Solarquest is a space-age real estate trading game published in 1985. Patterned after Monopoly, the game replaces pewter tokens with rocketships and hotels with metallic fuel stations. Players travel around the sun acquiring monopolies and fending off attacks. They seek to knock their opponents out of the game through a combination of bankruptcy, laser blasts, and dwindling fuel supplies.

Renowned for its playability and appealing design, this board game developed a devoted fan base before going out of print in the late 1990s. The company that introduced it, Golden Press/Western Publishing Company, is now a part of Hasbro. Solarquest has attracted a renewed following in recent years due to its availability on eBay and other auction sites.

Mission
Players travel through the solar system acquiring properties, charging rent, and building fuel stations within individual planetary systems. The player who builds the greatest financial empire and survives the perils of space travel to become the last player on the board, wins the game, according to the 1986 Solarquest rules.

Game Board
A journey around the Sun encompasses:

34 moons 
9 planets 
9 federation stations 
6 research labs 
5 space docks. 
Players roll dice and travel along a blue flight path from planet to planet. There are also Red Shift cards directing players to specific destinations (e.g. Advance to Mars).

Players can buy planets and moons, and trade with one another to acquire monopolies. They can also build fuel stations on these bodies, and charge fees for refueling. Each planet has a deed card with instructions on rent and fuel costs.

Research labs and space docks are similar to the utilities in Monopoly. Federation stations cannot be owned, but offer an opportunity to collect cash and purchase spare fuel stations.


Fuel and rent become more expensive on Tethys as the owner purchases more of Saturn's moons.

The remaining spaces are blue dots, indicating drifting in space, and black dots representing the gravitational pull of a planet.

The board has a total of 91 spaces (compared to Monopoly's 38).


Color groups
The color groups are:

Orange (Jupiter's moons): Callisto, Ganymede, Io, Europa, Amalthea, Himalia, Elara, Thebe, Metis, Adrastea, Sinope. 
Yellow (Saturn's moons): Titan, Rhea, Iapetus, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, Mimas, Hyperion, Phoebe, Janus. 
Turquoise (Uranus' moons): Oberon, Titania, Ariel, Umbriel, Miranda, 1985 U1. 
Red: Mars, Phobos, Deimos. 
Pink: Pluto, Charon. 
Blue (Neptune's moons): Triton, Nereid. 
Purple: Venus. 
Gold: Mercury. 
Green: Moon. 
Grey: Earth Research Lab, Neptune Research Lab, Uranus Research Lab, Venus Research Lab, Jupiter Research Lab, Saturn Research Lab. 
White: Solar Space Dock, Neptune Space Dock, Saturn Space Dock, Uranus Space Dock, Jupiter Space Dock. 

Rule books
1986 Solarquest rules 
1988 Solarquest rules 

Fuel
Players have to watch their fuel level carefully since getting stranded with no way to refuel means the loss of the game. Fuel is only used when leaving a planet or moon. According to the rules, "This occurs because the ship must escape the gravitational pull of the planet or moon." Thus, fuel is not used when leaving a manmade satellite or an empty space.

It is always good to have spare fuel stations on hand. If a player runs out of fuel after landing on a planet that has no fuel station, he can force the sale of the property, build a fuel station, and replenish his fuel tank.


Laser battles
A suggested variation is that players who are close enough to each other can fire lasers. A roll of doubles damages the ship, allowing the aggressor to charge for repairs. A roll of double sixes completely destroys the opposing ship, knocking them out of the game.


Solarquest's space docks are similar to Monopoly's railroads.Strategy hints:

A player on the verge of bankruptcy can turn around the game with lasers, since in the event of total destruction, all the eliminated player's money and property are forfeited to the victor. 
Since laser blasts can consume large amounts of fuel, it is best to fire from one's own property, where refueling is free. 
Lasers must be fired before paying rent, so it is possible to land on a planet with a four-figure rent and then destroy the owner before he can force bankruptcy. 

Red shift

Basic Solarquest
A Red Shift card is drawn when a player rolls doubles. These are similar to the Chance or Community Chest cards in Monopoly. The 36 Red Shift cards consist of:

25 cards directing the player to a specific destination (e.g. Advance to Federation Station II orbiting Jupiter – Use 1 hydron of fuel) 
3 cards in the Red Shift series (e.g. Red Shift 4 – Roll dice – Move 4 times the number rolled – Use 4 hydrons of fuel) 
5 cards awarding or taking away property (e.g. You WIN a dispute with the Federation League – Choose any unowned property and assume ownership from the Federation) 
3 miscellaneous cards (e.g. Discover new comet – Collect $400 (Roll Again)). 

Strategic Solarquest

A typical Red Shift card. 

If the player is taking off from a planet or moon and lacks the hydrons called for on the card, he is eliminated from the game.The rules also provide for an "Advanced Play" variant known as Strategic Solarquest in which Red Shift cards are only drawn if double sixes are rolled. If another set of doubles is rolled (e.g. 1-1, 2-2, etc.) the player collects 100 federons, moves the number of spaces corresponding to the pips on the dice, and then has the option of either landing on that space or "bypassing" it and rolling again. Bypassing it means that the player does not pay rent, expend fuel when leaving the space, or do the other usual things associated with landing; instead, he continues his turn, rolling the dice and moving again from the bypassed space. Lasers can be fired when bypassing.

In Strategic Solarquest, the players' mobility is diminished because most Red Shift cards cause the player to jump around the board to a different location. This can be good or bad – good, if the player is trying to continue orbiting a planet, buying up properties; bad, if the player ends up paying high rents because he is stuck in orbit around a planet whose moons are mostly owned by another player.


