First Contact (game)
| First contact | |
|---|---|
| Game data | |
| author | Damir Khusnatdinov |
| graphic |
Viktor Eredel , Alexandr Kiselev , Alexandra Sharyapova |
| publishing company |
Cosmodrome Games , OUCH! , MS Edizioni, Broadway Toys LTD, Maldito Games |
| Publishing year | 2018 |
| Art | Communication game |
| Teammates | 2 to 7 |
| Duration | 15 to 40 minutes |
| Age | from 12 years |
First Contact (Russian: Первый контакт) is a communication game by the Russian game designer Damir Khusnatdinov , which was published by the game publisher Cosmodrome Games in Russia in 2018 and internationally in the following years. A German version was published in 2019 by HUCH! released. The game is played in asymmetrical groups of "Egyptians" and "extraterrestrials", who each teach each other the language and thus have to exchange specific objects. Within the groups, the players have to work partially together, but there is one winner per group, which means that the game is not cooperative .
Theme and equipment
The game is a communication game that is about a first contact between humans and aliens. Aliens land in ancient Egypt and meet the population there. The aliens want to take certain artifacts with them to their planets and have to convey to the Egyptians what they want. However, since they speak a language unknown to the Egyptians, they first have to agree with them on vocabulary for understanding. The game contains elements of the game Codenames , but differs significantly from it.
In addition to the instructions, the game material consists of:
- 60 object cards with possible objects,
- 12 order cards,
- a stand for the current orders,
- a screen for the aliens and 4 screens for the Egyptians,
- a common writing board for the aliens,
- 5 erasable pens,
- 12 language tables with translations of extraterrestrial writing,
- 4 voting boards,
- 4 notice boards, and
- 75 favor symbols in three colors.
Style of play
preparation
Depending on the number of players, it is determined before the game which players play as Egyptians and which as aliens. The game is designed for a maximum of four Egyptians and three aliens, who should sit opposite each other at the table. Each Egyptian receives a set of a screen, a voting board and a note board as well as a pen and places them in front of him. The extraterrestrials are given a shared viewing screen, a randomly selected language board and a likewise randomly determined order card with a stand and the jointly used writing board as well as a pen. The language board and the order card are placed behind the screen in such a way that they cannot be seen by the Egyptians. Each extraterrestrial also receives all the favor symbols of one color. In the middle of the table, a display of 25 random object cards is laid out in a grid of five by five cards.
Game flow
The game is played in several rounds and in two phases, one for the Egyptians and one for the aliens. During the entire game, the other players are not allowed to talk about the guessing items or the properties. To speed up the start, a “first word round” can be set before the actual game, in which every Egyptian can ask for a word that the aliens translate for all Egyptians. In addition, the players can decide whether they want to play a long round with five objects per alien or a short one with three objects each, and choose the card side of the mission card accordingly.
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Order of the game phases
Egyptian phase (per Egyptian):
Alien phase (per alien):
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Each game round begins with an Egyptian phase. One after the other, the Egyptians try to learn a word in the alien language. To do this, the active player turns up to five cards on the object display by 90 degrees, which in his opinion have the property to be queried. On this basis, the Egyptians consider together which term the Egyptians would like to know and write the appropriate characters from their language board on their writing board. The Egyptians, even those who are not currently active, now write down the corresponding vocabulary for the property. If you are unsure whether the word used is correct, you can mark the term with a question mark or put the character in the line for unknown characters. All writing boards always remain behind the screen and must not be visible to either the aliens or the other Egyptians. At the end of the turn, all objects are turned over again.
When all Egyptians have asked for a word, the alien phase takes place. The alien players play one after the other in the fixed order red, blue and green. On the order card behind your screen you will find the objects in the grid that you have to take with you as artifacts on your planet. The currently active extraterrestrial describes one or more desired objects on the writing board with the help of the vocabulary available to him, whereby he naturally prefers characters that are already known to the Egyptians and describe the objects he needs as precisely as possible. He can also deny properties by placing a horizontal line over the term. Each Egyptian now ticks a card position from the grid on his voting board that corresponds to the desired item in his opinion. When all Egyptians have chosen an object, they place the boards face up in front of their screen and the active alien rewards each Egyptian with a favor marker of his color, which brings him an object of his choice. It does not matter whether it is the actually described object or a random hit. He also places a favor marker of his color on the corresponding items that he has already received.
End of game and evaluation
The game ends immediately as soon as an alien has received all of the three or five items he wanted. This alien is the winner of the alien team. Among the Egyptians, the player with the most favor symbols wins, and in the event of a tie, the player with the most correct translations of the alien language on his board wins.
Special rules for two or three players
In a two- or three-player game there is only one alien and up to two Egyptians. The structure is the same as in the basic game, but the alien receives nine red favor symbols, which he places in a row behind the screen, as well as the green favor marks in the two-player game and the blue favor marks in the three-player game.
The aim of the game is to present the alien with eight desired items before he runs out of red favor symbols. The extraterrestrial places a red tile aside in each round, and he always loses a tile when an object marked in black on the order card is presented to him. With the green tiles he marks the correctly guessed objects in the map grid. The game for two is cooperative, so both players win or lose together. In each round, the Egyptians have two chances to find the object they are looking for. In a three-player game, each Egyptian receives a blue tile for the correct answers and the player with the most tiles wins at the end of the game.
The game ends when the alien has received eight of the desired objects or has to discard a red tile and no longer has any. The success of the players is evaluated based on the number of correct objects.
Publication and reception
The game First Contact was developed by the Russian game designer Damir Khusnatdinov and published in Russian and in English in 2018 by the Moscow-based game publisher Cosmodrome Games . In 2019 the game was released internationally in various languages: A German version was published by HUCH! and it was also published in Italian (MS Edizioni), French (Cosmodrome Games) and Chinese (Broadway Toys LTD).
The game critic Udo Bartsch describes the game as moderate and is not very convinced. He wrote:
“FIRST CONTACT has an outstanding gaming history, but it doesn't really implement it. The game is very costly and time-consuming to associate a few terms with characters. FIRST CONTACT is over by the time the tools for a more well-planned communication are in place. In each game the same 25 terms are available and it can be seen that often the same (“human”, “plant” etc.) are asked first, while others only come later or not at all. The aliens are dependent on suitable templates. An original or creative use of the characters leads to success less often than conscious or unconscious blurring. "
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i First Contact , game instructions, HUCH! 2019
- ↑ First Contact , versions at BoardGameGeek. Retrieved January 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Udo Bartsch : First Contact on Reviews for Millions, December 30, 2019; accessed on January 11, 2020.
Web links
- First contact in the Luding games database
- First Contact in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)
- First contact at HUCH! / Hutter Trade