“Aliens Seek Intergalactic Colonization.” The Cosmic Encounter Boardgame of Avalon Hill
If you’re unfamiliar with the Cosmic Encounter boardgame (Amazon.com search*) then you’ve been missing out on a classic. First published in 1977, my own personal first encounter with the game was in the nineties when it was published by Mayfair Games.
This October, 2000 ad for the Avalon Hill edition of the game shows off what Wikipedia calls:
” . . . a simplified version in one box with plastic pieces. This version was limited to 20 powers and four players.”
Quite fitting that the game ended up with Avalon Hill, a company owned by Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. Wizards publishes Magic: The Gathering which was designed by Richard Garfield. Garfield said in Game Design Workshop*:
“Though there are about a dozen games that have directly influenced Magic in one way or another, the game’s most influential ancestor is a game for which I have no end of respect: Cosmic Encounter, originally published by Eon Products and re-released by Mayfair Games.”
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