One of the better
Monopoly wannabes around, Solar Quest is a
board game where you, as an interplanetary entrepreneur, travel around the
solar system in your little plastic rocket ship buying up moons and smaller planets, charging the other players rent, and generally making a
nuisance of yourself.
A few differences exist between this and all the Monopoly clones out there. First is the added challenge of managing a fuel supply. Your fuel runs out as you move around the board, and you must purchase more from other players or by setting up your own fuel depots on your property. Add that to the fact that, due to the layout of the board, you are not always able to leave the orbit of particular planets due to gravitational forces (When leaving Jupiter, there are 4 spaces that you may not land on... you must either roll high enough to bypass all those spaces to proceed to Saturn, or continue in Jupiter's orbit,) keeping enough fuel around to stay in the game becomes quite a challenge.
The game also includes such features as the ability to shoot lasers at your opponents to blow them up and steal their properties, a huge number of properties, unique "Red Shift" cards which impose special conditions (not unlike community chest and chance cards from Monopoly) and the opportunity to study the solar system as it was known in 1989.
This is a fun game that I would recommend to anybody. I played it a lot when I was a kid and can thank it for much of my current knowledge of the solar system. It educates you without you even knowing it! Wow! If only everything could be so devious.