Wise Wizard Games Star Realms: Deckbuilding Card Game

I'm no stranger to deck building games. My boyfriend and I have played Dominion (we dont enjoy it all that much), Ascension, LoTR and DC Comics deckbuilding games. Of these, DC is, when played with the optional Confrontation to steal heroes from one another, our favorite. Or it was. Until Star Realms. This game is everything we look for in card games. Easy to learn. Varied in its strategy. It plays quick and set up and tear down times are all but nonexistent. And every game is different. Most importantly of all, however - this game changes up the deckbuilding formula. Unlike so many "multiplayer solitaire" type games - Dominion, Ascension, etc - Star Reals is built around interaction between players. There are no vicoty points. No collecting things in order to win. Rather, Star Realms sees each player building a fleet of ships and space stations. And each turn, a player attacks the opponent. The first player to reduce their opponent's Authority (health) to Zero wins. Sounds simple enough, and at first blush it is pretty straightforward. But contained within the common deck are four factions: The Blob are an aggressive species who specialize in rushing. Alone their ships are weak; in groups they are extremely powerful. Collecting numerous Blob ships early can end a game fast. The Empire ships are varied in size and power level - and they like to mess with the opponent's hand, often forcing discards. The Federation will draw their controller cards while also restoring authority. And the Machine race will allow players to purge cards from their deck. Each faction features numerous cards which benefit from playing other members of their faction, and every faction has Space Stations, many of which can defend a player and one another from attacks as well as provide special powers to use once per turn. The game is fast, fun, has tons of depths, great art and a coherent, cohesive theme that the game play supports very well. If you're into Deck Building games and longing for something different from an overpopulated and rather stale genre of gaming, you honestly cannot go wrong with Star Realms.

Wow. I can't say enough good stuff about Star Realms. The game is so simple yet so competitive. The card art is simplistic but perfect. The play is fast and understandable. The setup is quick but meaningful. I think Star Realms has gone down in my personal hall of fame as a top 5. One of the things I like is how different the different races (colors) play from each other. Do you want to be a healer? Do you want to be a minimalist? A card drawer? A Brute? Each has it's own flavor and its own weaknesses and I think that all of it was done to perfection. Game play is extremely simple. Pick some cards, play them, resolve them, and buy some more cards. Next player. What makes the game so wonderful (aside from not being a CCG) is that those few steps, while always being the same, feel so different game by game. I also like that each person will develop a favorite style that you can kind of expect from one player to the next. Makes it feel like you have a "character" and not a group of random cards. Also, the portability is awesome on this game. It's about twice the thickness of a box of bicycle playing cards. This means that you can always throw a copy in with you when you travel. Games are fast with expert players (We can easily get a game in 10 minutes) but it feels tense. I also like that you can expand the number of players by simply buying another deck of cards. We've played with up to 6. I don't think we'd go any more. In conclusion, I think that if you are considering this game, just go for it. Certainly at this price point it's a no brainier. I will say that I think you should get two copies, meaning some other games come up for the decision process in that price point, but in general, I don't think many games can hold up in terms of longevity and overall fun to Star Realms. Games I Love to Play- Galaxy Trucker, Resistance Avalon, Small World, Istanbul, Warhammer Invasion, Caylus, Space Cadets Dice Duel, Eclipse, Caverna, Dead of Winter, Summoner Wars, Sheriff of Nottingham, Seasons, and Cosmic Encounter. Games I'll Play-Settlers of Catan, Dominion, 7 Wonders, Agricola, Mice and Mystics, Race for the Galaxy, Mage Wars, Takenoko, Ticket to Ride, Game of Thrones LCG, Arkham Horror, Splendor, and Smash Up. Games I Won't Play-Power Grid, Memoir 44, Android Netrunner (I know, this one will hurt people), Robinson Crusoe, Lords of Waterdeep, Mage Knight, Pandemic, Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity (I'd list that one 10 times), and Battlelore.

Highlights: Easy to learn, well balanced, very high quality cards, inexpensive, high replay value. While the theme doesn't really play out that strongly (they could have skinned it with anything cohesive), the gameplay is excellent. Very smooth deck builder. The faction mechanic really allows for some great combo plays while also adding in a secondary strategy layer to the game. It also has a decent number of cards that allow for card trashing, extra card draws, and forcing opponents to discard on their turn. That aspect helps to allow for a more dynamic game. Some deck builders make the trashing mechanic a little too rare for my liking. The cards themselves are also well balanced and play together nicely. Every game I've played so far has felt very competitive (about a dozen). FYI, the companion app is free if you want to play against an AI to get the rules down.

6/21 Update: Playing it more and more each week. The game is addictive, fun, simply, and deep. New family favorite with my 11 and 8 year-olds ... and playing it a LOT. The great thing about this game is that it is super easy to learn ... on the order of 5 minutes of watching a game, and as we continue to play we learn new layers to the strategy. The game gets deeper as you play it. By definition it's a card game, which means there is randomness to it. The way you control that randomness and focus on strategy is primarily two ways: 1) The cards you choose to buy and add to your hand. 2) Your ability in certain circumstances to scrap (remove from the current game) weaker cards from your deck as the game goes on. I could ding the game for a couple of minor presentation points, but it would not be worth it. This game is easy to pick up, gets deeper as you play it, and PORTABLE. We take it everywhere. We currently play it 2-player, which I like since there is no decision on which family member to pick-on for damage. Maybe that will change, but 2-player is working for our family

Bought this because I wanted to get into deck building games and I was NOT disappointed. I love this game. This version isn’t for solo. I’d recommend SR frontier. That has a solo version. Overall a fun and easy game that doesn’t have you overthinking at all.

