Cosmic Run: Express (2019)

Race to distant planets in search of a new home, in this standalone mini-card game in Dr Finn's Cosmic Run universe.

In the 2-player game, players race to be the first to reach 3 planets. A player reaches a planet by earning 12 movement points toward that planet. The game is played in a series of rounds until someone wins.

In each round, players are dealt 6 "ship" cards (which are 1 of 4 colors, or suits, numbered from 1-4). They simultaneously pass 2 cards to each other. Players then simultaneously play 1 card at one of the 3 planets, until all 6 cards are played (and they must play them so 2 cards are at each planet).

Players score "movement" points in 1 of 3 ways. (1) When placing a ship card, players score a movement point if the ship card color matches the icon on top of their movement card (which is used to keep track of the movement points, so this icon color keeps changing).

(2) By having the best 2-card hand at a planet. Using typical poker-like ranks, players compare hands and the best hand earns 2 movement points.

(3) Each card, in addition to having a suit and a number, has an arrow that can be oriented to point left or right (by rotating the card). The player earns a bonus movement if the arrow color matches the color of cards played in the adjacent column.

The game is very portable, consisting of only 25 cards.

For 1-player, there is a mechanism for competing against a dummy player.

-description from designer