From what I know there is an expansion coming for Planet Unknown. And I’ve only played Planet Unknown a handful of times, but I know it’s coming up as one of my favorite games. So with that, I need to explore more. There are 36 different combinations of corporations and planets so I can guess what might be coming down the line.

Planet Unknown

The Issue

So I got no major issues with this game, but I did highlight what I think will be coming down the line. Planet Unknown is a polyomino game where you are pulling your shapes from depots, very clearly built areas of the game. So it’s hard, but not impossible to add some pieces. You have corporations which have a set number of tracks, so it’s hard, but not impossible to add in an additional track.

But what I think I might want more of is corporations and planets. I highlight at the beginning that there are 36 different combinations, not counting the standard side. So that is a limited number of different permutations. I need to play more of them, but I think that’s where we’ll see the need for more game play.

The Expansion

More Planets and Corporations

The easiest thing and I think the thing that most people would want in the game is more planets and corporations. It’s a good expansion for a few different reasons. Add in another four of each planets and corporations you have 100 different combinations. That makes the game more diverse in the main options for the game.

Special Tiles

But that isn’t really enough for an expansion to just add in more of those. Most expansions are going to try and add in more. But it’s hard to add in more. Anything else you add seems to adjust the main components of the game. And doing so is more work. I think there is another that you can build on though.

And that would be to introduce special tiles. Right now all of the polyomino tiles have two different resources on them. Well, create a once a game, per player, tile that has 3 different resources on them. And make it so that they aren’t as easy to rotate. You flip the current tiles you get the same setup with a different orientation. Well, with special tiles, you flip them and you get something different and now it’s a more interesting choice.

Another Type of Events

And finally, I think it’s another way that’s easy to expand the game. But I think it’s less important to add this in for variety. You already are limited in how many you use and the combination of events you use, or even if you want to use them. But add in more events of various types, good or bad, or really bad, it makes the game more variable. And I think very bad would be interesting to balance.

Does It Fulfill The Desire with Planet Unknown?

Honestly, I think just more planets and corporations would do so. Planet Unknown is very good because of the simple design space. It is left intentionally small with only those two areas that make you really unique. My concern with adding to much of that is that it’d make it too big a game in terms of complexity.

Games sometimes need to try and stay in that sweet spot. Tom Vasel calls it quick snappy turns. I don’t know that Planet Unknown has the most quick and snappy turns. But it has that same idea, that one decision that matters a lot each turn. So I don’t want to see too much bloat added to a game like this. I want the game to still be easy enough to teach and get to the table.

Do you like this expansion idea? What would you want to add to the game?

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