Cosmic Run: Mission One feels bigger than a piece of paper

At its heart, Cosmic Run: Mission One is a Roll and Move, along with being a Roll and Write. While Roll and Move is often derided as a mechanic by those who have forgotten Backgammon, Cosmic Run uses multiple pawns and dice manipulation to make sure there’s actual gameplay.

Cosmic Run: Mission One is a Roll and Write solitaire from Dr. Finn’s Book of Solitaire Strategy and Word Games. It’s also the only game in the book that Steve Finn writes cannot work as a multiplayer solitaire.

You are trying to reach four different planets before your AI opponent reach them. The play sheet consists of four planet tracks and a column of special powers that you have to earn before you can use.

Each track actually has the planet in the middle with you coming from one side and the AI enemy coming from the other. Each track on your side has a specific requirement, like three of kind needed to move/mark off a space. There are six special powers in the column, one for each pip. They range from reroll a die to change a die to any pip.

Each turn, you roll four dice. You always have to assign a die but you can reroll the rest so you get up to four rolls without using special powers. Dice can be assigned to planet tracks or special powers to earn said powers.

After you’ve assigned and resolved your dice (which can end up doing nothing if you couldn’t fulfill a track’s requirement), you roll one die for the AI. The AI spaces have numbers on them, sometimes two. If your die roll matches one (or more!) of the number at the next space of an AI track, cross it off. If it doesn’t match, you choose which track to cross off a space on.

If the AI reaches a planet first, you either lose points depending on how far along you are for that planet or lose outright if you aren’t far enough. When all four planets are claimed, the game ends. You gain points for claimed planets and unused powers and lose them for AI-claimed planets.

I haven’t played any of Dr. Finn’s other Cosmic Run games but Cosmic Run: Mission Run definitely feels like a game that started out as not-a-Roll-and-Write. And I do like it when R&Ws stretch the medium, although it’s long past the point where anyone should be surprised when R&Ws aren’t just Yahtzee clones.

The game is remarkably accessible, in large part because it uses so many concepts and mechanics that are part of the building blocks of board games. At the same time, it manages to also be its own thing. And easy to understand doesn’t mean easy to win.

Cosmic Run: Mission One does a bang up job at both being a Roll and Move game without actually having any physical pawns and while giving you choices. It’s short and ultimately simple but feels bigger than a piece of paper and some dice.