À la Recherche de la Planète X (pré-joué) (FR)

The games in the L'As des jeux Bazar are pre-played games. They have been inspected by one of our game experts and are certified "Complete." You may find some minor imperfections, such as light wear on the box or on certain game components.

*French version

Somewhere at the edge of our solar system, an unknown planet might be hiding. In 2015, astronomers proposed that a large celestial body could explain the unusual orbits of several objects found beyond Neptune. Ever since, scientists have been scanning the sky in search of this so-called Planet X - and that is exactly the challenge this game puts in your hands.

In The Search for Planet X (FR), you play an astronomer running your own space investigation. Thanks to a free companion app, every session generates a unique arrangement of celestial objects (asteroids, comets, dwarf planets...) and a secret location for Planet X, following strict logic rules. No two puzzles are ever quite the same.

On your turn, you perform scans and attend conferences to gather clues about where each object sits in the sky. You carefully record every piece of information on your deduction sheet, hidden behind your player screen. The more clues you collect, the more confidently you can publish theories - and that is how you score points, even when you are only partly right.

As the rounds go by, the sky slowly comes into focus and the race heats up: who will be first to pinpoint the exact location of Planet X and the objects around it? This deduction game blends the thrill of scientific investigation, the tension of a race against the clock, and the satisfaction of watching your own logic confirmed - or not - by the app.

You will likely enjoy The Search for Planet X if you love logic games where every clue matters, if you are drawn to investigations you can play solo just as well as with friends (the solo mode is fully built in), and if becoming a weekend astronomer sounds like fun. Patient and methodical players get the most satisfaction from cross-referencing information instead of rushing in.

Fun fact: this scientific party game was named Tabletop Game of the Year at the 2021 SXSW Gaming Awards, on top of earning a Golden Geek Awards nomination that same year. On BoardGameGeek, it ranks among the top 150 strategy games overall, with an average rating near 7.9/10 from more than 16,000 players. Its success even spawned two sequels using the same system, this time centered on lost species and unidentified aerial phenomena.

The game is designed by Ben Rosset and Matthew O'Malley, two creators well known for their accessible logic and deduction games. The colorful artwork depicting space and the game components comes from Michael Pedro and James Masino.

To play, you will need a free companion app, available on smartphone or tablet, which acts as an impartial referee throughout the game: it generates the secret sky, checks your theories, and announces your search results. Groups who prefer to play without the app can also use the printable GM Kit offered by the publisher as an alternative. No batteries are needed for the physical game.

BOX CONTENTS
1 Solar System board
1 Earth board
1 wooden Sun disc
48 Theory tokens (12 per player)
4 player screens
8 Target tokens (2 per player)
4 player pawns
1 double-sided note sheet pad
4 Expert Mode cards
1 rulebook

Number of players: 1 to 4
Duration: 60 to 75 minutes
Age: 13 and up