Star Miners

“For a long time, you looked up at the rings orbiting your planet. Like streams of a million diamonds, they drifted through the skies far beyond your reach… until now… With the advent of space travel, a new frontier had been opened. Now it’s a race for the stars… and you might just win it.”

Star Miners is an indie-developed, card-driven, engine-building game that would take you and your friends on an asteroid mining frenzy!

(Available only in the US)

Send Ships to Mine Asteroids

Venture farther and farther from the home planet, seeking out the ever-depleting asteroids to mine. Once there is nothing left, the game ends, and the players count points.

Build a Dynamic Engine

Equip Technology over the course of the game, building the most efficient combination for you strategy. Each Tech grants a unique effect that can feed into the next one, allowing you to execute powerful combos.

Choose a Faction

Play as one of the available Space Corporations. There are 3 in the Basic Edition and 6 in the Party Edition. Each prefers a different strategy and gets more points by mining different asteroids.

BLUE HORIZON - focuses on movement and tries to have as many ships on the map as possible.

CRADLE CORP - is more grounded and maintains a hand of cards.

ZENITH CO - bridges the gap by being flexible. A jack of all trades, yet a master of none, this faction depends on long-term planning.

Play by Yourself

While waiting for your friends to free up, Star Miners offers a single-player mode that pits you against an AI corporation. (Don't worry, it's not real AI) Each faction card, or Firm, comes with a single-player version on the back - which means that there are as many kinds of AI opponents as there are factions in the game.

How to Play

6 Player Expansion

The Party Edition adds 3 more players to the game with new cards and new asteroid types, as well as the new factions:

PROJECT LEGACY - tries to hold fewer cards, and benefits from helping other players.

ASTERIA INC. - a jack of all trades, this faction incorporates any technology towards victory.

NOVA DRIVE - demands patience and rewards long-term planning.

Aliens Expansion

What if instead of mining your own planet, you found another one? In the Invasion Edition, you will not be spreading from the center of the map outwards, but from the periphery inwards. The aliens that called this planet home would be an obstacle, so you need to decide on a strategy on how to deal with them:

EMPYREAN - wastes no time on diplomacy and seeks to clear the area.

NEW FRONTIERS - finds ways to cooperate with the aliens, and ways to benefit from it more than the other party.

COLONY - is not frivolous about taking a side, and employs whatever strategy works.

Included in the Box

Note: this applies to the Basic Edition. The Party Edition adds 10 more Illustrated Cards, 12 new Asteroid Tokens, 3 Player Factions, and 15 Colored Ships. Meanwhile, the Invasion Edition adds a new deck of 45 Illustrated Cards and 3 Player Factions.

Why Back Now?

Take advantage of a lower price until the end of the campaign. There will be a limited production, so once all copies are acquired, there will be no more left.

About the Creator

I am a small creator with big aspirations.

When making this game, I wanted to create something light but crunchy, something fast and explosive... something like chips and salsa - except in space! I loved mixing and matching card abilities in games like Magic the Gathering, as well as exploring and stealing planets from other players, like in Gaia Project. On top of that, I just really wanted an excuse to illustrate some cards! It was after listening to a lecture on Asteroid Mining, that something inside my nuggin clicked...

Star Miners passed through many versions and playtests before coming here. I wanted to have a fully functional game before running the campaign. There was a modular map at one point... There was a ton of custom dice at another... But finally, I settled on a design that followed these key principles:

DEPLETING RESOURCES - unlike in most games like Catan or Gaia Project, once you landed on a site and extracted its resource, it's finished - gone, reduced to atoms. There's no farms or mines that infinitely feed you more of the good stuff - only an ever shrinking map. As the remaining asteroids are farther and farther to reach, the game becomes progressively harder, not easier. Thus, players are faced with a choice: develop or fall behind.

MINIMUM COMPONENTS - I wanted the game to be as cheap to make as possible, as well as quick to set up and play. With only four types of components, this final version of Star Miners did just that. When it comes to the set up, there's basically no set up: just shuffle the deck of cards and deal 3 to each player. Ready for a second game? Just clear the board and shuffle the deck of cards again! When it comes to components, each card seamlessly takes on four roles: giving energy to move, mine, being equipped as technology, as well as determining who goes first in the beginning of the game. Was I inspired by Root? Maybe... On top of that, I made sure to think ahead for the expansions. There's no need for a new map to incorporate new asteroids. Just place tokens on top of the existing one. And the void chips are double sided, with a black and a white face, allowing them to be co-opted as alien tokens in the Invasion Edition!

The biggest hurdle was the catch-up mechanic. After thinking that I finished the game, I spent the following three months trying to fix it! The root of the problem was that the win condition (collecting victory points) was directly related to the means of playing the game (equiping technology) - a "no-no" in good game design. This meant that the winning player that equipped more technology, would only keep winning. I guess it was similar to real life, but not fun to play. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way around it and the game was almost scrapped.

Then I started thinking about the Roman Empire, as one does... One lesson that many people take from its history is: the more you are spread out, the more you have to spend on maintaining your borders. That's when an idea popped into my head... What if the players have to pay a maintainance fee for their success? If a player could not meet certain criteria, like having enough ships on the map or enough cards in their hand, then they would not be able to activate all of their technology. If they're not careful, all of their hard work and confidence might be for nothing once the last round is played! This turned an average engine builder mechanic into a dynamic one, and a broken game - into a chaotic one.

If that sound like fun, then consider joining this campaign!