Deep Space D-6

Main mechanics: Dice Placement 

Players: 1

Time:  15-30 min
Complexity: Lightweight

Solo Option: Yes, Solitaire only.

This little solitaire gem has recently come back in print from Tau Leder Games.
Your ship is alone in the farthest reaches of space and it is being attacked by an armada of aliens!  Can you direct your crew well enough to survive this onslaught and make it back home?

Deep Space D-6 is a quick-moving game of decision-making and dice placement. To start, the player Picks one of the four included ships and grabs and a handful of dice.

Each round you roll the dice, custom d6’s that represent the available crew, to see what essential ship stations you can activate. In the best of times, you have multiple options. Repair the hull?  Use the scanner? Send someone on an away mission? Or use the captain to tell a gunner to get to the shields instead of his normal post.

After you take your action the enemy has a chance to fight back through a draw from a threat deck and a roll of a D6 that may activate previously drawn threats. There are a lot of decisions you will need to make to keep your ship alive long enough to destroy all the hazards that menace it. If you make it to the end of the deck and your ship is still flying you survive.

The one thing that may be a drawback is that the game contains a very sparse design and not the highest quality components (though I do like the custom dice). It almost feels intentional for the retro sci-fi design it is going for. 

The book mimics an 80’s choose your own adventure book cover.  It definitely has a Star Trek vibe throughout, though it is not necessary to enjoy that show to like this game (I am not a Star Trek fan myself, but still like this game quite a  bit).

My Fav Thing:

Deep Space D6 has such a fast set-up and tear-down. You can be playing a game within one minute of opening the box. Even with its small footprint and quick setup, it offers a full gaming experience that makes it completely worth owning if you ever play solo games. If you don’t this may be a good place to start. A bit more planning than opening a book of sudoku, but not by much.