Space Race is a fast game with a lot of variation. One of my favorites for sure! Rockets need to be fueled and sent into space, you might even meet an alien.

The game is played on a clear 3×3 board, matching a tile gives 200 points, completing a line 1500 points and completing the board 5000 points. But there is more, much more.

Space Race is anything but a complicated game. Spend an half hour learning it and you’ll be a pro.

Here to the left we see a game of Space Race, I paid this game and direct after payment it starts.

On top of the game we see that I paid L$10, in order to win L$20 I will need to beat the score of 46901. This info is already available before you start the game. You can choose a game at your liking, e.g. a game that pays 5 times your buy-in instead of only twice. Such a game will of course also have a higher score to beat.

Below that a line with 3 symbols which we will examine later on, and below that from left to right: * A button to put the sounds off or back on, * The current score, being zero at game start, * The round number, we are at round 1.

Below that the actual game board, and then below that the spinner.

We see on the spinner a match with the game board, the number 10. Now, let’s click that 10 on the game board and see what happens. Don’t click the 10 on the spinner, click it on the game board. Clicking on the spinner advances to the next round.

On some other games it can in some situations be wise to skip a number, not playing it purposely. When playing Space Race it is always wise to use all your matches. Always.

As you can see I have 200 points now and am still in the first round. Where the number 10 was is now a bonus symbol: 15K. Each number match does reveal a bonus symbol, matching the number does not grant the bonus yet, but makes the bonus revealed. Later on we might get a chance to collect it.

Behind all other tiles is also a bonus hidden, we don’t know yet which bonus. It could be a high bonus, or a rather low one. It could become handy to know which bonus is where. Space Race has a feature where we can peek at the hidden bonuses.

I marked the middle button of the reel above the play board with a red arrow. I click that button to peek at the bonuses.

The peeking takes only a few seconds. I see that the middle column has from top to bottom the bonuses: 2500, Rocket, 2500.

Each bonus except the rockets can be collected only once. The rocket can can be collected multiple times. At the end of the round you get a percentage on top of your score for each column where you collected the rocket at least once. Where having collected it once gives 7%, twice 15%, 3 times 25%, 4 times 50% and 5 times 100%.

I don’t really need to memorize these 3 bonuses, I saw that the rocket is on the middle tile, so if I do get a wild on this column I play the middle tile. This because 2500 isn’t really a lot.

I can peek once every round, so I am done peeking for this round. I already did make all number matches so I click on the spinner to move to the next round.

The second round gives 2 wilds. A wild can be played anywhere on the same column. As we just saw with peeking at the middle column, I want the center field of the middle column.

This field is attractive also for a different reason: It is placed not only on a vertical and horizontal line but also on both diagonals. 4 out of the 8 lines (3 horizontal, 3 vertical and 2 diagonal) cannot be completed without having this field.

I click this field, and now we have it.

OK, thus now we have 400 points and still to choose where to play the other wild, it can be on either the number 6 or 8. Normally 8 would have the preference as it is on a diagonal, but perhaps 6 does hide another juicy 15K bonus, or even the maximum bonus of 25K.

Let’s just peek! I click the left most button on the top reel. (Marked with a red arrow on the picture to the left).

Here to the left we see the peeking, nothing special.

Each tile on the board does have a bonus hidden behind it, on each column there is one rocket. On this column the rocket is on the middle field.

I must weight, I prefer revealing the rocket, I also prefer to play a tile on a diagonal. I choose for the rocket, assuming we will collect that 15K and then also a few rockets, I can get a nice percentage extra over an already good score.

This is important in Space Race. Collecting rockets is good, they add high percentages to the score, but you also need a good score to make this really count. 50% extra of not much, might be still not much while 50% extra over a lot is really a lot.

At the end of round 2 I have 3 tiles revealed, peeked on 2 columns and scored in total 600 points, 200 points for each tile.

It is important to realize I don’t have to bother remembering the peeked columns. At the first column there is only one field remaining, thus a wild will be placed there, at the second column it doesn’t matter where we play the wild, at least not for the bonuses.

Let’s click the spinner to see what the 3rd round brings.

Two wilds and a pick. Not bad!

Another great thing of Space Race is that the order of play doesn’t matter, so I can play from left to right, from right to left, it doesn’t matter. As long as I make sure I play all my matches.

On the left column I have no choice, I play the 8. The middle column is the first pick of this game. With a pick I can collect one of the bonuses in the same column. There is only one bonus to collect so I collect the rocket.

Thus we first play 8, then collect the rocket, and then we can see what to do with the 3rd column.

y score is 2300, that is the 600 I already had plus another 200 for matching a tile plus 1500 for completing a line, the leftmost vertical line is now completed.

The reel above the games also looks rather different than when we began. Let’s have a look from left to right.

The left most column shows a greyed rocket. This means we did reveal the rocket on this column, after revealing the rocket there is no posiblity to peek on that column anymore.

