As beloved for its tight spacefaring civilisation-building as it is notorious for its cryptic iconography when it comes to introducing new players, Race for the Galaxy is a tense battle of cards as players secretly select and then simultaneously reveal one of seven roles. This allows every player to perform the action, but the player who selected it receives an extra bonus, making it a careful risk-reward race. Tom Lehmann’s game went on to have a similarly cherished dice-rolling sequel, Roll for the Galaxy, and a snappier introductory spin-off, Jump Drive, which might be useful when decoding the complex original for the first time.