XTRONAUT 2.0: The Game of Solar System Exploration captures the real-world thrill and challenges of planetary exploration. This game gives players ages 8 and up the chance to develop space missions and explore the solar system. The game is a revision to XTRONAUT, our hit board-game launched in 2015. We added new actions, new spacecraft, improved game mechanics benefiting from the feedback of our many customers, more actions inspired by real-life, additional space missions, and support for six players. The game is based on real planetary missions and rocket science. It contains elements of politics and strategy that are inspired by the situations that space missions face.
We are pleased to have the support of the Planetary Society. This fantastic organization shares our belief in space exploration and inspiring the next generation through space, STEM, and fun!
“Xtronaut 2.0 provides fun and educational game-play using beautiful components. It incorporates the realistic challenges of developing and flying exciting space missions,” Dr. Bruce Betts – Planetary Society Chief Scientist
Breaking news! Billy Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, has offered to sign a limited number of Xtronaut 2.0 games. Back at the $250 level to get a copy of the game signed both by Bill and Dante!
Support Boys and Girls Clubs
Through this campaign Xtronaut is proud to continue its long support for Boys and Girls Clubs across the United States. Backers can choose a reward level to send copies of the game to a clubhouse of their choice. We are donating additional copies as we reach higher pledge levels.
Support The Boeing Academy for STEM Learning at The Museum of Flight
Xplore, whose Xcraft™ orbiter is featured in the game, has selected The Boeing Academy for STEM Learning at The Museum of Flight to receive our gift to support their mission to enhance educational opportunities for young people, particularly students of color, females, and those from low income families and communities to access and pursue STEM pathways. Backers can choose a reward level to send copies to this organization.
Xtronaut was a big success, and multiple award winner. Over 12,000 copies have sold. We received the Good Housekeeping Best Toy Award and many more accolades. Xtronaut 2.0 is bigger, better, and even more fun!
Xtronaut 2.0 is a revised version of the original Xtronaut. The key differences are:
Do you have what it takes to put together a space mission and race through the solar system? Identify your mission target and put together the right combination of rocket parts, spacecraft, and gravity assists. These concepts are critical to achieving success in real space missions, and in winning Xtronaut! Along the way, you need to navigate through real-life landmines, such as government shutdowns or cancellation of your mission.
Check out the unboxing and game play overview from our friends at Board Game Gumbo!
Each player receives one of six new player game boards. Each board represents a real space launch complex from either Cape Canaveral Air Force Station or Vandenberg Air Force Base. These boards contain your active mission, rocket parts, spacecraft, and gravity assist cards, as well as tracking your points and total mission delta-V.
Each player selects a Mission Card from the deck. These are all scientifically accurate space missions – real science and real fun! This card determines the player’s mission – the destination, type of spacecraft, amount of Delta-V needed, the potential to obtain gravity assists, and the points earned for completion. Delta-V stands for change in velocity, and as applied to space exploration and this game, it means the change necessary for a spacecraft to complete a mission. This concept is critical in real space mission planning, and in winning Xtronaut!
There are four types of spacecraft – the vehicle that separates from the rocket and completes the space mission. Each mission requires a specific spacecraft type that is listed on the Mission Card. There are 3 sizes of spacecraft, whose mass causes different ΔV from the rocket boosters when breaking Earth’s pull. The larger the vehicle, the more science and data points that can be achieved. Spacecraft include orbiters, rovers, landers, and rotorcraft of different sizes.
For example, OSIRIS-REx is an orbiter, that is at the asteroid Bennu to collect a sample. Another mission is Dragonfly, which is a rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. It will study the atmosphere and measure the surface composition in different locations. To celebrate this innovative new mission, we have included rotorcraft in the game as a new type of spacecraft!
To thank them for their support, Xplore’s high-performance vehicle, the Xcraft™, is a new spacecraft card in the game. Players can plan exploration missions and send the Xcraft™ to the Moon, Mars, Venus, and asteroids. Since Xplore is an innovative new space company that uses private funding for exploration, the Xcraft™ is also immune to the Government Shutdown Action Card!