The middle column shows a rocket with one black dot, indicating that the rocket is revealed and collected once. Thus, if this was the situation at the end of the game we would get an extra percentage added to our score, being the lowest percentage in the range: 7%

The right column is still as it was in the beginning. We can still peek, see what is hidden there. Since there is also a wild to be played on that column, let’s peek…

I click the right most column on the reel.

The preview of the 3rd column is clear. A yummi 5000 points on the top row, the rocket on the bottom row.

After the peeking I click the tile on top to match that field and reveal the 5000 points bonus.

And then this is how the game looks after the 3rd round. The score is now 4000, as another 1700 were added (200 for matching a tile and 1500 for completing the diagonal line).

The one dot at the middle tile of the reel indicates there will be also a 7% bonus on the end of the game. Thus I can be sure of 4000 + 7% = 4280 points.

4280 is far less than needed, so that is not the reason why I am so happy. That reason lays in the left column. One of the rules of Space Race is:
When all 3 fields of a vertical line are matched, the game will give a pick on that column, in each of the following rounds.

Knowing that one of these picks can be used to collect the 15000 bonus and the other 4 to collect rocket…4 rockets is the 4th percentage in the list 7%, 15%, 25%, 50%, 100%, thus 50%.

This adds up: I am sure of 4000+15,000 points = 19000 points and then 50% plus 7% on top of that. 19,000 x 150% x 107% = 30,495. That is still no win, but it is rapidly getting closer.

I click the spinner. Let’s see what the 4th round brings.

Two picks, the one on the left column was already sure to expect. There I can use it to take the 15K, on the middle column there is only one bonus that can be collected, the rocket. So, let’s collect that one.

I click the 15K on the left column, the rocket on the middle column and then the spinner to move on to the next round.

In the 5th round the work is again on the left and middle column. Left the expected pick and in the middle we can match the number 15.

I will play the pick on the left column ever time on the rocket, and thus increase the percentage my score will be multiplied with. As we already saw before, since the game has 8 rounds I will reach the 50%.

Thus, without a lot of thinking, this round I click the left rocket and match the number 15. After that I click the spinner to go to the next round.

OK, so what to do this round? On the left column it is clear: Collect the rocket, but what is more beneficial on the middle column: Rocket or 2500 points.

It is a close call, but I still need a lot of points. Choosing the rocket will make that the reward we get on the end of the game on the second column will be 25% instead of 15% and more important, it gives a good sot at making that 50% in a next round.

So, I go for the rocket. I click the 2 rockets and will go on to the next round.

This round will pass without a lot of thinking. Again collecting a rocket on the first column, and this time I also have something at the left column, where the 30 can be matched.

I make this 2 matches and click the spinner, on my way to the last round. This game evolved on a way that the last round will be decisive, if I get what I need, I’ll win this game.

After matching the 30, my score will be 20,700+200+1,500=22,400. I will receive 50% due to the first column and 25% due to the last column. 22,500×150%x125% =42,187. Not enough to win, but close.

Of course while playing the game there is no need to count how close you are. I just want to show now that we are very close, a single pick on either the 2nd or 3rd will already be a win. (the one on the first column we will get for sure)

And there it is!

Two picks, I pick both rockets.

I already know now I will get 2 times 50% and thus win this game. After picking the rockets, I press the spinner, sit down and enjoy. Yet another game won!

The percentages on the reel start moving, but we already know what the outcome will be, two times 50%. The game will pay me the L$20 I won for my final score of 50,400.

And that is all…the game went fast, didn’t require to stop playing and think, we had to take decisions but they were good to make. When we peeked at the bonuses we had to memorize a few things, but only a few and rather short.

However…It is not all. There are a few extra features. You see those blue boards hanging everywhere near space race, with Fueling, Countdown, Blastoff and Alien. The prizes shown with it are cumulative, every game a percentage is added to these prizes.

Below these extra’s are explained in detail, but you can also safely ignore them. When you get that alien, pick it and when you can score high, do so! Then later on, when you really like this game, you can read to figure out why it can be profitable to play some extra games when the blastoff is almost near.

Alien – On rare occasions the game shows an alien icon as on of the bonuses. Pick that alien and you will win the prize for Alien. That prize is not always higher than what you would win when winning the game. Thus make sure you check before picking the alien. Of course you can also wih the Alien prize and win the game.

Fueling – Each time you collect a rocket in a game that counts as 1 step in the fueling. After 5000 rockets the fueling is done. The player who had the highest score during this fueling stage will win the fueling pot.

Countdown – Another 5000 rockets, this time approx. 5000 rockets to keep an element of surprise during the countdown stage, the player who had the highest score will win the pot.

Blastoff – The player who plays the last game, the game that completes the countdown will win the blastoff pot.

The Fueling, Countdown and Blastoff prizes will be paid at the moment of blastoff.