Renegade Game Studios Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension for 1 to 4 Players Aged 12 & Up

While not necessarily intuitive (which is what ultimately makes it so unique), the rules for the game are quite simple and, once understood, lend themselves to a super fun experience. The game is chaotic and strategy may prove null many times, but this is not that type of game. Still, it is not devoid of some tactical play that is very rewarding when it pays off. The components are not the best quality (typical of a cryptozoic production), but this helps keep the game more accessible and costs down. Simply put, an excellent game that lasts no more than 30-40 minutes and one that every gamer should try.

This game is a very simple race game, and yet is both exciting and interesting to play. Unlike the normal race games, where the players are always moving towards the goal, in this game, players tend to move towards each other, allowing the game to typically reach an exciting finale, where the players attempt to set up their positions to be able to slide into the finish. (The game has the players moving towards other players, away from other players, and pulling all players closer to themselves.) This game works better with more players- up to 4, but still can work with less. The game takes about an hour to play. Be sure that when you are playing this with people, you point out the card distribution. Players can form misguided strategies if they don't know the numbers and types of the cards.

One of the things that I must say about this is that it's a very beautiful game. The artwork is gorgeous, the board is beautiful, and I love the sculpting and the detailing on the figurines of this game. Gravwell is one of those games that is like a fine wine. You may be a bit taken aback at first by the mechanics, but once you get used to them and get better at it, it becomes a solid favorite. The objective of the game is to reach the warp gate first with your ship. At the start of the game, put aside everyone's 'Emergency Stop' cards, count how many players there are, multiply it by three, and deal that many fuel cards face-down. Then, deal one card face-up on each of those cards. Starting with the youngest player, each player takes a pile of cards until each has 6 cards in their hand. Now, you're ready to play! Each player chooses a card and puts it face down on the field. On the count of three, flip them up. Players move in alphabetical order this time, so let's say each player flips up an A (Argon), B (Boron), Z (Zirconium) and O (Oxygen). The player who played Argon will move first, Boron second, Oxygen third, and Zirconium last. To move your ship, check and see which ship is closest to you. Now, look at the colour of and number on your card. If it's GREEN, move your token a number of spaces equal to that number TOWARDS the closest ship. If you think that your ship is going to fall on the same tile as the closest ship, you move it ahead or backwards, depending on the direction you're going. If you get a high number, you have to keep going in that same direction. If it's PURPLE, you actually move AWAY from that ship. PURPLE is the Repulsor Beam, which pushes you OFF of the nearest ship. If the card is BLUE, however, you don't move. All other ships in the game actually move towards YOU instead, so start with the ship furthest away from you, and move it towards your position that many number of spaces, all until you get to the last ship. If there's a tie and two ships are equal distance away from you, count the number of ships behind your ship and in front of your ship. The side with the most ships has the stronger gravity, so that ship is treated as being close to you. If you run out of fuel cards, move the white bowling pin marker to the next round, shuffle the discarded fuel cards, and deal them again. Keep doing these steps until somebody wins! With a moderator and some practice, this can be a fun game. It took the kids at my library a while to get used to this game, but those that finally understood it had a blast, and even requested this game a lot during Board Game Fridays. However, there are some downsides. The pieces are kinda fragile. One of the derelict ships broke off inside of the box, and I had to use a hot glue gun to fix it. Twice. The side of the box cover split after a few openings as well. Also, for the love of BeJesus, PLEASE use card sleeves when playing this game with children. If a card rips or tears, that card won't be suitable for future playthroughs, and it'll tarnish the presentation of what is a beautiful looking game. I recommend this game for board game enthusiasts, and children 10 and up. Young children may not appreciate or even understand the finer nuances that this game has to offer, and may be frustrated by the unique rules. Older children, with some guidance, can enjoy this game.

This is such a great game. My friends and I played it and I can't tell you how many times we burst out laughing or cheering when someone made a mistake or made a great move. I love board games in general, but I highly recommend this one in particular. As an added bonus: We developed a set of house rules called "Flight Plan" to modify this a little bit. After you finish mining, you put your cards in the order you want to play them, then put them face down in a deck on the table. From that point on, you can't change the order for the rest of the round. It makes the game go much faster and opens up the potential for pure hilarity.

I have come to learn that the company Renegade rarely if any, disappoints me. This game is no exception. It couldn't be any simpler in terms of its rule set. Plain and simple, the nearest ship to you exerts its gravitational pull on your ship. But, this can have unexpected consequences depending on who gets to go first! You want to be the first to the gate, but you could unexpectedly end up moving in the opposite direction. You can only cancel unwanted effects once per round using a special "brake" card. After that, you need your wits to keep you going in the correct direction. I love games that are simple in concept, yet still require a certain amount of thought and strategy. This is one of those games. I was very happy to add this to my growing game collection. If you like games that fit the description I've given above, you can't go wrong. This is in the same vein as "programming" games like robo ralley, except it's infinitely easier.

Although the box states that it's 15+ I think even 12 year-olds would be into it, especially fans of space/Sci-Fi. Our average game lasted about 25 minutes so it's great if you want to play multiple rounds or mix it up with other favorite games at a single sitting. A few other things to know: - Read all the rules before gathering the players and leave an extra 20 minutes to explain the game the first time through - There's a single player mode - There are 3 variant modes which can be combined to make the game more challenging and to keep it fresh - 4 is the max number of players so it's not a party game Disclosure: the game designer it a childhood friend but I've tried to not let all the times he beat me at games two decades ago influence my review;-)

Nice and simple game with a neat mechanism.

Game was in new condition and contained all pieces. As I've seen with other copies of this game that others own, two of the player ship pieces were broken off their little stands out of box, not seller's fault. A dab of glue is all it needs. Still a fun game and playable without the unnecessary stand on the ship pieces but they could stand to improve on the crafting of the plastic pieces. Playing Cards were in perfect shape and good quality printing material.

the game arrived in time and in well packaged by courier; the board game is fun, everybody loves it.