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So a long time ago I tried to develop a game based on those weird rotating locks in Star Wars you keep seeing R2D2 unlocking for everyone. The design didn't work out, mathematically, but the prototypes were rather durable and I kept them around. Many years later I noticed lots of other designers doing something similar, so I dug out my old prototype and wondered what I could do with it. I've also been wondering about how to make Snakes & Ladders interesting, and the thought occurred to me to combine the two, with the game being about escaping a gravity well.



Right now my thinking is that each rotating part or orbit has a glass bead representing a planet, with player pieces being dice, D6s. They're dice to record whether they've worked up enough power to escape to a higher orbit around the central star. The notion being that if a planet in a higher orbit is adjacent to the square which the player's D6 is in, then they can use that planet like a ladder to climb up to the higher orbit. Similarly if the planet is adjacent in a lower orbit the player's D6 is pulled down into that orbit. Players build up the value of their dice moving in the direction of the planet's orbital movement, and lose it moving against it. Once a player has built up to 6 they can move up an orbit, and are reduced to 1. Notably they can gain a point/pip by going down an orbit voluntary.



Once all players have taken a turn, each orbit rotates counter-clockwise one square relative to its lower orbit.

Having given it some more thought:

The goal of the game is to exit the system, moving off the board into interstellar space.

To begin the game players roll their D6 and set it up in order of highest to lowest clockwise in the orbit of their home planet, where the home planet is 12 o'clock.

Players take turns moving, (1) as many squares anti-clockwise in an orbit as they want, up to the length of the orbit, or (2) up and (3) down an orbit one square.

For each square they move in an orbit, they gain 1 pip on their D6. Moving up into the square of a higher orbit costs 4 pips. Moving out of the system costs 5 pips. Moving out of a square with a planet in it costs 2 pips. Moving down into the square of a lower orbit gains the player's dice 2 pips.

As you can see, it's impossible to exit a square containing a planet to gain a higher orbit, as that would cost 6 pips.

Also, once every player has had a turn, then the board moves. Each orbit moves one square counter-clockwise, relative to the orbit below it.. The home planet orbit doesn't move.

If a player's D6 has a planet in an adjacent square in a lower orbit, their D6 is pulled down into that square. If a player's D6 has a planet in an adjacent square in a higher orbit, their D6 is pulled up into that square.

Interesting concept. Have you played it yet?

Nope. I'm planning on inflicting it on my eldest and possibly my wife tonight.

This looks like it has grat potential for a seemingly simple yet ultimately infuriating game, which I think could be awesome! Simple goal, and a series of simple mechanics, but combined they look to add up to more than the sum of their parts.

I look forward to hearing how this went!

I tried it out on my second child, age 7 (turning 8 in April) and while it was interesting it was a bit 'on rails.' Also, getting out of the home-planet orbit is a bit awkward, so I need to re-jig the starting positions.

Can I make a suggestion?

Slingshot. So you have to go inwards, first, with enough energy to not fall into the sun, then visit enough planets on the outwards journey to build up your momentum to escape.

Each player starts on a different planet, so it takes those further out longer to reach the sun to begin the slingshot, but they have more time to build up energy, so should need to slingshot around fewer planets on the way out.

Narrative: your advanced race has populated all of the planets in its solar system but has suddenly discovered that its star is about to collapse (due to handwavium). Each planet loads up an ark with all of its citizens, but the mass of the sun is too great for a straight escape, so they all have to run the risk of a slingshot into the sun.

Currently the problem with the game is precisely that the players all need to slingshot around the sun to get out to the second orbit. Like I said, it's a bit on rails at the moment. I think I need to do some math.