Review: Terraforming Mars

At Lampworks, we are primarily about books, but Dan has a keen interest in board game design and is a huge fan of the incredibly diverse and creative world of modern board games that tell stories. With that in mind, we’ll occasionally highlight games that have been influential in Dan’s efforts and might appeal to our Lamplighter audience.

This time Dan takes a look at Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius.

The year is 2400. Over the next several thousand years, players lead large corporations who are working together to transform Mars from a barren landscape into a living, breathing world. Still, only one will prove the most successful and win the game. Over time they carry out projects to adjust the temperature, oxygen, and ocean levels, plant forests, build cities and carry out activities represented by over 200 unique project cards to make Mars ever more habitable. With the game maker’s attention to scientific detail, the game also provides a reasonably realistic high-level view of what a real-life terraforming effort might look like on the Red Planet.

The game begins slowly, with players struggling to carry out the simplest activities. As time goes by, the early struggles to gain a foothold begin to pay off, and terraforming efforts become more sophisticated. Early in the game, players are doing “brute-force” things like digging deep holes in the crust to increase heat or crashing ice asteroids onto the surface to add water. Then, once those have an effect, lichen can be planted, ice caps melted, dams built, craters flooded, and research into hardy microbes can occur. Occasional cascading effects happen that move the game along unexpectedly. Ultimately, things like animals, farms, forests, parks, and industrial centers appear.

Playing time is about 2 hours. However, a first game with 3 or 4 players who are learning the game will likely take longer. A solitaire variant is also included, which is quite challenging. Find out more about the game along with images, reviews, and videos of how to play at Boardgamegeek.com.