Planetfall 2012

On the edges of known space, newly discovered planets beckon to your great galactic empire. An accurate guidance system would cost more than a jillion rockets. So you send lots of ships.

Each player gets five six-sided dice with faces representing rockets, landers, colonists, and the warp void. Players take turns lobbing their dice toward the board. Colonists in orbit rely on rockets to supply them, and colonists on the planet rely on landers to help them get settled.

There is dexterity and some skill involved, because a good launch can knock out around other your opponents' pieces while putting what you need on the board. Yet the basic action is simple enough that kids and adults can all play, and the element of luck means that even a skilled shark can't always run the table.

Hijinks. In space.