Is Star Realms a good game? I think so. In fact, I’ve been playing a lot of Star Realms lately. It could be because of the pandemic I’m just playing more games, or that I purchased it on Steam, or it could be because it is a game that my 6-year-old can get a grasp on. Whatever the reason – as I said, I’m playing a lot more Star Realms lately. It is a board game legend (if our hobby has those) that should be in everyone’s collection.

Star Realms does exactly what a deck builder should do. Each turn you have the opportunity to make your deck just a little bit better than the time before. Each turn you have the opportunity to do a bit more damage, or generate a bit more money, or generate a bit more health. The game performs its actions in an easy smooth and sleek design that is unencumbered but unnecessary actions or frills.

Can a game released in 2014 still be relevant today?

What Is It?

Star Realms is a deck builder. What that means is that at the start of the game each person will have a small number of cards to work with. Through the course of the game, each player will have the opportunity to gain more cards (most often “purchasing” them) that will strengthen their overall deck and help them win the game.

Let me say this now – Unequivocally – for its price point – there is no better deck builder on the market. I know that terms like “the best” or “must-have” get thrown around a lot – but this game certainly deserves that high level of praise. If you are just getting into board games – this is a great entry into deck building. If you are a seasoned veteran, this is a great game to have to travel with, play with people new to the hobby – or frankly just to have a fun time. Yes, more sophisticated deck builders have come along – yes there others with several flashy expansions that seem to roll out every 5 minutes, but Star Realms has stood the test of time and continues to shine in the genre.

In Star Realms each player is building their own fleet to defeat the opposing player(s). Unlike most games where you are attempting to achieve a higher score than your opponent, in Star Realms, you are relentlessly attacking your opponent wearing them down from an initial score of 50 prestige points (really just hit points) down to 0.

How the Game Feels

At its core, it feels like a duel. Yes, it can be played with more than 2 players, but I think it shines as a contest between two players. It is a part duel and part race. A duel for obvious reasons -you want to knock the space pants off your opponent, but a race at the same time – wondering who will hit a big combo first!

The best part I think is when you are actually at the conclusion of your turn, and you are drawing cards for your next turn. It reminds me a bit of 5-Card Draw poker. When you draw your hands will you be blessed with a 3 card combo – or be stuck with “worthless” cards? But just like in 5 Card Draw, during your turn, you may end up drawing the perfect card and be able to set your opponent back 15, 20, or even as much as 30 points. When the game starts with each person holding 50 points – every point becomes critical.

One criticism I have about the game is the scoring cards they included. Frankly, they are a bit of a joke. It is much easier to use pen or paper – in fact, better yet – using a game scoring app on your phone. I use an app called “Authority“. The score should also be visible to each player whatever system you end up using.

What a Turn is Like

The turns are quick and intuitive. Generally, at the start of the turn, you will have 5 cards to play. If your opponent played cards on their round that causes you to discard, and you haven’t already – first you’ll discard.

From there you play the remaining cards. Unlike Dominion, you generally won’t find yourself in massive chains of drawing and playing cards. Yes, you may be able to string a few together if your lucky enough, but you won’t usually bore your opponent to death with a string of 15 cards or more being played.

Once the cards are played, you start totaling up how much damage you’ve inflicted, how much currency you’ve generated to purchase new cards, and even you were lucky enough to heal yourself.

It is really that simple – the turns are really that fast. The part that may take the longest is generally just deciding which of the cards “in the market” you want to buy. For those new to the game – I think that is really the fun part too – because you see the cards out there that you’ll be adding to your hand, excited to hopefully get to a serious damage combo, or play a particularly powerful base card.

Learning the Game

In case you haven’t picked up on it yet – I think Star Realms is very easy to learn. I’ve been playing it with both of my kids. My youngest is 6. Now granted he hasn’t learned all the text on the cards – but that is fine. I can tell him what each card does as he’s buying it, and they are simple enough he’s able to retain that knowledge. A lot of the cards don’t even rely on text – so once you understand the overall flow – it is that much easier.

The key takeaway is learning how the different cards work together. There are 4 different factions of cards. A player doesn’t play a specific faction – in fact, it’s quite likely players will own multiples cards of the same factions their opponents have. The real key is to collect cards from factions that work well together. Often if you play two cards from the same faction – you are apt to pick up a bonus!

Consider the above photo. If a player played the yellow card “Imperial Frigate” – without having the above yellow outpost card in play – alone the Imperial Frigate would deal 4 damage, and cause the opponent to discard a card. However, since both cards in play, and you see the little symbol highlighted that they work together, now the Frigate deals an additional 2 points of damage. Likewise, because the base is already in play when the Frigate card comes out – it triggers its extra ability allowing the player to draw an additional card.

You can see the blue “Cutter” card alone will create 4 Authority (health) and 2 coins. Should another blue card appear – the Cutter will then immediately generate 4 additional damage. The Cutter may also trigger another blue card’s abilities.

Once you understand how the cards can complement each other it becomes clear that the best approach is to focus on one or two factions. You can really rack up some good effects when you have cards of the same color in your hand. Now there is nothing prohibiting you from having other colors – I just found focusing on one or two the best way to get to those killer combos.

Replay Value

I believe a lot of the replay value comes from the fact that each individual game has a fairly short time frame. You can get several games in during the time it would take to play a game like Catan, Ticket to Ride, or Monopoly.

I would highly recommend picking up two expansions for the game. Colony Wars is a no-brainer to get. In fact, If you are getting the base game Star Realms – I think you should immediately get this one as well. If you’ve played with base Star Realms and enjoyed Colony Wars cards – and are craving more then go ahead and look at Frontiers. It has a higher price point (costs as much as Colony Wars and Star Realms combined) that may put people off. That said, it offers a very interesting and fun solo mode that may be attractive to some.

From here there are still some expansions you can get. Of the remaining, my thought is this – either get them all or don’t get any of them. If you have the base game, and the above expansions – you’ll have a lot of Star Realms to play. The following expansions don’t add a lot of cards to the mix – they add more flair. If you are the type of person who for the sake of completion wants everything – then behold:

The Upside/Downside