How to Play

Leaving Earth

1-5 players 60-180 min 7.7 Board Game Geek Rating

In this 1956-set space race game, players lead national space programs competing to achieve historic milestones like satellites, planetary probes, or moon landings. Each turn involves researching technologies, building spacecraft, and launching missions into space. Players must balance careful preparation with speed, as rivals may achieve victory first. Success requires managing risk while finding efficient routes to ambitious space exploration objectives.

Published 2015

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Determine turn order

Count points only from completed missions, not from dead astronauts, to establish player order

Prepare sample collection timing

Samples can only be turned in for money or tech at the start of the year, not during regular turns

Understand spacecraft composition

A spacecraft can be made of anything as long as astronauts have seats; a spacecraft without components is meaningless

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Perform assembly actions

Build spacecraft ensuring any astronauts have seats available in the assembled craft

Execute maneuvers

Decide how many years a maneuver takes before generating thrust; if you do not generate enough thrust, you do not move

Fire ion thrusters

An ion thruster that fires successfully cannot be fired again in the same year

Test rendezvous

Use the shortcut action to test Rendezvous advancement without infinitely docking and undocking

Conduct exploration

Solar Radiation can be surveyed; supplies collected on a planet are free

Handle automatic maneuvers

At the end of your turn, your automatic maneuvers take place

Verify advancement success

An advancement with no outcomes is always successful

Winning

How to claim victory.

Complete missions for points

Only completed missions count toward your score for turn order purposes

Account for astronaut penalties

Dead astronauts still count as -2 points at the end of the game, though they do not affect turn order during play

Turn in samples at proper timing

Samples can only be converted to money or tech at the start of the year to prevent infinite money-making loops from same-turn collection and redemption