Orbit: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Race, Multi-Use Cards,
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 - 4 Players
Time to Play: 30 - 60 Minutes
Game Designer: Reiner Knizia
Game Artist: Vincent Dutrait
Publisher: Bitewing Games
Year Published: 2025
BGG Weight: 1.75
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Orbit is a racing game with a clear objective; move around space, visit the seven planets, and return to the starting planet. The challenge in Orbit is that the planets are in, well, orbit. As players play cards, planets will move along their designed orbits. Players have to plan the best course in how to visit these planets in the most efficient way possible. This may be hitching a ride on a moving planet, consuming battery power to go further, or gaining perks from space stations along the way.
Game Anatomy:
Main Board:
The main board contains orbit tracks for each planet, space stations, and grids that determine the movement tracks for the spaceships and hyper jumps. Hyper jumps allow the player to move through one and teleport to another hyper jump. The board is double-sided, featuring a different layout on the other side.
Player Board:
The player board will contain tokens of the planets that the player has to visit. These can be completed in any order. The bottom of the board shows the hand limit, which can be increased by visiting the purple planet and certain space stations.
There is also an energy capacity that can be increased through visiting the orange planet and some space stations. Space stations are randomised and kept face down until revealed by a player.
Two more bonuses are gained immediately when visiting these planets. The brown planet gives the player an immediate hyper accelerate cannon to use. This moves the player to any intersection in a straight line. This could land the player on a satellite or planet, gaining the space station benefit or counting that planet as having been visited. There is also the grey planet, which immediately awards a hyper jump. This allows the player to move their ship to any hyper jump location.
Cards:
When a player plays a card, they may resolve the card in any order they choose. They must fully resolve the action they choose before moving on to a different action.
Each card has several features, and the numbers and planets are duplicated to the left and right-hand sides. The number denotes how many spaces a player can move their ship, and the planets display which planets will move in orbit once played. This will only be once per planet, except for the cards with two of the same planet displayed, these planets will move twice. Some cards allow the player to choose which planet to move, while some move all planets. At the top of the card there might be energy gained, nebulas (these are part of an expansion not included in the base rules), and lastly, a reverse to any planet's orbit.
Energy:
Each player has a maximum capacity of energy shown on their player board as well as a location to store the energy cubes. Each energy cube can be traded in when a ship is moving to add one additional movement. The energy cubes cannot begin a movement.
Space Stations:
Space stations are spread across the board face-down. When a player ends their movement on a space station, it is resolved. The space stations that increase hand size and energy capacity are placed on the player's board enhancing their engine. The other space station types remain at their location face-up. Whenever a ship ends its movement on a newly/previously revealed satellite the player can activate its bonus. This may be recharging batteries to maximise capacity, using a new warp, or immediately using a hyper accelerate cannon.
Setup:
- Place all space stations face-down in the locations denoted, randomly drawn from the bag.
- Spread the planets throughout the board in any position of their orbit. Point each planet in the direction of choice. This will be the direction in which they orbit.
- Shuffle the cards and deal each player three cards.
- Give each player their player board and place each planet token on the top of the board.
- Place each player's ship onto their matching coloured planet.
- Place the energy cubes within reach of all players (with no starting energy).
How to Play:
This is a racing game of planetary visitation. The first player to visit all planets (in any order) and return to their starting planet wins. On a turn, players will choose one card from their hand, then decide in which order they would like to resolve the following (resolving one action before moving to the next); advance the planets shown on the card, execute the card's movement (spending energy to enhance), and performing the bonus effect of the card if there is one, such as gaining energy or reversing a planets orbit.
At the end of the turn the player refills their hand back to the hand limit. When a player has reached all of their planets, they need to return home then they will be the winner.
Modules:
Prism:
The Prism will replace one space station during setup and will increase the planet count that players have to visit by one. The catch is that this planet is stationary.
Team Mode:
Players can play in a team mode, which is a small module that allows players to work in a partnership. The two main differences are that players can use each other's energy cubes (not recharge, only use), and two new tiles that can be used once a game enters the fray. The benefit of the friendship tile is that the player can move their ship to their partner's location, and the exchange tile will swap the two ships' locations. These tiles can be used at any time on a player's turn, before or after movement.
Advanced Two-Player:
The advanced two-player mode uses the tiles from the partnership variant (one per player) and instead has both players in charge of two ships. All planets have to be visited except for the ship’s own individual colour, and then they have to be returned to their starting planet for the player to win. Even though there are two ships, there is only one player board being upgraded. This makes it easier to upgrade the hand limit and energy capacity.
Final Thoughts:
- More thinky in how to time everything than appears at first glance.
- Interesting twist in the larger movement from the planets each turn (objectives).
- Plenty of modular variability, including a new board and advanced two-player and team rules.
- Cards in the deck feature nebulae cards which are great for players with the expansion but can confuse those without.
Racing games are a genre I particularly enjoy in board games, whether the race is pure goal-based or the end-game. The goal is concise. Players have to visit every planet and return home, the decisions for this come from how to do this first. The main resource players will use is how they can turn their small movement per turn into much faster travel. This can be done through energy consumption increasing movement one at a time, movement advantages from space stations scattered across the board, benefits from visiting certain planets, and my favourite, hitching a ride on a planet or moving it into a closer orbit. The twist to this race is that planets will move along their own orbit paths when a player plays a card matching the planet. This can move the planets further away from your opponents or closer to you. As the cards have three types of actions that can be activated in the order of the player's choice, a lot of timed planning is required. Orbit has a great blend of chaotic fun and a good level of decision-making around how best to time the various movements. This then creates an interesting mix of strategy and luck. If you enjoy racing games with a twist I can easily recommend Orbit.
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