In it, each player takes the role of a particular alien species, each with a unique power to bend or break one of the rules of the game, trying to establish control over the universe.
[1] Cosmic Encounter is a dynamic and social game, with players being encouraged to interact, argue, form alliances, make deals, double-cross, and occasionally work together to protect the common good.
The current edition of Cosmic Encounter, published by Fantasy Flight Games, includes a total of 238 aliens across all of its expansion and promo sets.
[citation needed] In 2000, Avalon Hill (by then a division of Hasbro) published a simplified version in one box with plastic pieces.
In 2018, a special 42nd-anniversary edition was released by Fantasy Flight, with new box art, translucent ships, a new alien (the Demon), and a few other minor features.
However, it replaces the standard game's multiplayer alliance system with virtual allies called Envoys, and increases the degree of hidden information in an encounter through methods such as giving the players rotating dials with which to secretly choose their fleet strengths.
[7] In 2003, original designer Peter Olotka and partners launched a new version called Cosmic Encounter Online that could be played over the internet.
[2] As of 2010[update], this version had 35 powers, including four new aliens and two more that were designed for online play (such as Dork, which blocks other players' screens).
[citation needed] In the May 1978 edition of Dragon (Issue 14), Tony Watson found the game to be "highly playable, fanciful, and very fun."
Watson liked the professional quality of the game components, and admired the complex player strategies that were not immediately apparent upon reading the rules.
"[8] In the June–July 1978 edition of White Dwarf (Issue 7), Fred Hemmings found the game "simple to learn, and yet at the same time is so full of good ideas and potential player skill."
Hemmings admired the "beautifully produced" game components, but wished that there was more than one winning objective — although he did note that using the two available expansions resulted in 35 alien races to choose from, giving a potential for more than a million combinations.
"[9] In the September 1978 edition of Dragon (Issue 18), Dave Minch questioned the science fiction angle of Cosmic Encounter, saying it was "nothing more than hype."
"[14] In the November 1991 edition of Dragon (Issue 175), Allen Varney gave an ebullient review, saying, "This brilliantly interactive and spectacularly fun 1977 design is my very favorite game, bar none."
"[15] Varney again gave a very positive review of the Mayfair edition in the December 1993 edition of Dragon (Issue 200), but questioned some of the new rules in Mayfair's expansion set, saying the set "offers many terrific powers (and some terribly unbalanced ones) plus new cards and forgettable rules additions like Lucre and Moons.
"[16] In 1992, a new edition of Cosmic Encounter won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1991[17] and placed 6th in the Deutscher Spiele Preis.
"[19] Quintin Smith, in a 2014 review from Eurogamer, complimented the variety of aliens, theme, entertainment value, the negotiation mechanism, and uniqueness.
[34] This design element has become more widespread in boardgames since then; it is especially applicable to games where the players represent individual characters in a role-playing game-like situation (for example, Talisman and Arkham Horror, both originally published in the 1980s).
The possibility of an organic and completely different experience every time one plays was one of the influences in the design of the card game Magic: The Gathering.