Race for the Galaxy

Card

Ratings

Age

9+

Games

Languages

English

Latest Version 1.09.2

Sun Oct 21 2018

Race 2nd Edition updates

- More color-blind friendly

- Balance adjustments to 5 base game cards

Performance and stability improvements

1.09.1 Fixes an issue with tapping buttons near the screen edge on iOS 11 or above

1.09.2 Fixes and issue with Merchant Guild scoring

Race for the Galaxy is a strategy board game where players advance their galactic empires by playing cards to build technological developments or settle planets. The game uses a unique phase-selection mechanic where players secretly choose one of seven phases; only chosen phases occur, and the player who chose a phase receives a special bonus. From military conquests to trade-heavy economies, the game offers a vast array of strategic paths to victory, all brought to life with advanced AI and seamless online multiplayer.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

95/100

Race for the Galaxy on mobile is a triumph of digital board game adaptation. For the uninitiated, the learning curve can be steep due to the iconic iconography, but once it clicks, you're looking at one of the deepest strategy games in the App Store. The core mechanic of simultaneous phase selection creates a brilliant psychological layer: you aren't just building your own engine; you're trying to predict which phases your opponents will choose so you can 'leech' off their actions while advancing your own agenda.

The AI in this version is legitimately impressive, powered by a neural network that provides a meaningful challenge even for veteran players. The interface is clean, and the second-edition updates have made the cards much more readable on smaller screens. Whether you are rushing a military conquest or building a massive trade empire, every card choice feels impactful. It is a snappy, fast-paced experience that captures the 'just one more game' essence of the tabletop original perfectly.

Dinsun reviewed on: Sun Feb 25 2024

Features

2–4 player network multiplayer

Advanced neural network AI for solo play

Five starting worlds and ninety settlement cards

Free 'New Worlds' promo pack included

Expansion packs available via IAP

Tips & Walkthrough

Mastering Iconography

Focus on learning the symbols for 'Settle', 'Develop', and 'Produce'. The key to winning is choosing phases that benefit you significantly more than your opponents, or anticipating their moves to get a free action during their chosen phase.

Gameplays

Phase Selection Mechanics

Each turn, players choose one of seven actions: Explore (+1 or +5), Develop, Settle, Consume (Trade or 2x VPs), or Produce. Efficiently timing these phases while managing your hand of cards—which also serve as your currency—is the heart of the game.

Screenshot

Q&A

Yes, you can play multiplayer matches against players on different devices using a Temple Gates account.

Ratings & Reviews

Awesome port except for the scoring

Fri May 18 2018 ainyakitty

I love the board game and was thrilled to find the app was a great port to the mobile platform. I can never get my group to play it anymore so I love all the AI options. I would LOVE to give this app 5 stars but I feel it needs 2 things that were brought up during your beta last year but never addressed. 1) there really needs a scoring breakdown on the end screen. Knowing the final score doesn’t help if it’s not explained out. the app would make a great learning tool to get better but not if we can’t figure out where all the points come from. And 2) if after the game is over it would be nice to be able to review all the tableaus to see how the scoring was and where we made mistakes. When I play this game on the table we always kibitz at the end to discuss and learn strategies. Aside from the scoring issues there are quirks to the app but I’m confident y’all will work them out. Please make the scoring/endgame better and I’ll be glad to bump it to a 5star review.

One of the best digital versions of a card game on iOS

Mon Dec 11 2017 redhaski

I play quite a bit of digital board games. In particular I like card games like Ascension. So when I discovered there was a Race on iOS I quickly bought it. And I’ve been blown away. First the tutorial brought me up the speed with the UI in minutes. I immediately played a three player game against easy AI and trounced them. Then I jumped to hard and got demolished. This game has some serious hard AI and after over a hundred games against 2/3/4 hard AI I’m still trying to consistently win. It plays like a human. The app is extremely easy to use. The cards are small but you can tap and hold to view a zoomed version. As you play more and more you’ll learn the card art and be able to read the symbols zoomed out. You can control the speed of animations so after you’re comfortable with the game you can speed up the animation to quicken things. Now, online play... the opponents consistently play turns and it’s totally asynchronous. It’s implemented very well and I’ve yet to have an issue other than dealing with the occasional forfeit. However I find playing the hard AI to be just as satisfying and a much faster experience (versus Ascension where the AI is pretty bad and online play is the only hard stuff). Overall there’s no question. BUT THIS GAME. The expansions kinda add up and I don’t think you NEED them, but it’ll give you access to more online match making (as well as increase replay value, add balance and remove strategies, etc). It’s worth every cent.

