Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9264600/pocket-puffins-lost-in-space

Designer: Edward Bell
Publisher: Red Stache Games
Artist: Parker Simpson

Edward graciously provided a review copy of this one, so thank you! It’s definitely been enjoyable to play.

Pocket Puffins: Lost in Space is similar to the original (you can find our review of the first installment if you want to read it), but it’s definitely more challenging. The main difference that drives this difficulty factor is the fact that the puffins now form a 3×3 grid instead of a single row. While still requiring specific patterns to match the missions, the actual points each round are scored based on which puffins are tethered to the one in the center of the grid. As you can imagine, the movement aspect here is much more challenging both in terms of matching the mission patterns and trying to connect as many puffins to that center bird as possible.

My main complaint with the base game was the lack of replayability, but Edward actually took my feedback and applied it to this Lost in Space version! There is now a card that functions as a checklist to see if the player can successfully score four points on every single mission card at least once. I’m a little biased, but I do think this is a fabulous inclusion.

Overall, this is a really good step up from the original Pocket Puffins. The art is still adorable, and the core gameplay is still relevant, but now there are more difficult goals to achieve and a reason to keep trying different combinations of missions. And it’s still as portable as ever!