Galaxy Trucker Digital App Review!

By: IllusionThis day and age, whenever you have a need in your daily life, there’s usually a phone application to help you with that. Everything can be found in app form, and board games are definitely not an exception. I've recently had the opportunity to check out one of CGE’s most popular games “Galaxy Trucker” in app form on IOS. Join me as I check out how this board game staple translates to digital form. How to playGalaxy Trucker allows players to be long haul truckers, in space, who use their space ships to travel across the galaxy, transporting cargo, and avoiding all the dangers of open space.The game plays in two parts. In the first part we get to build our ships! A large pile of tiles are placed in the middle of the table, face down, and everyone gets a player board that looks like a ship made up of empty squares.All players simultaneously draw tiles, which represent different components of a space ship, and either place them on their ship, or place them back in the pile face up. It’s important to get a variety of different parts so that as you trek through space, you will be prepared for any adventures or dangers you may come across.Some important parts to add to your ship are canons to protect your ship, engines to propel your ship, rooms to hold crew and cargo, and shields and batteries to power the shields.After all players have completed their ships, the second part of the game starts. A pile of cards are placed face down on the table and flipped over one by one and resolved. The cards can represent opportunities, like planets where players can pick up cargo to sell; or they can be dangers, like asteroid fields, and space pirates. Once the pile of cards runs out, the trek is over, and points are scored based on cargo sold, crew still left alive, and how much of your ship is still attached!My thoughtsI have to be honest and say that this is the first board game in app form that I have ever played. Also, I have never actually played “Galaxy Trucker” in tabletop form, so this was a complete new adventure for me.One of my biggest concerns was how I was going to learn how to play the game without a rule manual. Basically, I didn’t trust that the tutorial was going to effectively teach me how to play. I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised.The app looks really great. The colors are fun and bright, and it’s extremely easy to navigate. Of course the theme music helps set a silly atmosphere for the game. The tutorial is really simple to follow, the rules are explained clearly and simply, and the AI who takes you through your first game is funny and not too overbearing.Besides the fact that I build a completely inadequate ship during my first game, I feel that I really got the hang of the gameplay during my first play through, which I didn’t expect. The graphics look great, and gameplay is really smooth.To concludeThe Galaxy Trucker app is a ton of fun, and has become an easy go-to fun app to pull up for me when I have a few extra minutes here and there during the day. I like that I can play solo against AI, or online against other players in real time or turn based on a “at your leisure” basis.This definitely makes me want to try the game in board game form, but leaves me wondering how it could be better than the app form, because the app runs so smooth. It almost seems like the game was originally designed in app form first. That is a giant kudos to the designers of the app.The app is currently going for $4.99 on the app store. I think I can count on one hand the number of apps I have purchased for that price or more. This was kind of a turn off at first, but I remembered that this is a fraction of what the board game price would be, but I still get to enjoy all of the features of the full game.If you’re a person that enjoys game apps on your phone / tablet, this is a great add to your collection. A great mix of planning ahead with the tile drafting, but also plenty of randomness once you start flying around the galaxy. You really never know what you’re going to run into.Now that I got the hang of the tile drafting, I can complete a game in around 5 minutes. Perfect while waiting for my oil change, or in the waiting room at my doctors office.Ill see you around the galaxy!Play on boys and girls.