 Avalon Hill's box top for Cosmic Encounter Cosmic Encounter is a science fiction-themed strategy board game, designed by "Future Pastimes" (collectively, Peter Olotka, Jack Kittredge and Bill Eberle) and originally published by Eon Game. In it, each player takes the role of a particular alien species attempting to establish control over the universe. In 1992, Cosmic Encounter won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1991, and placed 6th in the Deutscher Spiele Preis. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ...
Cosmic Encounter Online is a multiplayer online strategy game for one to four players. ...
Image File history File links Cosmic_encounter_avalon_hill_boxtop. ...
Image File history File links Cosmic_encounter_avalon_hill_boxtop. ...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ...
A board game is a game played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a board (a premarked surface, usually specific to that game). ...
Universe is a word derived from the Old French univers, which in turn comes form the Latin roots unus (one) and versus (a form of vertere, to turn). Physicists concept of the Universe is motivated[] by the attempt to describe the whole of space-time, including all matter and energy...
1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
The Origins Awards, presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design, are presented at the Origins International Game Expo for outstanding work in the game industry. ...
The Deutscher Spiele Preis (German for German Game Prize) is an award for German-style games. ...
Cosmic Encounter is a very dynamic and social game, with players being encouraged to interact, argue, form alliances, make deals, double-cross, and occasionally work together to protect the common good. Most editions of the game are designed for three to six players, although official rules exist for playing with as few as two, or as many as eight, players.
Gameplay The board consists of a home system with five planets for each player and an area in the middle termed "The Warp". There is also a cardboard HyperSpace Cone used for pointing an attack at an opponent's planet. Each player begins with twenty tokens in their home system (four on each planet). Two decks of cards are used: one deck which determines who is attacked next (the "destiny" pile), and one which contains the cards players hold in their hands. This second deck is made up of numbered cards which are used in challenges and many other special cards which affect the game in various ways. The specific wording of these cards varies among editions. For the astrological concept, see Planets in astrology. ...
On each challenge a player turns over a card from the first deck that determines which system to attack (his/her "destiny"), chooses a particular planet in that system, and puts one or more tokens in the cone to attack with. The attacking and defending players then have the opportunity to ask other players to ally with them. Allies stand to gain benefits if they join the winning side, or suffer losses if on the losing side. Each main player then selects one of the numbered cards from his hand, to play face down, then flip over simultaneously. The cards and tokens involved in the challenge are added up, any special conditions or cards played are taken into account, and the side with the higher total wins. If the attacking player is successful, he gains a base on the disputed planet. All tokens from the losing side are sent into the warp, where they cannot be used until retrieved. Under certain conditions, players may also be forced to "make a deal" which can include the exchange of cards, bases, and other game properties, though if no deal can be made within a short time, both players lose tokens to the Warp.
The object of the game is to establish five bases on planets outside of one's home system, with the exception of Cosmic Encounter Online in which only four bases are required to win. Cosmic Encounter Online is a multiplayer online strategy game for one to four players. ...
Each player has one or more alien powers which distort, extend, or break the basic rules of the game in some way, usually to that player's advantage. For example, Macron's tokens are worth four of any other's tokens; Zombie never loses tokens to the warp; Oracle can see what card his opponent plays before choosing his card. There is even a power which can change the object of the game; other players are allowed to ask a yes-or-no question each turn in order to determine what they're trying to accomplish. Some powers encourage a limited role-playing aspect (e.g. the Sniveller, with the power to "whine" when doing worse than the other players.) See list of Cosmic Encounter powers. In role-playing, participants adopt characters, or parts, that have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds different from their own. ...
The various official editions of Cosmic Encounter have featured many powers which players may use during the game: Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Amoeba (Eon...
At the beginning of the game, these powers are randomly selected from the many different alien powers, so each game requires a different strategy to win. Many of these powers interact with one another in complex ways that are not immediately apparent, sometimes even requiring group consensus (or experience) to resolve conflicts.
There are many other cards ("Edicts") which may be played at various times with many different effects. More advanced optional game components can add further levels of chaos and unpredictability, and include:
- Flares: Cards based on the alien powers that provide a player with a single-use aspect of that power. Flares also feature "Super Flares" which can only be used if the player holding that card also has use of that alien power.
