The Best Board Games Set in Our Solar System 2026

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game that takes players on an adventurous space journey, filled with challenges and strategic gameplay.

The Search for Planet X is a captivating board game that immerses players in the world of astronomy and scientific discovery. Aspiring astronomers use a combination of observation, deduction, and a companion app to unravel the mystery of a hidden planet in our solar system.

Terraforming Mars is a strategic board game set in the 2400s, where players, representing giant corporations, embark on the colossal task of terraforming Mars. Sponsored by the World Government on Earth, each corporation competes to contribute most effectively to raising the planet's temperature, oxygen level, and ocean coverage to make Mars habitable. While players work together in the terraforming process, they also compete for victory points awarded for their contributions to terraforming, advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and other notable achievements.

Travel to the year 2075, where cats have taken over the world and are now aiming for space! The best feline specialists compete for cosmic supremacy, undeterred by their lack of opposable thumbs. Players take on the role of fearless captains of a cosmic expedition to conquer the cosmos, navigating through chaos and unleashing their cat-like instincts. Prepare for an extraordinary adventure beyond this world!

Explore the universe with Astronomy Fluxx, featuring stunning NASA photos of planets and astronomical objects. Players will learn about space and the history of human space exploration while engaging in a card game where the cards determine the rules. At the start, each player has three cards and on their turn, they draw a card and play one, changing various game aspects and even altering the win conditions.

Players lead a scientific institution searching for life beyond Earth in this Eurogame for 1-4 players. They explore nearby planets and moons by launching probes, deciding whether to land for valuable samples or remain in orbit for deeper investigations. Back on Earth, players invest in upgrading equipment to analyze data more efficiently, increasing their telescope's signal capacity, and expanding their resource supply, all to enhance the chances of discovering extraterrestrial life. Over 200 unique cards represent real-life technologies and discoveries, guiding players in their research while offering bonuses and rewards.

Players use special dice in a card-driven game to develop their corporations and transform Mars into a new home for humanity. The dice represent resources for playing cards and performing actions, which include increasing production, terraforming, and placing tiles on the board. Players earn victory points by terraforming Mars, placing tiles, and achieving awards and milestones, with the game ending when two out of three global parameters are met.

Players are companies specializing in sending settlers to colonize the universe. They recruit settlers on Earth, transport them to Mars, and then to Ganymede, where the settlers' ships are launched. The game ends when a player has sent four settler ships into space, earning victory points for their launched ships and reputation.

Players explore and develop space from 2025 to 2300 AD across three distinct eras. Each player controls an Earth-based company aiming for profit by advancing humanity's expansion into the solar system and beyond. The game features various missions, such as constructing spaceports, exploring Mars, and establishing colonies in the Tau Ceti star system.

Players represent the UN forces of Earth, the military of Mars, the O.P.A. rebels, and the mysterious corporation Protogen Inc. The game focuses on politics, conquest, and intrigue, featuring key imagery from the series along with action points and events that allow players to maneuver fleets and influence. Each player has unique abilities, utilizing characters and events from The Expanse universe to gain control over the solar system.

Thirty years after the first colonial ships were sent from Ganymede, humanity has decided to launch Project Galileo. Its goal is to settle the four main moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) to expand human presence in the solar system. Players take on the roles of the companies involved in events on Ganymede, recruiting robots from Earth and Mars, enlisting experts, developing technologies, and constructing buildings.

On Mars is a complex and strategic board game that simulates the challenge of establishing and expanding a colony on Mars. Designed by Vital Lacerda, this game is known for its depth and intricate mechanics, appealing to players who enjoy a detailed and immersive strategic experience.

Players are representatives of the Galactic Council sent to Earth to build space stations for observing and potentially interacting with humanity. Each player starts with nine ships and a station center, which they use to gather resources, explore nearby planets, and construct their stations. The game features fast-paced turns where players can either take a ship action or collect income, but they start with the best production machine they'll ever have, gradually dismantling it throughout the game. The high replayability comes from millions of possible starting positions and combinations of station parts.

Players use marbles, which have been crafted since ancient Egyptian times and later popularized in Renaissance Italy. The objective is to knock all the marbles out of a drawn circle using a shooter marble. Players take turns, and the one with the most marbles outside the circle at the end wins, while some variations include returning marbles that leave the circle back inside.

Fifty years ago, humanity began mining the Moon and asteroids, a task previously managed by the world government. Due to recent unrest, adventurous companies and private investors are now stepping in to revive this mining network.

A mission to Mars takes a wrong turn when the onboard computer becomes self-aware and sees the crew as a potential threat. ADELE is a claustrophobic and tense one-versus-many board game for up to five players, where all but one take on the role of crew members. Each crew member selects a character board with unique abilities and values, while the remaining player controls the powerful AI, ADELE, trying to thwart the crew's plans through various disruptive actions.

An international colony ship has left Earth and is headed to a distant planet in the Epsilon Eridani system. After thirteen generations are born aboard, a new command team discovers a terrible secret that threatens the entire mission. Players will face unique situations that force them into challenging moral decisions, where they must choose between the safety of their crew and the mission's success.

Players aim to complete books consisting of four cards of the same rank. After each player receives six cards, they take turns asking others for specific cards. If the player asked has the card, they must give it up; otherwise, the asking player draws from the deck.

In the near future, nanofabrication techniques will allow for the creation of incredible new materials atom by atom, but only in the conditions of weightlessness and high vacuum in space. Players act as Earth’s governments racing to establish a functioning space program, gathering resources and colonizing other planets, moons, and asteroids. Water in low Earth orbit serves as currency for bidding on space-related patents, while players must balance the weight and maneuverability of their spacecraft to succeed.