Delta-V comes from rocket engines and solid rocket boosters. There are four different brands of rocket in the game – all based on actual systems that are launching payloads into space today!
You can also get delta-V by flying past individual planets and obtaining a boost, known as a Gravity Assist
The Action Cards allow players to improve their odds of winning or confound other players. These cards introduce real-world challenges and opportunities that space mission planners face every day, such as government shutdowns and natural disasters. We have more than doubled the number of action compared to the original Xtronaut game!
The Playing Cards provide various components needed to complete a mission: spacecraft, rocket stages, fairings, and gravity assists.
Each turn, players receive five Playing Cards. They trade one Playing Cards with the central market to obtain one Action Card. They can then trade for other Playing Cards to get the components needed for mission success.
To complete a mission, players must populate their game board with the correct combination of cards. Each player must collect the Playing Cards that give them the right spacecraft, matching first and second stage rockets and fairings. Gravity assist and additional booster cards are available to provide more Delta-V if needed to complete the mission.
Once the mission is complete, the player earns data points, which vary based on the spacecraft size and the target. Then, they start work on their next mission. The first player to score 10+ points triggers the end of the game. Players complete the current round, and the player with the most data points wins the game. In the event of a tie, the player whose completed missions have the most combined Delta-V wins.
Xtronaut games are known for including bonus science content, connecting play to the science behind the game. We have revised our science handbook to feature updated content:
Xtronaut 2.0 is compatible with the original Xtronaut game. With our offered booster kit, you can add many of the great new features of Xtronaut 2.0 to your original Xtronaut game. Back our campaign at the Xtronaut Booster level to receive these new components:
Booster pack does not include the new box, tokens, the six-sided die, or the new game boards (so your game will only have the original four player boards).
We have listened to our backers, and have free shipping in the US, and as low as we could for other destinations.
Shipping Costs
We have worked hard to be ready for this Kickstarter. When our campaign is funded, we will immediately place the order for production of the final product — all materials are ready to go, and the game has undergone extensive and fruitful play testing. We have proven our manufacturing and distribution system with Xtronaut, Constellations, and Downlink. We plan to continue to work with our two fulfillment partners Backerkit and Fulfillrite. We can’t guarantee that backers outside the United States will avoid customs fees. However, we are working to minimize these fees for our overseas backers.
We are pleased to be endorsed by the Planetary Society — we share the same vision! Back our campaign at the $70 level and receive a one-year Explorer-level membership in the Planetary Society. At The Planetary Society, space fans join forces to create missions, nurture new science and technology, advocate for space, and educate the world—all to advance space exploration. The Planetary Society is your place in space!
Explorer Membership benefits include:
Backers receive the official Planetary Society T-shirt designed exclusively for members.
Since we founded Xtronaut, supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs has been part of our mission. We are proud to offer two reward levels in support of the Boys and Girls Clubs. Boys & Girls Clubs keep kids safe after school by providing a positive environment where they can learn, play, and grow. Dante Lauretta is a former member of the Boys and Girls Clubs. He started weekly science clubs at local Tucson clubhouses in 2013. He has been involved in supporting youth development at the clubs ever since. In recognition of his service to the clubs, Dante was inducted into BGCA Alumni Hall of Fame in 2017.
In January 2017, Dante and several University of Arizona (UA) undergraduate students initiated weekly science-themed game nights at local Boys and Girls Clubs in Tucson. Beginning in the Fall of 2018, a UA college course, Educational Leadership – Gameful Learning and Community Outreach, was implemented. This service-learning course is a partnership between the UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, College of Education, Honors College, and the Boys and Girls Clubs. To date, 50 UA students have enrolled, and the Game Club attracts over 30 club members weekly at two clubhouses.
