Celestia

Product Information

If the Captain fails the ship crashes, everyone still on the ship misses out on any Treasure this journey. Celestia is perfect at 20-30 minutes; if it went too much longer, I wouldn’t be as fond of it as I am. And this is even trickier, because the captain might sway the decision based on who stays in the ship. Thankfully none of the game components have any written language on them so it isn't a major problem.

Push-your-luck games are often simple affairs that hone decisions down to a simple risk-reward binary: should I stay or should I go? The best word I can find to describe Celestia is ‘delightful’; maybe even 'whimsical', how about delightfully whimsical. It means they don’t overshadow the main gameplay but are nice to pull out when the going gets tough, or you decide to mutiny and throw your captain overboard. If you’re looking for an exciting filler game (push your luck or otherwise), Celestia is a great choice.There are some special power cards included in the deck that let you reroll dice, kick other players off the ship, or make it more difficult for the captain to succeed. If, at this point, anyone has 50 or more points, the game ends, and the player with the most points wins.

We could have struggled along with the French rules, but it was much better for us to get the English language rules. If a player decides to disembark, they get a treasure from that land, and thus gain points equal to the land's number.

Unlike other cards, these are not “power” cards, but rather treasure cards located in the decks of the first four cities, and they are worth two points if unused.

Games can be enjoyed with friends or strangers from anywhere in the world - all you need is an internet connection! The clouds (blue) are solved by a compass card; the lightening (yellow) is solved by a lightning arrester card; the birds (red) are revealed by the horn cards; and the pirates (black) are solved by the cannon card. If a player thinks the Captain will fail, they declare they are leaving and they disembark from the Aircraft, moving their pawn and drawing a card from that city deck. The treasure cards matching each island are shuffled and placed next to each island, and a hand of six equipment cards is dealt to each player.

Going around the table clockwise, each player announces whether they will stay on the ship or leave. The wonkiness is found here also; In short it goes like the Capt cajoling saying, "No problem, piece of cake. The push-your-luck genre often veers towards the abstract — think Can’t Stop, No Thanks, or Coloretto — but this one has a clever theme. Your journey will not be safe, but you will attempt to be the richest adventurer by collecting the most precious treasures!