Voyage of the B.S.M. Pandora (1981)

About this game

Ares Magazine #6. This is a prequel to The Wreck of the B.S.M. Pandora. In Voyage of the B.S.M. Pandora, a solitaire game of interstellar exploration, the player controls the Biological Survey Mission Pandora as it travels the space ways in search of alien life forms. They use the crew, robots and equipment of the ship to collect exotic specimens with a minimum of losses --and hopefully get back intact. The game has two time scales, the tour months that affect the "strategic" play, going from planet to planet, and the expedition hours, the tactical on-planet play. It uses an event paragraph system to generate the narrative flow, and the map shows several planet surface samples, to be used as needed.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Strictly 1 player — no more, no fewer.
• Rules load. At 2.7/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 10 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.