Solarquest

SolarQuest is a space-age real estate trading board game published in 1985 and developed by Valen Brost, who conceived the idea in 1976.

[1] The game is patterned after Monopoly, but it replaces pewter tokens with rocket ships and hotels with metallic fuel stations.

They seek to knock their opponents out of the game through bankruptcy, as well as optional laser blasts and dwindling fuel supplies.

[2] Brost ran a successful Kickstarter campaign (November 8 – December 25, 2016)[3] to fund his new release of SolarQuest, expected to enter production in 2017.

[4] This "Deluxe Edition" will include more up-to-date astronomical data, a magnetic Fuel Tank Card (preventing the accidental movement of its metal markers), modernized graphics, and enhanced gameplay.

The color groups are: Players have to watch their fuel level carefully since getting stranded with no way to refuel means the loss of the game.

Solarquest is a relatively complex game, with 48 properties available for purchase (compared to Monopoly's 28), and the additional considerations of fuel and lasers.

The player's path is not as linear as in Monopoly, since it is possible to continue travelling around a planet for several orbits before finally escaping its gravity.

Some differences between the 1995 edition and earlier versions include: A highly simplified spinoff was published in 1997 by Valen Brost Game Co called Spaceopoly.

Exception: If you hold the 'Invented a new force field' mission card you survive the attack and automatically win the game!

In the August 1997 edition of Dragon (Issue 238), Rick Swan reviewed the 1997 re-release and noted, despite its similarities to Monopoly, that "the rules are surprisingly sophisticated."