Cosmic Encounter
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| Designer(s) | Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge, Bill Eberle, Bill Norton |
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| Publisher(s) | Eon Products, Inc, West End Games, Games Workshop Mayfair Games, Avalon Hill, Fantasy Flight Games |
| Players | 3–6+ (depending on edition) |
| Age range | 12+ |
| Setup time | 5–10 minutes |
| Playing time | 20–120+ minutes |
| Random chance | Medium |
| Skill(s) required | Prediction, diplomacy, card management |
Cosmic Encounter is a science fiction–themed strategy board game designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle, with Bill Norton) and originally published by Eon Games in 1977. In it, each player takes the role of a particular alien species, each with a unique power to break one of the rules of the game, trying to establish control over the universe. In 1992, a new edition of Cosmic Encounter won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1991 and placed 6th in the Deutscher Spiele Preis. The game was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame in 1997.
Cosmic Encounter is a dynamic and social game, with players being encouraged to interact, argue, form alliances, make deals, double-cross, and occasionally work together to protect the common good. Most editions of the game are designed for three to six players, although official rules exist for playing with as many as eight players.
Cosmic Encounter is based on a fixed set of rules which are subsequently modified by other elements of the game.
Each player begins with a color-coded "home system" containing five planets, and twenty ships (formerly referred to as "tokens") representing starships that populate these planets as "colonies" (formerly known as "bases"). A central "Warp" is used to place defeated ships for all players. The object of the game is to establish five colonies on planets outside one's home system. Each player is dealt a hand of eight (or seven, depending on the edition) cards from the "cosmic deck," which includes three types of cards normally: Encounter cards (numbered Attack cards and Negotiate (formerly Compromise) cards), Reinforcement cards, and Artifact (formerly "Edict") cards.
On a player's turn, they retrieve one ship from the warp, and then draw a card from the "Destiny" deck, containing color-coded cards which indicate which player's system they must attack. Using a special "hyperspace gate" (formerly "hyperspace cone" or simply "cone") indicator, the player selects which opponent on which planet to attack, and then places from 1 to 4 ships on the gate. Both the attacker and defender can ask the other players individually to ally with their side, committing up to 4 ships to either side of the conflict.
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