner. 2 to 6 Players. Ages 8 and up.

Kids will be challenged by the fast pace of Crossword Math whether they are accomplished math whizzes or are building confidence with basic math skills. Includes 150 math tiles, game board, score pad, and guide.
Everyone takes three tiles and starts building math equations.
The first person to run out of tiles says “Take three more!”
The crossword-style puzzle can be rearranged at any time.
Use the last tile and win!
For 2-8 players.

Apollo XIII tells the whole story of that mission through a card-driven game system. Follow the story and face all of the disasters that plagued that mission!

To ensure the survival of the crew and get them back to Earth, you need to work together in this cooperative game to manage each setback that the mission faces. Your team must coordinate their actions, or you will not finish the mission! Of course, if you want an even bigger challenge, you can try the optional "competitive mode" to see who is the best mission coordinator!

Game description from the publisher:

How long is the Golden Gate Bridge?
Where has “evidence" of the Yeti been found?
How many sculptures are on Easter Island?

It‘s likely that you don‘t know any of these facts. But you might have a rough idea, and that‘s good enough because Terra is the party game where being close counts. And if you have absolutely no idea what the answer is? Take advantage of your friends who do know!

Terra is a redesign of Friedemann’s 2009 SDJ-nominated FAUNA, which had similar mechanics, but was specific to animals. Terra changes the subject matter to general geographic information, includes a brand new Imperial measurements map side (retaining the Metric map side for gamers outside the U.S.), has 300 topics (with three categories of questions) on oversized cards, and simplifies the scoring. Terra plays in 45 minutes for 2-6 players.