Stronghold Games' Terraforming Mars box with an astronaut on a red Martian landscape — Stronghold Games' Terraforming MarsPhoto: FryxGames

The Terraforming Mars box beside its tiles, player boards, cards and cubes — Board, tiles, player boards, cards and cubesPhoto: FryxGames

A Terraforming Mars board mid-game, with city, greenery and ocean tiles and cards around it — Play cards, place tiles, raise the global targetsPhoto: Mshuang2, CC0

The Terraforming Mars board with the oxygen and temperature tracks around Mars — The board and its global tracksPhoto: FryxGames

Green greenery and blue ocean tiles on the board with coloured player cubes — Greenery and ocean tilesPhoto: FryxGames

Rows of hexagonal ocean, greenery and city tiles — Hexagonal tilesPhoto: FryxGames

The Terraforming Mars board at the end of a game, Mars covered in tiles — Mars at the end of a gamePhoto: BiblioteKarin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Video

Strategy game

Terraforming Mars

Race rival corporations to make Mars warm, wet and breathable

Engine building Tile laying Money and property

1–5best with 3-4
1.5–2 hrsper game
About 10 minto set up
12+years
Involved
Lotsreading

The official edition, on Amazon.in

Imported

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There's no Indian edition, so this is the official imported game. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

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The game in a nutshell

Terraforming Mars is a long, card-heavy strategy game for 1 to 5 players aged 12 and up: each player runs a corporation that plays project cards to warm Mars, add oxygen and fill its oceans, and a game takes about two hours, often more. It suits experienced players and science fans who enjoy building an engine of cards that feed each other, and who don't mind plenty of reading. Our link goes to Stronghold Games' English edition, an import; we found no Indian edition.

Is Terraforming Mars right for you?

Great if

Strategy groups with a free afternoon who enjoy long, planning-heavy games
Science and space fans: the theme follows real ideas about warming Mars and adding air and water
Solo players: the rulebook has a full solo mode played over 14 generations
Players ready to step up from Wingspan, 7 Wonders or Catan to something meatier

Skip it if

You want a family game for younger children, or one that finishes within an hour
Your group would rather not read lots of English card text
You care a lot about premium components: the player boards are thin and the cubes slide about

THE BOARDGAMES.IN TAKE

Our ratings

How hard to learnInvolved

4 / 5

Luck or skillMostly skill

LuckSkill

Set-up~10 min

ReadingLots

Behind the ratings

How hard to learnA notch above 7 Wonders: each action is simple, but there are six resources, three global targets, milestones, awards and over 200 different cards to learn. Not as heavy as Brass: Birmingham.

Luck or skillMostly skill, but the cards you draw shape your strategy, and reviewers say a run of unhelpful cards, or cards you can't yet afford to play, can hold you back. The Draft variant gives more control.

Player interactionMostly a race: you compete for board spaces, milestones and awards, and some cards let you take or destroy other players' resources, but much of the time you are building your own engine.

Set-up timeLay out the board and the 9 ocean tiles, set the temperature, oxygen and generation markers, hand out player boards and cubes, then choose corporations and buy starting cards. Choosing and buying cards takes longest in the first game.

Reading neededEvery project card has a short English explanation of its icons, and you read every card you draw; the English rulebook runs to about 16 pages.

Difficulty uses our 1–5 scale: 1 is UNO or Connect 4, 3 is Catan, 5 is a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

A place on the honours list

Good company to be in.

Recognition from beyond our table.

Deutscher Spiele Preis, 2017 (1st place)

Kennerspiel des Jahres (Germany's connoisseur game of the year), 2017 (Nominated)

How Terraforming Mars plays

Set-up: the board shows a map of Mars with tracks for temperature (starting at -30 °C), oxygen (0%) and each player's Terraform Rating, which starts at 20. Each player takes a player board with six production tracks: MegaCredits (money), steel, titanium, plants, energy and heat. You get a corporation card that sets your starting money and special ability, then deal 10 project cards and pay 3 MegaCredits for each one you keep. First-timers use the beginner corporation, which starts with 42 MegaCredits and a hand of 10 cards.

Time to teach: about 30 minutes.
Reading and language: Every project card shows its effect in icons with a short English explanation, and with more than 200 different cards there is a lot to read during play. The rulebook is in English and we found no Hindi edition, so at a mixed-language table each player needs to be comfortable reading English cards.

Terraforming Mars official tutorial: INTRO · Isaac Fryxelius · Official

If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.

