Leaving out the 6th player was a bastard move

Cosmic Encounter. Plays 3-5. Doesn't function with 3 in my opinion. So you need exactly 4 or 5. Before the game box leaves the factory, a fucking voodoo priest casts a hex on the game which causes a sixth player to arrive each and every time I pull it out.

Fantasy Flight, you bastards, give me the 6th player expansion!!!!

Components price point expanded base game sales blah blah blah kick someone out.

When I read the thread title, I knew that this was about Cosmic Encounter.

hancock.tom wrote:

... a fucking voodoo priest casts a hex on the game which causes a sixth player to arrive each and every time I pull it out.

Lawl. Nice imagery there.

You could always try the classic Zilch or Shark from the glory days:

+++++

ZILCH
You have the power to kibitz.

You get no hex, tokens, cards etc. At the start of the game you write down the player you think will win. If at the end of the game, he is a winner, you win instead. To help you mold the outcome, you may look at anything in the game at any time: hands, hidden powers, secret writings, the Deck, etc. You may tell anyone anything you like, publicly or privately, including lies. And you are not affected by any power or card except the "Cosmic Zap".

SHARK
You have the power of hunger.

You must sit out the game for one challenge, after which you give this power card to any player who is not currently a main player. You take over his position in the game; his hand, power(s), etc. He must now sit out one challenge and may then "cut in" on a player as you did.

+++++

Also, there's some good news: pieces and rules for a sixth player are a flat-out guarantee for the first expansion.

I'm sure it won't be far off ... from p.7 of the rules:
Note: Some of the destiny cards showing a player color are marked with a hazard warning. This has no effect on game play and will be used in a future expansion.

Btw, I just finished reading a cyberpunk novel called Angel Station, by Walter Jon Williams. I wonder if he was inspired by the trading aspect of Cosmic Encounter? The alien trading operations go by names like Clan Lustre and Potent Clan and Clan Sapphire.

It's really kind of a lie that the game can be played with three players. Sure, you can go through the motions but it doesn't work at all.

They should have done six out of the box since it was already $60. The expansion will probably be $40 with or without the extra player pieces anyway.

TheDukester wrote:

ZILCH
You have the power to kibitz.

You get no hex, tokens, cards etc. At the start of the game you write down the player you think will win. If at the end of the game, he is a winner, you win instead. To help you mold the outcome, you may look at anything in the game at any time: hands, hidden powers, secret writings, the Deck, etc. You may tell anyone anything you like, publicly or privately, including lies. And you are not affected by any power or card except the "Cosmic Zap".

That is AWESOME! I would love to play as this.

What's amazing is that both Zilch and Shark have been around for almost 30 years, and they're both still a blast to play. They're official, too: published by Eon and everything.

TheDukester wrote:

hancock.tom wrote:

... a fucking voodoo priest casts a hex on the game which causes a sixth player to arrive each and every time I pull it out.

Lawl. Nice imagery there.

You could always try the classic Zilch or Shark from the glory days:

+++++

ZILCH
You have the power to kibitz.

You get no hex, tokens, cards etc. At the start of the game you write down the player you think will win. If at the end of the game, he is a winner, you win instead. To help you mold the outcome, you may look at anything in the game at any time: hands, hidden powers, secret writings, the Deck, etc. You may tell anyone anything you like, publicly or privately, including lies. And you are not affected by any power or card except the "Cosmic Zap".

SHARK
You have the power of hunger.

You must sit out the game for one challenge, after which you give this power card to any player who is not currently a main player. You take over his position in the game; his hand, power(s), etc. He must now sit out one challenge and may then "cut in" on a player as you did.

+++++

Also, there's some good news: pieces and rules for a sixth player are a flat-out guarantee for the first expansion.

I know its guaranteed for the first expansion, but it was a dick move not to put it in THIS release.

Shark and Zilch are awesome. I'm 99% sure they aren't in the FFG official aliens, but I am just a cheap photoshop away from sticking them in my set and dialing that shit up to 6, baby! Fuck you, voodoo witch doctor bastards!

I'm going to scale my set up to seven. Sleeves for the Destiny cards, so that I can add two new factions, copper and glass. Instead of plastic ships, copper will use pennies and glass will use glass beads.

SHARK sounds cool, but could drag out the game some as players try to slide under the radar of the current shark by not getting too close to a win. ZILCH seems like it could get very annoying and even slow the game down, depending on how aggressive the ZILCH player was playing.