Lunar Base is a 2-6 player strategy card game where you compete to build the most powerful moon base.

A turn is three steps

1. Play agent cards. At the start of your turn you may play as many as you can pay for — to speed your own base up, or to get in someone else's way.
2. Perform one main action from your base. Build a module, draft, draw, discard, resell, flip a station, steal a module, steal credits. One action, chosen from what your base can actually do — which is why what you build changes what you can do next turn.
3. Check for arriving shuttles. When the supply runs dry, everyone earns a credit for each completed yellow orb in their base, and new cards come down from Earth.

Four ways to win

In order to win the space race, play to your station's strengths. Win by housing the most colonists, researching scientific achievements, hoarding lunar credits, or gaining the most influence.

Collect 20 lunar Credits

Play the market. Resell what you do not need, take credits off the people who do, and never build anything you cannot afford twice.

House 10 colonists in your Base

Build wide. Colonists come on your station and on modules, so this is the path that wants a big, well-connected base — and the one everyone can see coming.

Complete 5 different scientific achievements in your Base

Five different ones. Four achievements and a duplicate is not a win, which is the trap this path sets for the player who is not counting.

Reveal 4 Influence cards from your hand at the end of your turn

The quiet one. Influence cards are the advanced variant, so this path only exists once you shuffle them in — and it can end the game from a hand nobody has looked at.

The game ends the moment somebody meets a condition. There is no final scoring round, so the last turn is always somebody winning rather than everybody adding up.

The rulebook recommends leaving the Influence cards out of your first few games and shuffling them in once the table knows what it is doing.

What is in the box

A total of 90 cards — 6 Stations, 26 Agents, 8 Influences and 50 Modules — plus 6 Credit Counters and the rulebook.

• 6 Stations — One per player, double-sided.
• 26 Agents — Played at the start of your turn, for a cost.
• 8 Influences — The advanced variant, and the fourth way to win.
• 50 Modules — What your base is built out of.
• 6 Credit Counters — One per player, dialled to your current credits.
• Rulebook — The full rules, also readable on this site.

Read the rulebook

On the table

Watch

• Teaser 1

• Teaser 2

• Teaser 3

• Teaser 4

What reviewers say

• “Lunar Base is a really lovely little game. It gives you enough to do and think about, without being too taxing and it plays so quickly that it certainly doesn't outstay its welcome. It's one of the few games I own that plays up to 6 players as well, so it's great for when you have a get together with friends or family, while not being a party game.”

• “This game has a lot of depth to it, the box is tiny! It's very portable but there's so much bang for your buck here.”

• “This thing really blew my mind…it's all in this tiny little box. And the artwork is great! I was just really impressed.”

• “The look of the cards from an artwork and graphic design point of view – it’s very clear, very functional while also looking pretty. Which is a fine balance to get in games.”

• “The replayability is great. It's so well produced for such a small game. A joy to play!”

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