6 Billion™ - Gamers Alliance (Fall 1999 Issue)
Review by Herb Levy
(published with permission from Gamers Alliance)Billed as "the game of the new millennium", 6 Billion looks ahead to the future as players plunge into the far reaches of our Solar System to explore and colonize planets.
6 Billion, a David A Coutts design, comes square boxed with a mounted game board (with orbits and tracks for the nine planets and Asteroid Belt), Distance chart, Discovery chart, six set of 16 chips, a deck of 110 cards (91 Playing Cards, 13 Discovery Cards and 6 Hidden Agendas) and 12 page rulebook. This moderate complexity game is for 2 to 5 players with a playing time of 2 to 3 hours.
Each player begins with a set of colored chips (representing his faction/populations which will spread across the Solar System), a Hidden Agenda, one Colony-Distance 2 card and, from the shuffled deck, five more cards, bringing his starting hand up to six. Remaining cards comprise the play deck with the top three placed, face up, by the board. One chip from each player starts on the scoring track on the board perimeter (on "0") and on the population track of Earth (on space "1"). In addition, a chip from each player as well as a chip from any Neutral faction (one or two Neutrals are active depending upon the number of players in the game) are placed in an opaque cup. These chips are drawn at the start of each turn to determine turn order for that round.
Several phases make a turn. First, populations that can double do so. The idea of population growth is expressed in a very unique fashion. When a faction begins to colonize a planet, factions enjoy "free doubling", shown by moving that faction's chip from 1 to 2, or 2 to 4, or 4 to 8 etc. Free doubling, when possible, must be done. But each planet has a point where free doubling ceases (noted by a number circled on the planet's track). At that stage, movement along the track (to double the population) requires a Doubling Action card. (Free doubling and doubling via an Action card may be cancelled by cards played by other players.) Then, Migrants and New Colonies move from their Holding Boxes to the Population Tracks of their respective planets.
Players colonize by siphoning population from an occupied planet to holding boxes, a preparatory stage before embarking to another planet. In general, a player may only colonize a new planet if it is within the striking distance (as noted on the appropriate Action card and referenced on the Distance Chart) from an established settlement of that player. At the beginning, the population of a settlement is halved (that planet's population marker moved down a space) but as the population of a planet grows, population may be siphoned off without penalty. The main difference between a New Colony and Migrants is that a New Colony may be established on any planet in range not previously settled by that player. Migrants may only move onto a planet where another player has already staked a claim.
There are three types of "play" cards: Action, Cancel and Response. Players may use one or two Action cards to do a variety of things including moving populations onto other planets, claiming a Discovery card (which can negate distance restrictions for a new colony and possibly result in extra points at game's end), and doubling a planet's population. But that's not all. Opposing players may interrupt and negate actions with Cancel cards and these Cancel cards may, in turn, be neutralized by Response cards. Finally, the active player may discard a card and then end his turn by replenishing his hand back to six by drawing from the 3 exposed cards OR by blindly drawing from the play deck.
The game ends when any faction (even a Neutral) occupies the 1024 space on the Asteroid Belt or on Earth OR ALL population tracks have at least one population token on them. At that point, scores are tallied.
Players earn points for having the most population on each planet and the Asteroid Belt and each area has values for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place (generally running from 2 to 8 points). Neutral factions do not score any points (but they can impact on a player's position and scoring). Hidden Agendas and Discovery Cards allow double points to be scored for certain planets. High scorer wins!
6 Billion has lots of nice things going for it. There's good interaction as timely card play affects the plans of your opponents. There is a certain yin/yang factor here as well. Some Action cards (easily identifiable due to color striping on the top) reward you with immediate points by AIDING your opponents (or a neutral faction) to colonize! You have to decide when (and if) to play these to maximum advantage. The variable turn order adds a little "edge" as well. (Optional rules allow players to use their cards, charted on the "Discovery Track", to gain "special powers" which include the ability to modify turn order!) Another strategic consideration arises from the fact that once a presence has been established on a planet (or the asteroid belt), that settlement is there permanently! And using the Neutrals as obstacles to your opponents' growth and position is always interesting. Planning - and timing - is critical. But the game does present some challenges that the designer did not foresee.
The board, representing the nine planets and Asteroid Belt, is pretty to look at but undermines game play! The circular orbits of Mercury through the Asteroid Belt are staggered so that is it impossible at a glance to see how far along the population track each player has gotten. Worse yet, the value of spaces on the track is also staggered. For example, starting space "1' for Earth is right below space "16" for Mars which is right below space "32" for the Asteroid Belt. The chips used to track population do not fit well on the spaces. Spread out the chips and they easily spill onto other orbits, stack them and it is difficult to see who is in the stack. [DAC: refer my 1999 response. The 8mm x 8mm 8mm blocks, 16mm discs, available in 7 colours, were offered for sale as promised until this year, but not one person ever bought any!]. Knowing who is where is crucial because the player farthest behind in colonization gets control of the neutral factions. The game would have been better served by using a bar graph type chart with plenty of room for (smaller) chips. [DAC: refer Richard Heli's Alternative board for 6 Billion™ which is listed on the official 6 Billion Variants page].
Because of its novel mechanisms, the rules to 6 Billion should be crystal clear. They're not. They are written so that clarity yields to the obtuse. [DAC: refer 6 Billion rules Version 2 and Summary player aid]. The presence of a few examples of play in the rules (noticeably lacking) would have been helpful. [DAC: Refer Example Of Play]
6 Billion is a promising initial release dealing with an unusual theme from a new game company and a talented new designer. The game is a step above the typical difficulty level of the average European game (more on a par with the standard Avalon Hill game) and the graphics do not help. A second edition of the game with improved graphics and clarified rules would definitely raise the game's standing. Still, despite its very correctable flaws, 6 Billion is a well crafted design on an original topic, well worth your attention. Copyright (c)1999, all rights reserved.
DAC: Players might also like to read of the solo effort in designing and producing 6 Billion on this article on Discover Games.
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Last modified: 16 September, 2004