Your turn, step by step

1
Research
At the start of each generation, draw 4 project cards and pay 3 MegaCredits for each one you keep.
2
Act
Take one or two actions at a time (play a card, use a standard project, turn plants into greenery or heat into warmth, claim a milestone or fund an award) until everyone passes.
3
Produce
Collect MegaCredits equal to your Terraform Rating plus income, and resources from your production tracks.
4
Win
When oxygen, temperature and oceans all reach their targets, the game ends; Terraform Rating, tiles, milestones, awards and card points are added up and the highest score wins.

Read the official rules (PDF)Terraforming Mars rules · English

The full explanation: how a game of Terraforming Mars goes

A generation (round): everyone draws 4 new cards and buys the ones they want. Then players take one or two actions at a time, going round the table until everyone passes: play a project card, use a standard project such as building a city or an aquifer, turn 8 plants into a greenery tile or 8 heat into a temperature rise, claim a milestone, fund an award, or use the action on one of your blue cards. Finally everyone collects money equal to their Terraform Rating plus their income, along with resources from their production tracks, and unused energy turns into heat.

Terraforming: every step you raise the temperature or oxygen, and every ocean tile you place, raises your Terraform Rating by one. That means more income every round and more points at the end, so the race to terraform is also a race to grow your economy. Many cards also have requirements, so some can only be played once Mars is warmer or wetter.

How you win: the game ends after the generation in which oxygen reaches 14%, the temperature reaches +8 °C and all 9 oceans are placed. Players score their Terraform Rating, 5 points per milestone, 5 or 2 points for awards, 1 point per greenery, 1 point for each greenery next to their cities, and the points printed on their cards. The highest total wins; ties go to the player with more MegaCredits.

Tip: play the first game with beginner corporations and the standard rules. Once everyone knows the cards, the rulebook's Draft variant (passing cards round the table each generation) adds interaction, and the Corporate Era variant adds more cards and a longer, more economic game. It is a good pick for a long Sunday afternoon or a holiday strategy night with cousins who like to plan.

What's in the box

1Game board
Map of Mars with the temperature, oxygen and Terraform Rating tracks
5Player boards
Track your production and resources
17Corporation cards
208Project cards
Every card is different
8Reference cards
200Player markers
Transparent plastic cubes in 5 colours
200Resource markers
Copper, silver and gold plastic cubes
3Game board markers
Large white cubes for temperature, oxygen and generation
9Ocean tiles
60Greenery/city tiles
11Special tiles
1First player marker
1Rules booklet
English

Box: 1.79 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.

From the component list in the official English rulebook (FryxGames PDF, © 2016 FryxGames and Stronghold Games). A US retailer's listing for Stronghold's box gives the same groups in short form (233 cards and 80 tiles). Expansions add their own cards, tiles and boards and need this base game.

Where to buy

Amazon.inImported edition

The official edition, on Amazon.in

There's no Indian edition, so this is the official imported game. Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery.

Buy on Amazon.in

Opens Amazon.in in a new tab.

Terraforming Mars is designed by FryxGames in Sweden, and the English edition sold in India is Stronghold Games' box, brought in as an import. We found no Indian-made or Hindi edition, and Indian specialist stores also list Stronghold's English edition as an imported game. Our Amazon.in link goes to that Stronghold Games English base game, which has everything needed for 1 to 5 players.

How to make sure you get a genuine copyA little care before you click.

The box should carry the FryxGames and Stronghold Games names and credit Jacob Fryxelius as designer. A set sold under an unrelated seller or toy-brand name instead is a warning sign.
Stronghold's product code is SG6005, and a US retailer gives its barcode as 696859265808. If in doubt, ask the seller for a photo of the barcode on the box.
Count the main pieces: 208 project cards, 17 corporation cards, 5 player boards, 200 transparent player cubes in 5 colours, 200 copper, silver and gold resource cubes, 9 ocean tiles, 60 greenery/city tiles and 11 special tiles.
The English rulebook's credits should carry both '© 2016 FryxGames' and '© 2016 Stronghold Games LLC'.
Thin player boards and plain plastic cubes are normal for the original (reviewers complain about them), so judge by the cards and the map instead: blurry text, washed-out art or flimsy cards are warning signs.

We link to one Amazon.in listing that we've checked against the maker's own information. We don't show prices: Amazon shows today's price, the seller and delivery. Paid link. We may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.

What reviewers and players say

Reviewers we read rate Terraforming Mars among the best engine-building games: every project card is different, chaining cards together is satisfying, and the science theme runs through every decision. They warn about long games that often run past the box's two hours, a punishing first play, little direct interaction, luck in the card draw and no catch-up for a player who falls behind. Components are the most common complaint, especially thin player boards and plastic cubes that slide or get knocked out of place, which players still discuss years later.

