There is a turn, usually somewhere in the middle of Roll for the Galaxy, when my modest little space empire suddenly stops sputtering and starts to roar, and I always catch myself grinning at the table like a fool. I love that turn. It takes the bones of a beloved card game and rebuilds it out of dice, and the result is a fast, brain pleasing engine builder where your dice are your workforce.

Each round you roll your pool of dice in secret, and their faces tell you what jobs your little empire can do: explore for new tiles, develop and settle worlds, produce goods, or ship them for money. You secretly assign dice to phases, everyone reveals at once, and any phase someone selected happens for everyone, so reading the table and piggybacking on the phases others trigger is half the skill. Build the right worlds and your engine starts humming, churning out dice and points at a lovely clip.

The joy is watching your tiny empire snowball. Early turns feel modest, then suddenly your developments and worlds chain together, your dice pool grows, and you are doing more every single round. It is all simultaneous, so there is very little waiting, and the secret dice assignment keeps the tension high.

It plays quickly for how much game is in there, scales nicely, and even solos well. The dice add a jolt of luck, but the deep menu of choices means a smart player shapes that luck rather than suffering it.

For a snappy, replayable engine builder with a great theme, Roll for the Galaxy is a keeper.

Are you a rush to produce and ship player or a build a huge tableau player? Tell me below, and tell me your favorite opening world.

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