Tabletop games

Galaxy Trucker

Quickly build a spaceship that can survive the trip, then earn the most cosmic credits over three increasingly long flights.

You’ll need the game box. Marquoir sums up the rules and keeps score.

Setup

Each round has its own ship size: class I on the first flight, class II on the second, class III on the third.
Everyone takes the ship board for the round and places their starting cabin on it.
All the ship components are turned face down in the middle of the table.
The Adventure cards for the round are prepared; on the first flight, eight cards are used.
The cosmic credits form the bank.

Building, in real time and all at once: turn over a component, weld it to your ship or put it back face up in the middle.
Connectors must match. A component that has been attached can no longer move.
When you are done, take a position marker: the fastest players start in the lead.
Once the ships have been checked, add crew and batteries, then the flight begins.
Flight: reveal the Adventure cards one by one. Planets and derelict ships offer goods or credits in exchange for flight days; meteors, pirates and combat zones knock components off.
A destroyed component goes to the discard area of the board; if the ship breaks in two, you keep only one part.
You can give up, or be forced to if your human crew is gone: you leave the flight and get no arrival reward.

On arrival, everyone gets a reward based on their order of arrival; it increases each round.
The ship with the fewest exposed connectors gets the best-looking ship reward; in case of a tie, all tied players get it.
Goods are sold at the price on the board; a player who gave up gets only half, rounded up.
Each lost component costs 1 credit, up to the cap printed on the ship board.
A player who cannot pay hands over everything they have and starts again from zero.
In Marquoir, enter the net gain of each flight; it can be negative.

The game ends after the third flight, once rewards and penalties have been settled.
The richest player wins; the rulebook jokingly points out that any player with at least 1 credit has had a successful career.

Is an exposed connector forbidden?

No. It is allowed, but it attracts small meteors and loses you the best-looking ship reward.

Can you play fewer than three flights?

Yes, for a shorter game, by removing one or two rounds. Seasoned players can instead add a round IIIA, with no penalty cap.