What people love

Chaining cards into an engine that feeds itself feels like solving a puzzle
Every project card is different, so no two games play the same
A theme rooted in real science about warming Mars and adding air and water
Draft and Corporate Era variants add depth once you know the basics

Common complaints

Long: games often run past two hours, especially with five players or newcomers
Thin player boards and cubes that slide around or get knocked off
Card-draw luck, little interaction and no way back for a player who falls behind

Based on 6 reviews and discussions

Review Terraforming Mars Review (Tahsin Shamma, November 2016) · Board Game Quest
Review Terraforming Mars Game Review (Andrew Plassard, with Jesse Fletcher, April 2017) · Meeple Mountain
Review Terraforming Mars board game review (Ruth Gaukrodger, August 2022) · Space.com
Players Show HN: Digital player board for Terraforming Mars (sakerbos and others, May 2024) · Hacker News
Award Terraforming Mars (board game): reception and awards · Wikipedia
Award Terraforming Mars - Kennerspiel des Jahres 2017 list and jury statement · Spiel des Jahres

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

More like Terraforming Mars

Our picks if Terraforming Mars isn't quite right

Feature	Terraforming Mars	Cascadia	Wingspan	Brass: Birmingham
Players	1–5	1–4	1–5	2–4
Best with	3-4	2-4	2-4	2-4
Play time	1.5–2 hrs	30–45 min	40–70 min	1–2 hrs
Age	12+	10+	10+	14+
Rules	Involved	Easy	Medium	Involved
Indian edition	Import	Import	Yes	Yes
Why look at it	This page	A calm 45-minute puzzle for evenings when two hours of Mars is too much	A lighter, shorter engine-builder with a nature theme; a good step before Terraforming Mars	An even heavier economic game for when Terraforming Mars starts to feel comfortable

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7 Wonders

Build an ancient city by picking one card and passing the rest.

3–7 players30 min10+

Splendor Duel

Splendor rebuilt for two: gem lines, card powers, three ways to win

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7 Wonders Duel

The 7 Wonders civilisation race, rebuilt as a tense 30-minute duel

2 players20–30 min10+

Better with just two players

Brass: Birmingham

Build canals, railways and industries across Industrial Revolution England

2–4 players1–2 hrs14+

Wingspan

Calm card game about birds where every new bird boosts your turns.

1–5 players40–70 min10+

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2–4 players50–60 min10+

Splendor Duel

Splendor rebuilt for two: gem lines, card powers, three ways to win

2 players30–45 min10+

7 Wonders Duel

The 7 Wonders civilisation race, rebuilt as a tense 30-minute duel

2 players20–30 min10+

Questions people ask about Terraforming Mars

Is Terraforming Mars available in India?

Yes, as an import. The English edition sold in India is Stronghold Games' box of FryxGames' design, and we found no Indian-made or Hindi edition. Our Amazon.in link goes to that Stronghold Games English base game.

Can you play Terraforming Mars alone or with 2 players?

Yes, it plays 1 to 5. In the solo game you start with a lower Terraform Rating and must finish terraforming Mars within 14 generations, without milestones or awards. It works with two, but the reviewers we read found 3 or 4 players the best fit.

How long does a game of Terraforming Mars take?

The box says 90 to 120 minutes, but reviewers often report longer games, up to three hours or more with five players or with people learning the cards. Allow about 10 minutes to set up as well.

Is Terraforming Mars too hard for beginners?

It is a step up from Catan or Wingspan: the rules are clear, but there are hundreds of different cards and the first game can feel punishing while you learn what works. Use the beginner corporations, expect a teach of about 30 minutes, and keep it for players aged 12 and up.

What is Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition?

It is a separate, faster card game set in the same world, released in 2021, and it doesn't need the board game. It keeps the feel of building up your corporation in a shorter game with no map.

Game facts

Designed by: Jacob Fryxelius
Publisher: Stronghold Games (English edition); designed and first published by FryxGames of Sweden
First published: 2016
Players: 1–5
Barcode: 696859265808
Language: Needs English – Every project card shows its effect in icons with a short English explanation, and with more than 200 different cards there is a lot to read during play. The rulebook is in English and we found no Hindi edition, so at a mixed-language table each player needs to be comfortable reading English cards.
Box size and weight: 1.79 kg
Awards: Deutscher Spiele Preis, 2017 (1st place); Kennerspiel des Jahres (Germany's connoisseur game of the year), 2017 (Nominated)

Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.