In this program, undergraduates use science-themed board games (from Xtronaut and other developers) during weekly UA Game Nights. We focus on increasing STEM interests and higher education aspirations among underserved youth. Xtronaut recently worked with the Fight for Children non-profit organization to donate 430 games to the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula based in Newport News.
Based on this positive experience, we are using our campaign to offer backers the chance to support clubhouses across the USA. Choose the $45 “Donated Copy” level, and we will send one copy of Xtronaut 2.0 to a Boys and Girls Clubs clubhouse of your choice (or we can find one near you). Back at the $90 level, and we will send one copy to you and one to a clubhouse.
We are offering a Social Responsibility Stretch Goal! We are donating 1 copy of Xtronaut 2.0 to a Boys and Girls Club clubhouse for every $1,000 this campaign raises beyond our $15,000 goal.
Other stretch goals will upgrade the game with better components, new missions, and even more science content.
Bonus Mission 1 – Psyche Surface – Funded!
Bonus Mission 2 – Trojan Flyby – Funded!
Bonus Mission 3 – Solar Orbiter – Funded!
Bonus Mission 4 – Near-Earth Object Surveyor – Funded!
Bonus Mission 5 – Arrokoth Rendezvous – Pending!
Here’s what some of our supporters have to say.
“The perfect toy for any kid who ever wanted to go on a space mission and race through the solar system. This game is fun for the entire family to play together and everyone will learn something new.” – Elizabeth Voyles – Fractus Learning
“Xtronaut is the first board game grounded in actual NASA missions. Professor Dante Lauretta has created Xtronaut to keep us busy on Earth whilst we wait for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to bring a sample of the Bennu asteroid back to Earth . The game’s attention to detail and scientific accuracy are thanks to him and his highly experienced team.” Ahrani Logan – City Kids Magazine
“With all this excitement over space, it is no surprise that this was a huge theme for the 2016 Toy Fair. While there were a lot of cool products out there, we geeked out over the true-to-life game Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration, which was created by Professor Dante Lauretta, and is based off of the OSIRIS-Rex mission to collect samples from near earth asteroids!” Arne Bostrom and Gordon Grajek – Good Housekeeping Magazine
“Overheard from my 7th graders during game play today: “Do you have a second stage Atlas booster? I’ll trade you for a left fairing from Falcon.” These are the things that make a science teacher happy. #Xtronaut” Jeff Van Harlingen – Twitter – Nov 26, 2019
“Xtronaut makes board games cool again. Great design and look. Nothing better than having kids not only have fun, but learning strategy is very important. I would recommend this to any school or family that wants to have a fun time while learning.” Matt George – CEO Children’s Home Association of Illinois”
Our game, Constellations: The Game of Stargazing and the Night Sky, received rave reviews and awards, including the prestigious Mensa Select Award and the Silver Medal in the International Serious Play Awards!
We created XTRONAUT™ by combining two of our passions in life – solar system exploration and strategy gaming. Xtronaut co-Founder Dante Lauretta is a Professor at the University of Arizona and the leader of the NASA OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, launched in 2016 and now exploring near-Earth asteroid Bennu. He was joined by Mike Lyon, his partner in Xtronaut, in bringing this game to life. Together with many fellow rocket scientists, we created a game that is grounded in the real world of NASA missions. The result is an exciting game that combines rocket science with mission planning, strategy, politics, and interactive play. We invite you to join us on this great cosmic adventure – back our campaign and begin your journey!
Risks and challenges The good news is the game is completed and ready to go into production following the Kickstarter. But as with any project that involves the production and manufacture of tangible product to be delivered, there is a real chance for production delays and other factors presenting challenges along the way. Many board game projects on Kickstarter have been seriously hampered by art production delays, problems with an overseas factory, missing units, and shipping mistakes. Fortunately, the designers of this game are used to managing large projects. Just like in building a spacecraft, we developed plans to handle a wide range of contingencies. We won’t miss the launch window for OSIRIS-REx and we won’t fail to deliver this fun and challenging game to our backers.