Silent Planet (2021)

Overview

In Silent Planet, players are given the task of forming alien teams, but they are not allowed to speak to one another in the vacuum of space, so they can solve this task together only by using their non-verbal communication skills.

In more detail, the deck consists of 55 alien cards numbered 1-5, with more 1s than 2s, more 2s than 3s, etc. The deck also includes nine Xs, which can stand for any number. At the start of the game, you receive a hand of nine cards. Look at those cards, then arrange them in a face-down row on the table in the order of your choice, then reveal as many cards as you wish. These cards are now out of play, but you can (ideally) use them to convey information about what remains hidden in your row.

As a group, you are trying to form alien teams that consist of five cards of all five numbers or five cards of only one number. On a turn, all players but one collectively decide — without saying anything, but using any gestures they wish — which face-down card to reveal in the row of the player who is not taking part in the debate. Once this card is revealed, place it in the center of the table. Then the next player in clockwise order sits out while all other players decide which one of their cards to reveal and add to the team currently being formed.

If a card is added to a team that would break that team — e.g., adding a 3 when the face-up cards are 1 and 1, or adding a 2 when the face-up cards are 1, 2 and 4 — then you remove all face-up cards from play. X cards don't have a locked-in value, so you can consider them whatever value is needed to maintain the validity of a team. If you create a valid team of five cards, great! Put it aside, then start a new team. If you manage to create as many teams as the number of players at the table, you win; if you run out of cards and can't create enough teams, you lose.