One of the Greats

Thu Feb 08 2018 DaSi14

Edit: Thanks for the response dev! I understand that striking a balance is difficult, but I hope you guys can provide an option that can be toggled off and on in settings to either keep the opponents developed window up and close back on a whim at the expense of obscuring the board. Even when it does obscure your own developed cards, it isn't that bad since you can still see them and then you could simply tap the opponents window to close it if need be. I'm really trying to improve my game and it's quite a hassle to constantly reopen the window every time! ------------------ Phenomenal game and implementation of the board game. I can never go back. I've played probably upwards of 600+ with just the base game on iOS I have a few suggestions For the Dev: Can you make an option to allow the window of the opponents developed cards to continue remaining open while playing, and then close it on a whim by tapping back on it. This would make reactive playing SOO much easier and less tedious. Right now, the window auto closes when you tap out of the window. An option to turn on card placement confirmation. Sometimes my finger slips and I put down a military world, for example, which automatically develops it and it more or less ruins a game. It happens infrequently and it's my fault, but it would be nice to have that Also, for stats, it would be really neat to see a histogram of how many points you lost a game by in 1v1 games. It would let you track improvement, and I've been wanting this feature from when I started playing against the hard AI

Excellent, but still some issues

Thu Aug 31 2017 ShadowSpawnOFCS

I've really been enjoying the single-player against the AI and have spent more than enough hours playing to be happy with the purchase (273 games so far). My biggest complaint is that it keeps me up late playing. One oddity is that playing a card you pay for with cards or activated abilities you can undo; if it's free (e.g. Military planet) you can't undo. It crashes infrequently, and usually restarts with no problem when it does (though you may get different cards), but twice now it's actually corrupted my profile such that any attempt to start or resume a game crashes the app; all I can do in those profiles is view stats. It is easy enough to make a new profile, but frustrating if you like to looking at your stats. Even with those issues it's well worth it. I have the base game and 2/3 expansions.

Great game, mediocre interface

Mon Sep 24 2018 Spiffy Robinson

I love the board game version of RftG, so I was very excited to try the app. However, the interface is not designed well and it makes the game difficult to enjoy. For one thing, the app doesn't fill the screen on the iPhone X. Another problem is that the interface elements are very small and hard to read. I'd have preferred a modal interface that shows only the information that's pertinent during each phase, so the IL interface elements are larger and easier to read. Lastly, it isn't clear what steps are happening as the round progresses, so I often have to bring up the log to understand what happened. This is worse because the log is difficult to reach from the game interface. I hope they address these problems in future updates

Quite a few crash bugs, but very well done otherwise

Wed Oct 31 2018 grimoire_games

I am impressed with this port of the boardgame which I own most of. Not buying steam app as it is just the iOs app, not a fan of this practice of copypasting phone apps to PC! I can name ten of these things off the top of my head , all collecting dust in Steam’s abandonware dump. Update: Sadly I have to correct myself on the AI as there are some game destroying bugs, such as AI will force finish a game even if they are 30 pts behind. This has happened twice at least, took some screen shots. Are the AI “all on one team??” Or do they possess real AI and harbor a kingmaker instinct? This is certainly one way to make RFTG challenging but not how it’s played. Strengths: Possibly the strongest AI of any bg adaptation on the phone I’ve ever played. Consistently crushed me at hard levels. Mind melting variety of strategies. meh: Mitary takeovers should be more clearly defined in the interface, it’s kind of hard to see everything on this small screen and they can be missed. The rules don’t seem to explain how they really work but maybe i’m missing something or encountered bugs. No AI in MP. No game customization (ie starring rule variants ). undos don’t undo everything, such as clicking upgrade card in terraforming action, which can mess up a game. No good: I’ve experienced about 7-8 game crashes where my game against AI has to be trashed because it won’t load. No idea why it’s crashing. *Game crashed yet again and cannot reload\resume without crashing. Rather frustrating. Especially when I am actually winning... boo

Multi-player lags

Sat Jan 26 2019 atb0786

Pros: good implementation, difficult AIs. Cons: multi-player tied to single device, random numbers seem off. It’s a good port of the board game, and is pretty playable on an iPad, although it’s painful to read on iPhones. The tutorial is nice, and the AI, even at medium is a good challenge. The issues really come up for me in multi player. Although you can link devices, you can only play turns on the device you started the game on. In addition, with more that two players, there’s some real problems with game state. I don’t think I’ve successfully completed a three player game online. Card distribution seems off. With all of the expansions, the deck should be huge, but you see the same big point cards almost every game, and it makes it hard to win if you opponents draw them.

No multiplayer on linked iTunes accounts!

Mon Jul 31 2017 asp520

The app looks beautiful, but so far my husband and I can't use multiplayer together! I bought it specifically for the "network multiplayer" (we love that Carcassonne lets us play together without internet, and I hoped this would be the same). However, every time we download RftG and try to "friend" each other, within a few minutes it recognizes us as the same player. Our "friend" codes match up, and he disappears from my "friend" list. We have separate Apple IDs and Gamecenter IDs, and we've never had this issue before! I emailed Temple Gates Games and will update my review when I hear back. It seems like so far they have been very responsive to user feedback, so I hope to see it fixed in an update soon. I think the app is probably overall very strong, but I wanted to warn others who are buying primarily to play with family members!