Thomas Lehmann’s New Frontiers, published by Rio Grande Games in 2018, completes the Race for the Galaxy trilogy of implementations. Where Race is a card game and Roll is a dice game, New Frontiers translates the same space civilization theme into a board game with physical tiles, a shared action selection mechanism, and a more traditional gaming experience. Players select actions from a shared pool, build developments and settle worlds represented by tiles, and race to build the most prosperous galactic empire.
Community positioning of New Frontiers is complicated by its siblings. Players who came to it without Race or Roll history tend to enjoy it as a solid engine-building game with an accessible action selection mechanism. Players who already own one or both of the other versions often question whether New Frontiers adds enough to justify the shelf space and the price premium of a board game with physical components.
Civilization on the Table
The action selection mechanism creates a different social dynamic than the simultaneous play of Race and Roll. When you choose an action, all players can use it, but you get a bonus. This Puerto Rico-inspired approach means your choice of action is both selfish and communal, and reading what other players need (then either enabling or denying it) adds an interactive dimension that the card and dice versions lack. The phase selection becomes a strategic conversation rather than an independent optimization.
Physical tiles and a shared market give the engine-building a tangible quality that cards and dice can’t match. Placing a development tile on your player board, adding a world tile to your empire, and physically moving goods onto production worlds creates a material satisfaction that pure card play doesn’t provide. The board state is readable at a glance, which reduces the information processing overhead that makes Race for the Galaxy intimidating.
Accessibility is the highest in the Race family. The board game format presents information more clearly, the action selection is more intuitive than simultaneous card play, and the physical components help new players understand what they’re building. For groups that bounced off Race’s iconography or Roll’s dice management, New Frontiers offers the same thematic and strategic experience in a friendlier package.
The game’s pacing creates a satisfying economic arc. Early rounds are spent on foundation-building: settling basic worlds and developing starter infrastructure. Mid-game sees engines begin to produce and ship goods for points. The final rounds become a race to maximize scoring before someone triggers the end condition. This structure gives every session a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Variable setup through randomized development tiles and world offerings ensures that different games present different building opportunities. The strategic landscape changes based on what’s available, and adapting your engine plans to the specific tiles in play keeps the game from becoming formulaic.
The Middle Child Problem
New Frontiers occupies an awkward position between its siblings. It’s more accessible than Race but less elegant. More strategic than Roll but slower. For groups that already own one of the other versions, the incremental improvements may not justify the additional cost and shelf space. The game is good, but it struggles to make a compelling case as necessary.
Play time at 45 to 75 minutes is significantly longer than Race or Roll, which both finish in under an hour. The additional time doesn’t always feel proportional to the additional strategic depth. Some sessions, particularly at higher player counts, develop a sluggish middle section where everyone is building but no one is close to triggering the endgame.
The action selection, while more interactive than Race and Roll, doesn’t create the same strategic tension as Puerto Rico’s role selection (the mechanism’s origin). The bonuses for choosing an action are helpful but rarely game-defining, and the cost of enabling opponents’ plans through your action choice feels lower stakes than in Puerto Rico.
At two players, the action selection loses much of its strategic interest. With only two people choosing, the reading and denial aspects that make the mechanism work become simpler, and the game feels more like a straightforward optimization exercise. Three and four players bring out the best in the system.
Component quality is adequate but not exceptional. The tiles are functional and the boards are clear, but the overall production doesn’t reach the premium level that the price point might suggest. For a game competing with flashier engine builders on the shelf, the visual presentation is understated.
Building Between Worlds
New Frontiers works best when understood as a gateway into the Race for the Galaxy family rather than its culmination. The board game format removes barriers that the card game’s iconography and the dice game’s opacity create, while preserving the core engine-building satisfaction that defines the series. It’s the version you teach to new players, the one that makes the design philosophy accessible before graduating to the leaner, faster siblings.
Should You Play New Frontiers?
This game is for groups of three or four who want a medium-weight engine builder with accessible rules and a space civilization theme. If you’re curious about the Race for the Galaxy family but found Race or Roll intimidating, New Frontiers offers the most approachable entry point. It also works well for groups who prefer board games with physical components over card or dice games.
Skip it if you already own and enjoy Race or Roll for the Galaxy, if you want a faster engine-building experience, or if you primarily play at two. New Frontiers is a good game that exists in the shadow of very good siblings.
The Verdict on New Frontiers
New Frontiers is a solid board game adaptation of the Race for the Galaxy system that trades speed and elegance for accessibility and physicality. The action selection adds genuine interaction, the physical tiles make engine-building tangible, and the learning curve is gentler than either sibling. It doesn’t surpass Race for experienced card gamers or Roll for dice game enthusiasts. But as a board game entry point into one of modern gaming’s richest design families, New Frontiers serves its purpose well.