Asteroid

About this board game

Asteroid is a two-player science-fiction adventure game with an approximately 180-minute play time, first released in 1980. One player leads a team of adventurers trying to destroy a runaway mining asteroid on a collision course with Earth, while the other controls the evil computer brain running the mining station.

The adventurers must overcome the station’s defenses, including dangerous robots, before they can turn off the computer brain, set the asteroid to self-destruct, and escape before the explosion. Each character brings distinctive capabilities to the mission, creating different possibilities for dealing with the station’s threats.

• Ranged and melee combat abilities
• Computer and demolition skills
• Stealthiness, psychic ability, and luck
• Emotional attachments between characters

The computer brain player secretly determines the configuration of the modular boards, creating the mining-station map, and deploys robots to obstruct the adventurers. This hidden setup places the heroes in an environment whose layout and defenses are determined by their opponent.

Success can be measured in several ways. Possible adventurer outcomes include World Survival Victory, Personal Survival Victory, Common Decency Victory, Romantic Victory, and SPCA Victory, depending on what happens to the characters and the dog, Sasha.

One of GDW’s Series 120 games, Asteroid includes eight 5.5-by-8.5-inch maps and 120 tile counters representing characters, robots, items, and other elements. It was resold from Kokusai-Tsushin in 2003.