I am shocked to see that no one has reviewed this game yet! Galaxy Trucker is a great game: there's adventure, intrigue, pirates, looting, and much more in this exciting race to the finish.

I love this game. Since your first impression of a game usually comes from reading the rules, let me give the rule-set a quick mention here. The rules are well written, easily understandable, and include tongue-in-cheek witticisms throughout. They were actually enjoyable to read.

Galaxy Trucker is ultimately a race. First you are racing to build your ship the fastest, then you are racing to reach the destination first. But, there's a lot more to it than that. You have to build the best ship you can in order to survive the many perils of the journey.

You may have to fly through a swarm of asteroids on your way; you better make sure your ship can take the pummeling. Oh, but wait, their are space pirates up ahead - can you outgun them? If not, you may take some heavy damage. There are many other dangers awaiting you along the way, including sabotage, epidemics, and even war zones.

Not everything on your path is bad, though. If you have a large enough crew, you could take the time to loot the abandoned space station up ahead; it may cost you first place in this race, though. There are planets up ahead where you can grab more goods to carry to your destination. But, it'll take time to stop there and load up - can you afford to be slowed down?

There are lots of different elements that you can add into your spaceship as you build: guns, engines, shields, batteries, cargo holds, crew cabins, and even space for aliens (who can boost engines or guns). While you are building you can take a peek at some of the dangers/opportunities that you will face along the way - that will help you decide what you will need the most, but will take valuable building time. Everyone builds their ship simultaneously, all grabbing components from the same pile. Different types of connectors, and rules about different components (engines have to point toward the back of the ship, for instance), add extra challenge to the building phase. Whoever finishes building first gets the leave space-dock first. So, don't take too long looking for just the right part for that particular spot, or you might start the race in last place.

The lead ship gets first opportunity to grab the goodies, but also has to face the dangers first. As you fly through all the dangers, your ship will most likely take damage. Every part of your ship that falls off is coming out of your pay (up to a limit). I've had a ship break in half thanks to a meteor storm following on the heels of sabotage. But, in this game, it's actually amusing to watch it happen! I had to choose which half of my ship to continue flying!

It's not often you find a game that is so much fun to play that you can even laugh at your own misfortune. It makes the victories all that much more sweet, too. I highly recommend Galaxy Trucker!