Racetrack (game) - Related Game: Triplanetary

Related Game: Triplanetary

Triplanetary was a science fiction rocket ship racing game that was sold commercially between 1973 and 1981. It used similar rules to Racetrack but on a hexagonal grid and with the spaceships being placed in the center of the grid cells rather than at the vertices. The game used a laminated board which could be written on with a grease pencil.

In Triplanetary, the spaceship moved the same amount as the previous turn - and could be accelerated to one of the neighbouring hexagons by firing the engines and using up a unit of fuel (which was in very limited supply). There were planets marked on the map - each had an arrow facing towards the planet marked in each of the surrounding hexagons that forced the ship to move one additional step in the indicated direction in order to simulate gravity. Remarkably, one could use these simple rules to produce stable orbits around planets - or to 'slingshot' around them to change direction and speed without consuming any fuel. Several scenarios were introduced in the game - one of which was a race requiring each player to visit every planet in the solar system and then return to earth.