Star Realms is a well designed space themed deck building game where two or more players compete to be the last person with authority points. Note, one deck supports two players, two decks supports up to four players, and three decks supports up to six players. The basic idea of the game is to purchase cards from the trade row of six shown cards (five are random and one is static) to build a deck which can be used to: buy more cards, attack opponents, and draw more cards among other actions. Each player starts with 50 authority points, and when attacked will lose authority, and may gain authority from actions on purchased cards or events (if using the events expansion). The last player with authority wins. With this base version of the game (no expansions) if there are more than two players are several variants which allow for co-op play. One where players team up with other players to beat the other teams, and another "hydra" version where all players are working together to destroy one more powerful player. Unlike many other build-a-deck style games, this game allows players to do most actions in any order. For example if a player has two cards that allow them to draw a card and other cards to spend 10 coin, they can draw a card, buy a some cards, then draw their other card. Or they could draw their two cards first, then spend their money. Or they could spend their money then buy two cards, and so Pros: -Easy to learn. The instructions are fairly minimal and most cards to a good job describing themselves without additional explanation. -Quick games. Once all players have played several games and understand the basic game mechanics a two player game tends to be about a half hour or less. -High quality cards with beautiful detailed graphics -High replay value Cons: The only downside that I have discovered with this game is by the end of a game it can be difficult to keep track of which parts of each card have already been resolved and which parts can still be activated. Personal thought: It seems that there are enough trade cards to support more than two players with one deck but there are not enough authority or starting hand cards (money an attack) to support more so it wouldn't be too difficult to just reduce the number of starting hand cards and count authority via dice or some other means to support more players with one deck. I also own all expansions which each add something worth while to the game if you like the base set. If I had to pick two to buy (hard to pick just one) I would get Events and Gambit. Events adds... you guessed it... event cards to the game. They are shuffled in to the trade deck and randomly pop up during game play. When an event card is revealed its effects are immediately executed. Some hurt everybody, some help everybody, but all effect everybody. Gambit adds solo variances, co-op variances, and cards which can be given to players at the beginning of the game to give them an edge. My wife and I like to use gambits to help players who have been in a slump. On the first game we each start with one random gambit. Every game after the player who most recent won only gets one gambit, but the other player gets one card for each game in a row they have lost since last winning. So if my wife has won the last three games in a row she gets one gambit card and I get four. There are countless ways that these gambit cards can be used like this. Overall I feel that this game is well worth a try. If you are looking for a highly rated inexpensive game definitely give this one a look.

I'm a fan of deck building games and was intrigued by how quickly Star Realms flew off the shelf. After a few missed chances, I finally caught a copy when it was in stock. Overall it's a good game. Fun, quick, easy to learn and also a good value at the price. In regards to strategy, the game doesn't get nearly as deep as other deck builders on the market, but that's ok. I feel like this game targets a more casual audience. While the card quality is nice, the packaging is not so great and leaves you searching for alternative storage solutions if you want to sleeve the cards for protection. This was probably less an oversight and more a production cost issue. Again, this game is smaller and cheaper than most other deck builders on the market. All in all, if you're thinking of testing the waters with a low commitment deck builder, this would be a fine choice.

Star Realms is an outstanding two-player deck-building card game. From conception to execution, this is a first-rate product. My son and I enjoy it as much as Dominion, maybe even more so due to the sci-fi theme and the faster playing time. I like the fact that you play your entire hand each turn and can spend all credits played, instead of having to decide on a single "action" and "buy." I also like the aggressive, attack-based mechanics (you are trying to reduce your opponent to zero Authority, whereas in Dominion you are trying to accumulate the most Victory Points). The various factions (Empire, Blob, Machine, Federation) have beneficial interactions when you play two or more, but you can't limit yourself to just one faction or you'll miss out on key attributes unique to each faction. You really get a sense of escalating power as you acquire the most expensive cards. Outpost bases function like "taunt" cards and provide you with a certain level of protection...for a time. Eventually, though, firepower escalates and you can wipe your opponent out in one devastating turn if the right cards come your way. In that sense, Star Realms (like all deck-building games) has a fairly strong luck component -- you need to be able to buy the right cards at the right time (trashers early in the game; bases ASAP; and high-powered attack cards mid- to late-game). There is more luck in Star Realms than Dominion because in Dominion the Kingdom supply is fixed and fully available to all; in Star Realms the supply is five cards replenished by the deck at random as soon as one is purchased. But don't think for a minute that luck is the primary factor -- try playing on-line against experienced opponents and you will see how good strategy trumps luck 90+% of the time. If I could have one wish as to game mechanics, it would be to have the power to "Scrap" (trash) an opponent's card from time to time. Instead, the best you can do is send them to their discard pile, so you will see them again (and again and again). The artwork is top-notch, but it would be nice if the cards were printed on stronger stock. I wouldn't say the cards are flimsy, but I can see them getting worn down over time (and one we already bent underfoot when it accidentally wound up on the floor). Can more than two people play? Yes...sort of. This basic deck only has enough starting cards (Scouts and Vipers) for two players. So you either need to modify the starting conditions for 3+ players, or buy multiple decks. But the rules come with multiple suggestions as to how to play multiplayer up to six. Sounds like a blast (pun intended?)!