- Lucre: The concept of money for the game, with several additional alien powers that affect how lucre is used in the game
- Moons: Bases placed in each player's system, but do not count towards victory conditions. However, while occupied, the controlling player can use the ability that is granted by the moon.
- Special planetary systems: Printed on the reverse side of the normal systems in most prints of Cosmic Encounter, the special systems have additional rules in regards to the player's initial setup, bases, and victory conditions.
Some players have created their own "homemade" powers, and posted these along with other various game extensions to the internet.
Major variants include multiple-power games and hidden-power games (in which the powers are not revealed until their first use). Official variants include rules for adding a seventh or eighth player.
History
 Art from the inside of the Eon edition. Copyright. The original version of Cosmic Encounter had exactly six alien powers and was designed for up to six players. This edition was nearly published by Parker Brothers in the mid-1970s; when it was not, the designers founded Eon Games to publish it. Image File history File links Cosmic_Encounter_Eon_Games_Manual_Page2. ...
Image File history File links Cosmic_Encounter_Eon_Games_Manual_Page2. ...
The first Eon edition was released in 1977. It allowed up to four players and included fifteen alien powers. Over the next five years, Eon released nine expansions, adding sixty more alien powers, components for a fifth and sixth player, and several new types of pieces, including "Flare" cards, money (Lucre), Moons, and special power planet systems. The artwork on these early editions (especially the alien power cards, many of which were painted by Dean Morrissey) is regarded as truly surreal and spectacular.[citation needed]
In 1986, the game was republished in the U.S. by West End Games. The game used the same deck of cards and number of players, and the same powers with five additional powers from Eon expansion sets #1 and #2. However, the cards and tokens were incompatible with the Eon edition. Meanwhile, in the UK, the game was published by Games Workshop. The GW edition supported six players, with powers from the Eon base set and some of the first three expansions. West End Games is a company that makes role playing games. ...
Games Workshop Group PLC (often abbreviated to GW) is a British game production and retailing company. ...
 Mayfair Game's box top for More Cosmic Encounter In 1991, the game was licensed by Mayfair Games. Mayfair published Cosmic Encounter and two expansions called More Cosmic Encounter (1992) and Simply Cosmic (1995), the last of which was an introductory-level standalone version of the game. The Mayfair edition dropped or revised some powers from the original Eon set, introduced many more, and significantly revised some of the existing components. It also introduced several new components. By combining the three Mayfair products, it is possible to play a 10-player game. Image File history File links Mce. ...
Image File history File links Mce. ...
Mayfair Games is a publisher of board and roleplaying games in the United States and United Kingdom. ...
1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...
1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
In 2000, Avalon Hill (by then a division of Hasbro) published a simplified version in one box with plastic pieces. This version was limited to 20 powers and four players. Avalon Hill was a game company that specialized in wargames and strategic board games. ...
Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is an American toy and game company. ...
In 2003, original designer Peter Olotka and partners launched a new version called Cosmic Encounter Online that may be played over the internet. Currently, this version has 33 powers, including six (Brat, Dork, Martian, Mite, Sapient, and Tripler) not found in any earlier versions. Cosmic Encounter Online is a multiplayer online strategy game for one to four players. ...
Influence The possibility of an organic and completely different experience every time one plays was clearly one of the influences in the design of the very successful card game Magic: The Gathering. Magic designer Richard Garfield has often cited Cosmic Encounter as being influential in the design of Magic, going so far as to say, "[Magic's] most influential ancestor is a game for which I have no end of respect: Cosmic Encounter."[citation needed] Magic: The Gathering (colloq. ...
Richard Garfield Richard Garfield (born 1966) is the billionaire game designer who created the card games Magic: The Gathering, Netrunner, BattleTech, Vampire: The Eternal Struggle (originally known as Jyhad), The Great Dalmuti, Star Wars Trading Card Game, and the board game RoboRally. ...
The game also heavily influenced the Dune board game, which was also designed by Future Pastimes. Dune is a strategy board game set in Frank Herberts Dune universe, published by Avalon Hill in 1979. ...
External links
 Online version of Cosmic Encounter - Official sites
- Discussion and reviews
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