Pick a Phase Everyone Uses
The phase you choose runs for everyone, but only you get the bonus.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Competitive play
- Design focus
- Information · Planning
No.150Race for the Galaxy01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Secretly choose a phase
- 02Reveal together
- 03Everyone runs chosen phases
- 04Choosers get a bonus
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
You need Produce and Consume; a rival with full goods will likely pick Consume.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
You pick Produce, betting the rival picks Consume.
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
They do; you produce, then consume for 6 points, plus your Produce bonus.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
Next round the rival tries to predict you in turn.
How it plays
Each round players choose phases; only chosen phases happen, but everyone executes them. The chooser gets a bonus in that phase. Players predict others’ picks to ride along and spend their own choice elsewhere.
What the player weighs
- Choose what you need vs bet someone else will
- Help yourself vs accidentally helping rivals
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
Race for the Galaxy
Each player secretly picks an action card; chosen phases run for all, and choosers get that phase’s bonus.
Roll for the Galaxy
Players roll worker dice and assign them to phases, using one to select a phase; only selected phases run, and everyone’s dice work in them.
The difference worth noticing
Race picks phases with cards; Roll uses dice faces to decide how many workers each phase gets.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Map phases to stages of a production chain, so choosing a stage advances everyone’s goods, and players predict which link others will push.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Pick From the Common Pool
Everyone picks from the same pile in turn; what you take, others can’t.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Competitive play
- 01Reveal a shared pool
- 02Pick in turn order
- 03Read what others need
- 04Take one and build
Win the Area by Numbers
Whoever has the most presence in an area controls it.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Competitive play
- 01Commit units to an area
- 02Compare presence
- 03The majority takes control
- 04Control pays out
Race for the Shared Goal
The goal is visible to all, but only the first to reach it gets paid.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Competitive play
- 01Reveal goals and rewards
- 02Gauge your distance
- 03Sprint or abandon
- 04First to finish claims it