In our gameschooling adventures, we have found a few excellent astronomy themed games to add to our yearly rotation/unit study on space.
Planetarium gets pulled out much more often than just when we’re studying planets, but both the base game (read my review here) AND the Primordial expansion contribute so much interest, fun, and rabbit-hole researching opportunities to our studies.
Primordial adds two possible expansion modules to the base game:
- The Epochs Module
- adds a Protoplanet Stage to the beginning of the evolutionary process
- adds a Late Heavy Bombardment phase to the end of the game
- The Frost Line Module (pictured)
- adds Frost Line markers to the board
- adds a new set of cards that have frost line location requirements for new planets
- adds heat/cold tokens to planets
The game is played in basically the same way – players start with Low and High Evolution cards, building planets in different locations around the board and altering conditions to create the perfect environment for planets to be created in the Final Evolution phase.
Players crash planets and matter tokens together to collect the matter and use it to create new planets. Each used up matter token goes on the Evolution Track.
When the track is full, the Final Evolution phase begins and all players have one chance to play their final evolution cards for a big finish!
The new cards in the Frost Line module include cold/heat token symbols. Place the number of tokens on the card as indicated and check to see if there are any of the opposite token type already on that planet. Remove one token from each card that has the opposing token type. Heat/Cold tokens on cards earn players additional points at the end of the game!
There is so much more to this game, you have to play it to experience it all! There are awesome tidbits of information on the cards, beautiful illustrations, star variants (red dwarf stars, A-type stars), ways to indicate if the planet is rocky or gaseous, and more!
For a truly intense galactic experience, both modules can be played together for more great gameschooling skills! This game requires focused strategy, analytical thinking, long-term planning, and quick decision making. It’s a great way to learn about space and practice juggling half a dozen different goals/objectives all at the same time.
Whether you’ll be studying space soon or not, Primordial is a rockin’ educational/strategy gaming experience. Thanks to Tabletop Tycoon for sharing with us!
