Review: Welcome To The Moon

Slow ignition, but then reaching the height at breakneck speed

Yesterday we were finally able to put Welcome To The Moon on the table. We had a few guests over, and we were looking for a game that wouldn't take too long. Since we were already familiar with Welcome To… – a very accessible and simple game – this seemed like the ideal choice. Like its two predecessors in the " Welcome To " trilogy, this is a flip-and-write game: cards are turned over, players make a choice simultaneously, and then write the chosen number on their board. They must follow the rules and maximize their points.

While Welcome To… and Welcome To Las Vegas are fairly straightforward, Welcome To The Moon goes a step further. The game offers two modes: the classic version (but with eight different boards and modified rules) and an extensive campaign mode. In the campaign, you follow a real story unfolding over more than 160 games, complete with a thick scenario book. It feels like this box contains not one, but dozens of games.

A big plus is the design: the game boards are laminated, and markers and cloths are included. So, no wasted score sheets, and everything is reusable over and over again. The game also contains numerous references to space travel (including Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), perfectly complementing the theme.

Explaining the rules proved to be a bit of a stumbling block. What seemed so simple at the outset suddenly seemed much more complex. With a full table of friends and the manual at hand, I had to (honestly) persevere for a while. Fortunately, once the first cards were turned over, it was surprisingly easy. Even the least game-minded players were completely into it after two or three turns.

We only played the first board of the base game, and that went smoothly. It seemed a bit slow at first, but once the combos started piling up, it really took off. The game clearly offers more depth and strategy than the original version, without making it significantly more difficult.

It's no surprise, then, that Welcome To The Moon scores an impressive 7.9/10 on BoardGameGeek and even ranks 25th in the family games category. After just one evening of play, I feel like we've only scratched the surface, and there's still plenty more to discover inside the box.

Fun detail: even our son, who has just learned to write, loved writing down the numbers in the spaceship.

Conclusion: Welcome To The Moon is highly recommended. It combines familiar simplicity with surprising depth, and thanks to the variations and the campaign, offers almost endless replayability.

Ready to jump in? Order the game here !