Leaving Earth

About this board game

Leaving Earth is a space-race strategy game for 1–5 players, with games lasting about 180 minutes. Set in 1956, it places you in charge of a national space program at the dawn of the Space Age.

Your country is counting on you to achieve a historic breakthrough. You might be the first to create an artificial satellite, send a probe to another planet, or even put a person on the moon. A single grand journey into outer space may be enough to claim victory, but reaching your objective requires careful preparation.

Leaving Earth focuses on planning and managing risk. You must find the cheapest, quickest, and safest way to complete each journey while avoiding unnecessary delays. Prepare too slowly, however, and another nation may reach its goal first.

• Conduct research: Buy advancements that begin with certain flaws, then test them to discover and eliminate those flaws.
• Build spacecraft: Purchase components and assemble them into a complete spacecraft.
• Direct space journeys: Expend rockets to maneuver from one location to another in outer space.

Each turn gives you the opportunity to advance your program through research, spacecraft construction, and spaceflight. Every decision contributes to a larger mission plan, from identifying dependable technology to choosing how best to spend your rockets.

With its balance of ambition, uncertainty, and competition, Leaving Earth turns the race into space into a contest of preparation and judgment. Build the right craft, uncover the weaknesses in your advancements, and launch before a rival nation gets there first.