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Cosmic Encounter

#40529BGG ↗

1991 · 3-6 players · 60min · weight 2.64 · 1,093 ratings

v2 v3

BGG raw

ID
40529
Name
Cosmic Encounter
Year
1991
Rank
1551
Min players
3
Max players
6
Playing time
60
Min playtime
60
Max playtime
60
Avg weight
2.6406
Num weights
64
Bayes avg
6.02575
Average
7.20768
Users rated
1093
Num owned
1726
Wanting
11
Wishing
87
Num comments
303
Fetched at
Sat Apr 25 2026 16:17:19 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (1)
Variable Player Powers
Categories (3)
BluffingCard GameScience Fiction
Description (1713 chars)

Players represent alien races that are seeking to spread themselves onto five foreign worlds. To accomplish this, they make challenges against other players and enlist the aid of interested parties. But alien powers, which are unique to each race, give players ways to bend or outright break some rule in the game. This is an updated version of the original Eon Cosmic Encounter (1977). Major differences between this version and the Eon version: Flares in the Mayfair version are "use once and discard", as opposed to Eon's version, which lets players keep them in their hands and reuse them. Mayfair introduced phase / timing icons on all Powers, Flares, and Edicts to clearly indicate when each could be used. Mayfair introduced new Edicts, and several new Alien Powers with corresponding Flares. Moons (in the More Cosmic Encounter expansion) have text written on their backs (instead of only a number which you used to refer to a separate list). Moons were also divided into four categories: Full Moons have a major effect on the game; Half Moons are more moderate in their effects; Quarter Moons have a minor effect; Cheese Moons introduce silliness to the game. Lucre (also in the More Cosmic Encounter expansion) was revamped with additional uses, and players were required to spend it to affect their challenge totals. Mayfair introduced a new card: Reinforcements (also in the More Cosmic Encounter expansion). Expanded by: More Cosmic Encounter Cosmic Supreme (allows 2 more players) Re-implements: Eon's Cosmic Encounter (1977) Re-implemented by: Simply Cosmic, Mayfair's simplified version (which can be added to allow 4 more players)

LLM v2 (wide)

Not yet enriched at v2 (wide pass).

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).