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Pocket Detective
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Kosmonauts
2012
Rules assistance for Kosmonauts
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–4 players
- 60 min
- 8+
- Complexity 2.2/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for Kosmonauts
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Kosmonauts is a board game released in 2012 for 2–4 players, 60 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Yury Yamshchikov and Nadezhda Penkrat and its main mechanics are Hexagon Grid and Action Queue.
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About the game
In Kosmonauts, players take on the role of space cadets who need to complete one final challenge before they can become officers of the Space Forces. The challenge? A race through space during which they demonstrate their spaceship-controlling skills and problem-solving abilities. This race is not linear, and spaceships can pass checkpoints on the planets and comet in any order. Once a ship lands, the player claims the appropriate planet/comet token; the earlier you arrive, the more victory points (VPs) that token is worth. Each game turn is divided into four phases: Events: The active player chooses one of three available events, which then affects all players. Events won't necessarily affect everyone the same way, though, depending on where they are in space and what they're doing. Orders: All players present their movement orders simultaneously using a direction rose with six possible directions. Each turn, a player can place up to three units of fuel in any of those six directions. Flying: Each ship flies one cell for each unit of fuel spent on movement in a particular direction; if a player fueled multiple directions, the ship moves in all directions fueled. Fuel units are not removed after each turn – there's no friction in space, right? – so each turn allows a captain to further increase speed (by adding fuel to units already in place) or slow down his ship (by accelerating in the opposite direction). Planet Movement: The active player moves all planets, then passes the active player token to the player on his right. The game ends when someone returns to Earth after visiting all but one planet. Players receive VPs for their landing tokens and completed missions, and whoever has the most VPs wins!
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- Heidelberger Spieleverlag
- Rightgames RBG SIA
- RBG
- MEBO Games
- MESAboardgames
Questions and answers
Kosmonauts supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Kosmonauts is 60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Kosmonauts for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Kosmonauts has a complexity rating of 2.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Kosmonauts belongs to these categories: Racing and Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Hexagon Grid and Action Queue. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Kosmonauts are: Yury Yamshchikov and Nadezhda Penkrat. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Kosmonauts as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.