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UFO: Game of Close Encounters

#1706BGG ↗

1976 · 2-2 players · 30min · weight 1.67 · 164 ratings

v2 v3 v4 wide v4 deep

BGG raw

ID
1706
Name
UFO: Game of Close Encounters
Year
1976
Rank
29548
Min players
2
Max players
2
Playing time
30
Min playtime
30
Max playtime
30
Avg weight
1.6667
Num weights
15
Bayes avg
5.46681
Average
5.10427
Users rated
164
Num owned
558
Wanting
9
Wishing
31
Num comments
83
Fetched at
Wed Apr 29 2026 05:49:42 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (3)
Area MovementDice RollingGrid Movement
Categories (2)
Science FictionWargame
Description (1167 chars)

UFO: Game of Close Encounters is a low complexity Tactical level board-wargame themed on an Alien invasion of Earth. The Alien player must land 5 of 8 available ships on Earth to win. The Earth player, with only eight rockets, must defend or perish. Movement is along orbital paths that form 7 concentric rings around the Earth. Each player rolls two dice and moves one rocket or UFO the exact count of for each die. In addition to the UFOs and Earth's rockets speeding around, the moon orbits the Earth destroying all in its path. Combat is not dice based, rather players capture opponents pieces by landing on them by exact orbital move of one die. The advanced game adds dummy counters for the alien player and space stations for additional defence of Earth. It feels really more like an abstract strategy game, but Avalon Hill classified as a wargame simulation. The game consists of -two 8" x 16" map boards with 2 black plastic clips to hold together (not included in later copies). -die cut counters (8 rockets, 5 space stations, 1 moon, 8 saucers, 12 decoy UFOs) -2 six sided dice -1 double sided page of rules. Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 1

LLM v2 (wide)

Not yet enriched at v2 (wide pass).

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).

LLM v4 wide (controlled-vocab primitives)

Not yet enriched at v4 (wide pass).

LLM v4 deep (archetype fit)

Not in the v4 deep-pass top-20% slice.