Rio Grande GamesForgotten Planet, The Multi Language

The game itself is really fun once you get the game play down. It took us about an hour for the first game to get down how to play. It is a tile game where you create pathways for your robot to either create or take over resource tiles. It is a stratagy game where you need to plan out you moves in order to win. My son and daughter enjoy the game a lot. (My son a bit less than my daughter since he can't seem to win against his sister.)Pros: After the gameplay is learned the game is pretty easy and lots of fun. It takes about as much time as a Monopoly game. The tiles and player pieces are high quality and durable. It is a great game to play as a family and has entertainment and educational value.Cons: Not ideal for people who do not already like board games. Not an easy game to just pick up for young children not already avid board game players (but they can play along with a bit of help). I would stick with the manufacture recommendation of 12 and up.There are no "extra" pieces so do not loose any and there are small pieces. Also the player cards are in different languages so only 1 side is in your language (which is easy enough to make copies of. Also the player cards (cheat sheets for tile movement and stuff) leave out some information so my son is making his own.The game needs about as much space as a Monopoly game depending on the set-up and best played on a hard, level surface. A 4-person dining table or a coffee table provide enough space. (We used a large cardboard box and drew the gride lines on the bottom of it for the family game and used a smaller 12x18 in box for the 2 player game.)

Throughout history mining has always been an important part of building civilizations. The ores and minerals have provided the material for developing new a greater things. As we have expanded throughout the galaxy, mining has become no less important. And now, the energy crystals are more important than just about anything else ever mined. A new source of the minerals has been discovered, and the race is on.The Forgotten Planet pits 2–4 players in developing a mining operation on a distant world on the edge of known space. The environment is harsh and the planet is unstable so you have to use robots, which creates its own concerns.Players start with one each solar collector, robot, and each energy crystal resource. There is a limited area available for mining, which eventually puts you and the other miners in conflict. Your strategy needs to include collecting power to run your robots; mine; and build more robots, bases, or walls; which in turn allow you find new mining sites where you can collect the crystals you need to sale to the merchant guild or use to build. There are options open to you, and the other miners, so you have to plan ahead for success.Three of us sat down with The Forgotten Planet, without looking at the rules beforehand. At first, the rulebook looks imposing. However, the rules are presented in four languages, so they are easy to get through. As one person started reading the rules the other two of us started sorting the pieces. In a short time we had the basic concept of the rules and were starting our first turns.The rules are easy to understand and the game is recommended for ages 12+. During the first game of the two we played, we referred to the rulebook a few times. For the second game we only used the book to choose a different layout for the board. We had the concepts and were willing to give our strategies a second chance.The game is well balanced. The first game was decided by a tie breakers based on the number of crystals players had. The second would have probably ended with a different winner if there had been one or two more turns, the rules allow a way to push to an end game, which I did. Both games we played completed in the time frame presented of 75 minutes.The Forgotten Planet from giochix.it, and designed by Michele Quondam, is a good strategy game. I come to this conclusion based on two aspects. First, how close both games were to determine a winner, Second, I, and the other two players, were discussing strategy options the next day. When a strategy game doesn't get you thinking about the strategy, it isn't intriguing enough to play again. This is one game that is not going to be collecting dust in our group.