Launch Pad

Launch Pad is a family strategy card game for 2 to 4 players, ages 10 and up. It was designed by Melanie James and published by Stratus Games. In the game, players construct various types of rockets and ready them for launch by advancing them through 3 phases of production (construction, quality control, and launch preparation). Each rocket requires a certain amount of metal and fuel in order to be considered complete. An expert with the necessary skill set is required in order to advance a completed rocket to the next phase. Rockets can also be manned with astronauts and oxygen, be stamped with a quality certificate, and be placed under maximum security in order to be worth additional points or be protected from action cards that could affect them. The launch pad, consisting of four game cards, serves as a variable game clock to determine the end of the game. The cards constituting the launch pad advance into the center of the table; when all four cards have advanced, forming a completed launch pad, there is one final round of play and the game ends. At the end of the game, players score points based on the rockets they have built. The player with the highest point total wins.