Welcome to the Moon Review

This article originally appeared in issue 63 of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here.

After teleporting players to the suburban bliss of 1950s America and to the blitz of Las Vegas casinos, the Welcome To… series takes us to the next logical destination, the moon. This trip, however, will be a lot less glamorous because the survival of humanity is at stake. An asteroid storm is threatening to obliterate Earth, and you along with your fellow players are on the first rocket out to establish the moon colony. While you are all working on the same tasks, the organisation that funds your heroic endeavour believes that competition is the key to success and therefore will be pitting players against each other to see who performs better. There will be plenty of tasks to try your hand at: launching the rocket, plotting the course to the moon, building the colony, mining resources, just your typical everyday to-do list.

Like the other Welcome To… games, Welcome to the Moon uses a variation of the roll-and-write mechanic, flip-and-write. Instead of rolling dice and recording the result on the player board, in Welcome to the Moon players flip cards from different piles to create three sets of two cards, with a number and an action in each. Players then pick a set and write it down on their boards, ensuring that any numbers recorded are arranged in ascending order. Each task within the game - whether creating a flight path through space or extracting minerals from the moon’s surface – has its own dedicated board and slight twist on the basic game formula. Each board is its own puzzle, that gets more layered and complex as players progress through each mission. These missions can be completed individually, as a group or in a solo-mode, or as a part of a story campaign, where players can also make narrative choices that will influence the gameplay.

Although the core mechanics – flip-and-write numbers in ascending order – remain constant through every mission, the variation in mission rules and different boards keep the game feeling fresh and exciting every play. Some missions are more strategic by allowing players to focus on various power combos, while others challenge players to create long sequences of numbers in a row, which require both pre-planning and some luck. Although you are essentially doing the same thing each game, it never feels like it.

It, of course, helps that every board looks visually exciting. Each setting is distinct and able to carry a story based on its illustration alone (although, slightly cheesy campaign text is a delightful bonus), making it immediately clear which part of the moon colonisation process you are engaged in right now. Each board is littered with symbols that are cleverly integrated within the context of an illustration and players will interact with almost every element of the board. Although across some boards, interactable elements can be too densely populated. During the game, players will be asked to circle and then cross out elements, over-cluttering the board with markings to the point it can be hard to keep track. In those cases, neat penmanship is an asset!

With only eight different scenarios that take about half an hour each, Welcome to the Moon campaign won’t take too long to complete. Yet once you are done, you can wipe off the markers from the boards and go again. There will always be something exciting to return to, whether you are replaying the campaign by making different story choices or picking alternative objectives for the round. Perhaps, the biggest challenge Welcome to the Moon presents is how to pull yourself away from it!

ALEXANDRA SONECHKINA

PLAY IT? YES 

Welcome to the Moon is a wonderful collection of eighth flip-and-write puzzles that see the series really taking off in an exciting direction.

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED WELCOME TO…

If you liked any of the Welcome To… games, this new moon-based adventure will offer more puzzles and challenges to enjoy.

Designer: Alexis Allard, Benoit Turpin

Publisher: Blue Cocker Games

Time: 25-30 minutes

Players: 1-6

Ages: 10+

Price: £35

You can also read our reviews of previous Welcome To... games, starting with Welcome to Our Perfect home, and leading on to New Las Vegas!

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