Miscellaneous hints

The fuel card is used to track fuel levels.

If a player lands on a planet or moon lacking a fuel station while his fuel level is in the grey area – 11 hydrons or less – he can force the sale of the property.Buy as many fuel stations as possible whenever you land on a Federation Station. There are only about 46 fuel stations available, and they are crucial to survival. You can sell them back at the purchase price at a Federation Station or when unable to pay a fee, so the only disadvantage is if you face liquidity constraints and want to purchase new property between visits to Federation Stations. Moreover, if you buy up the last fuel station, no one else can buy them, which can cause other players to become stranded. 
Only refuel to 11 hydrons when you land on a planet with expensive fuel. Since 11 is the highest you can roll without drawing a Red Shift card, 11 hydrons is all you need to be sure you blast off and avoid paying rent a second time. 
Buy any unowned property you land on, if you have the cash to do so. You can always raise cash later by selling the property back to the Federation League. 
Use good timing in breaking truces, since lasers must be fired before refueling. The ideal time is when you have just refueled on one of your properties and your opponent lands there. You can fire six shots, refuel, and escape before they have a chance to shoot back. (Keep in mind there are other methods of retaliation, though.) 
Certain properties, such as the moons of Neptune, are reliable cash cows. Venus is another good one; a single landing will more than recoup the cost. 
Keep on hand a low-value property that you don't mind losing, in case you draw a Red Shift card that requires you to give up one property of your choice. 
When trading property with other players, remember that each placed fuel station is worth an extra $500. 
When you need to raise cash, consider selling a property with a placed fuel station rather than selling your last unplaced fuel station. Otherwise, you may become stranded before your next opportunity to buy fuel stations. 
As a quick reference, remember that round moons – e.g., Ganymede and Europa – are worth more than jagged-looking moons such as Sinope. 
Moons on the main flight path are worth more than moons that players only land on when they fail to escape a planet's gravity. 

Comparison with Monopoly
Solarquest is a relatively complex game, with 48 properties available for purchase (compared to Monopoly's 28), and the additional considerations of fuel and lasers. The player's path is not as linear as in Monopoly, since it is possible to continue travelling around a planet for several orbits before finally escaping its gravity. Still, the basic concepts are the same, and experience shows it is easy to learn for anyone who has played Monopoly.

Like Monopoly, this game can theoretically go on indefinitely as cash accumulates and it becomes difficult to force bankruptcy. On the other hand, it is possible for 10-year-olds to win in 15 minutes.


Educational facts

The backs of most property cards have planetary statistics.

Solarquest was billed as an educational game, and the box lists numerous space-related facts. Some known errors include:

The life expectancy of the sun is 10 trillion years. (Off by a factor of 1000). 
The matter in a black hole is so dense that a teaspoonful would weigh over 330,000 tons. If the Earth were part of a black hole, it would occupy a sphere 272 feet in diameter; our sun would be 4 miles in diameter. The singularity of a black hole is actually infinitesimally small, and therefore, infinitely dense. This statistic could be describing the properties of a neutron star, aside from the inability of light to escape. 
It is estimated that there are 300 trillion stars in our galaxy. An overestimate. 

History

1986 and 1988 editions
Solarquest was published by Golden/Western Publishing Company circa 1985. Minor rule revisions were made in the 1988 edition. For instance, in the 1986 edition, refueling on earth cost $25 per hydron; the 1988 rules provided, "If you land on Earth you may also refuel for free as a welcome home gift from the Federation." Another example is that the 1986 rules allowed the player to collect $500 for passing on Earth and $1,000 for landing on Earth; the 1988 rules provided that "Every time you land on or pass Earth you collect $500 Federons from the bank."

Solarquest subsequently went out of print until 1995.


Apollo 13 edition

Federons come in five denominations: 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500.

In 1995, Universal Games released an Apollo 13 edition featuring artwork from the 1995 Universal Pictures film, Apollo 13. Some differences between the 1995 edition and earlier versions include:

A smaller playing board, now square-shaped instead of rectangular. 
New red shift cards allowing three free laser bursts at any player on the board. 
Restrictions on the forced sale of property due to lack of a fuel station. In classic Solarquest, any player with 11 hydrons or fewer could force the sale. In Apollo 13, only players with 0 or 1 hydrons can do this. 
Some veterans of the earlier versions viewed Apollo 13 Solarquest's new cards and rule changes as abominations.


Spaceopoly

Spaceopoly closeup.

A highly simplified spinoff called Spaceopoly was published in 1997 by Valen Brost Game Co. Similar to Risk, this game has secret mission cards specifying an assignment that the player can complete to win the game. The rules contained quirky provisions such as the last sentence of the rule on laser battles: "If an opponent fires a laser at your ship and rolls 12 (i.e., double sixes), your ship is totally disabled and you are out of the game. Your attacker wins all of your money and property. Exception: If you hold the “Invented a new force field” mission card you survive the attack and automatically win the game!" Spaceopoly is apparently now owned by John N. Hansen Co.


Computerized versions
There have been several proposals to create a computerized version of the game, most notably from Darkbasic guru Jonathan S. Harbour. Although Harbour and others on the Visual Basic Forum conducted preliminary planning for this project, Harbour suspended his involvement in order to work on more lucrative projects, citing the need to support his family. The thread subsequently died. Nicholas Bostaph of Nightscape Creations Software created an adware version that was, unfortunately, buggy to the point of unplayability.