Moon Harvesters 2016

Helium-3 is one of only two stable isotopes with more protons than neutrons.* Its unusual properties give humanity access to technology beyond science fiction; for example, by combining superfluid helium-3 with common helium-4, a dilution refrigerator can maintain cryogenic temperatures at 2 millikelvins, and hyperpolarized 3He enables MRI imaging of the flow of air within the lungs.

So, once the speculation began that billions of years of solar winds should have embedded even more helium-3 in the surface of the Moon than we can find on Earth, it didn't take long for the first companies to propose the profitability of mining helium-3 from the lunar surface.

You head one such lunar mining company, with its own patented, uniquely-shaped helium-3 extraction apparatus. Of course, you also must regularly send moon rovers to identify new helium-3 deposits.

Moon Harvesters is a reimplementation of another game by the same designer called The Bitcoin Harvest and feels like a cross between Hippos & Crocodiles and Battle of LITS.

MATERIALS

Lunar surface gameboard (12×12 / 12×16 grid) 40 harvester pieces (10 of each of 4 types) 40 helium-3 deposits. 3 craters Game case

GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW

Players take turns placing a harvester, collecting all Helium3 deposits that the harvester has covered and then placing two new deposits on any two empty cells. When all players pass in sucession the game ends. The player with most deposits collected wins the game.