Space It is a numbers game. It’s also a tile game. Ninety-six tiles, to be exact, six of which are “Jokers” (wild), the rest numbers (three sets, each in a different color background, from 1 to 30). These all go into a drawstring bag. Each of up to 5 players draws 12 tiles from the said drawstring bag and spends the rest of the game trying to get rid of them.
The game, of course, is in what you have to do to get rid of your tiles. And therein lies the fun.
You make sequences out of your tiles – the longer the sequences the better. A sequence is a row of tiles in which the value between each tile is equal. 1, 3, 5 for example, or 3, 9, 12 for another. A sequence must be composed of at least three tiles, and can be placed horizontally or vertically. Further, you can continue add on to anyone else’s sequence. And even further than that, you can place tiles between the tiles in someone’s sequence, as long as the rule about equal value between tiles is kept. So if someone had an array like 2, 6, 10, you could add a 4 and 8 so that it became 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.
Think about it for a minute. Or maybe five minutes. So there you are, with a random collection of numbers, trying to figure out the best sequence you can make. There’s a lot of figuring. A lot of possibilities to work through. And then, since you can add on to other players’ sequences, even more options to consider. And since you can use those Jokers, and even, if you have the right number, use Jokers that are already played, and if the tiles you use are of all three colors you can make the other players add a tile to their collection…well, there’s a lot of thinking to be done, thinking of a fun kind.
You might want to use a timer though, with all that thinking going on, especially if there are five players. And you might even be tempted to change a rule or two about how many tiles you have to have in a sequence, or what kind of sequence (prime numbers maybe? any odd number as long as it’s more than the one before and less than the one after? Fibonnaci anyone?), or how many tiles everyone gets to start, or just taking a bunch of tiles out of the bag and seeing who can come up with the longest sequence – all of which demonstrates what a solid game this is, one that can remain just as solid even after you start playing with its rules.
Well-made, with nice thick cardboard tiles, and a useful drawstring bag and colorful cardboard stands you can use to hide the tiles you have yet to play. Designed by Martin Nedergaard Anderson, with artwork by Brian Kolodziejski, Space It is Major Fun for people who like to play with numbers and friends and family, even.