Apollo: A Game Inspired by NASA Moon Missions

About this board game

Apollo: A Game Inspired by NASA Moon Missions is a cooperative game for 2–5 players that recreates the challenge of historic NASA missions in around 60 minutes.

Set during the race to land astronauts on the moon by the end of the 1960s, the game divides players between two connected roles. One player serves as Mission Control on Earth, while the others take the part of astronauts aboard the command module.

The astronauts guide their spacecraft through multiple flight stages by rolling dice and assigning them to tasks. They must maintain the systems that keep the mission running while also completing experiments. However, the astronauts do not have all the information required for their experiments, creating an important need for clear communication with Mission Control.

• Maintain life support, power, communications, and flight control.
• Roll and assign dice to flight tasks and experiments.
• Use tokens to relay key information or provide dice bonuses.
• Track flight and experiment progress with Mission Control’s panel of sliders.
• Respond to obstacles, repair the spacecraft, and prevent disasters.

Mission Control can support the crew by spending tokens to share essential information, boost systems, or improve dice results. But failing to maintain the spacecraft can trigger disasters, including communication failures that prevent Mission Control and the astronauts from talking to each other.

Each mission is based on a real-life NASA mission and sets its own requirements for success. The team wins by completing the required number of flight stages and experiments, making every decision part of a shared effort to keep the mission on course. In Apollo, teamwork determines whether the mission succeeds or fails.