Space Walk

About this board game

Space Walk is a mancala-like strategy game for 2–5 players, with an approximate play time of 45 minutes. Players sow space ships around a looping board, trying to preserve valuable ships while sending others into black holes.

The board is made up of a loop of black holes, with six intermediate spaces between each one. On a move, a player picks up all the ships from one space and sows them around the board in mancala fashion. Any ship that falls into a black hole is lost forever, making every sowing decision a careful balance of opportunity and risk.

Ships come in three sizes, worth different numbers of victory points when they survive: large ships are worth 4 points, medium ships are worth 3, and small ships are worth 1. The bigger ships must be sown first, adding an important restriction to the way ships move around the board.

• Three ship sizes: surviving ships score 4, 3, or 1 victory points.
• Black holes: ships that land in them are removed permanently.
• Extra-move chips: each player has three, and unused chips are worth 2 victory points each.

The game ends when one player has lost all of their ships. Victory depends on the points represented by surviving ships, along with the value of unused extra-move chips. A central strategic challenge is deciding how to use an opponent’s ships as sacrifices to help get your own ships safely around the black holes.

First released in 1999, Space Walk received the 1999 Vuoden Perhepeli award.