Out of Space Unusual Methods
One of our favorite games is Out of Space. It’s about cleaning up alien goo and reclaiming your space ship. By itself it’s a great game. There’s no time limit, so you can take your time.
Which we do often. While taking our leisurely time, we tend to goof off. We noticed there are several other mini-games we can play within this one. Granted, you have to clean all the rooms and not place the last battery for this to work. But it’s worth it.
If you close a watering bot, sink, and bucket in vent rooms, then it takes a long time for the last clean, unpowered room to spawn any eggs. In the meantime, we play tag, hide and seek, and all kinds of other games.
One of our favorite is to setup the game where goo makes you faster. Then play to the point where every room is clean but don’t place the last battery. Make sure one player is dirty while everyone else is clean.
Leave watering bots in the vent rooms, have cleaning bots, chef bots, and use a bug spray on the last room if necessary. Then have everyone go to the beginning platform with a bunch of buckets, and start a countdown. One the game begins the dirty player runs off while everyone else grabs a bucket.
The idea is to chase the faster player around throwing buckets at them. Once they’re clean, the next person gets dirty and the game starts over.
You can add a watering bot or two if you need some help. Or have everyone get dirty and see who can avoid the watering bots the longest.
Cocoon
The next game we do is Cocoon. The goal here is to cocoon other players. This game requires the rule food explodes when it hits the floor. Time once the ship is stable with one room unpowered, you need to setup a lot of refrigerators stocked with food and some cleaning bots. Get a chef bot early in the game and they should have a good start by the time you get the ship stabilized.
This time, everyone starts at the beginning platform. Have a fridge full of food in the next room. Once the game begins, everyone starts running. One player heads to the fridge to grab some food while everyone else runs away. The player who’s it has to throw the food at the other players until they are cocooned.
Only the player throwing the food can shower. The other players have to stay dirty. The game finishes when all the players are cocooned. We let everyone take a turn and whoever cocooned everyone the fastest won.
You could also set a time limit, say 30 minutes and if a team member survives that long they win. One trick we found during this game is pulling batteries sets off refrigerators is like a bomb. Instant cocoon if a player is near it when the power is cut.
Cocoon was the first mini-game we played within Out of Space. Definitely our favorite. Bonus rule is dirty water so you can throw buckets of goo too.
Another variation is a free for all. Everybody for themselves trying to cocoon each other. Last player standing wins. Be careful with this one because if everyone gets cocooned the game is over.
The horde took a lot of time to setup but was actually worth the wait. The goal in this game was to outscore the bots. On one side were 12 chef bots, on the other were the players. The chef bots goal was to make meals from the aliens, our goal was to make battery cores from the aliens. Whoever has the higher score, meals vs power cores, wins.
The setup is a bit involved. As you clear the ship, save every alien and pumpkin you can in a refrigerator. Use the shower trick to avoid eating. Once the ship is clean of all goo and 1 power core needs placed you can start the setup.
A few exercise bikes will pay for all this stuff. You need two bases on opposite ends of the ship. Setup 12 chef bots, and 6 microwaves as far to one side of the ship as you can. Leave the doors closed to these few rooms. In the middle should be 3 or 4 refrigerators full of aliens and pumpkins. On the other side of the ship setup 3 or 4 mixers.
Once all the bots, mixers, and refrigerators are ready, you can begin. Have the other players wait by the mixers. One player will open a door to let out all the chef bots, and the games begin! Everyone has to steal items from chef bot before they put it in a microwave and get it in a mixer.
When all the refrigerators are empty the game is over. Count up how many batteries you have vs how many meals the bots made. The high score wins. The more stocked fridge’s there are the longer this game lasts.
It feels like you’re fighting off a horde of chef bots!
Summary
We try to incorporate mini-games within other games all the time. Some are flops, some are unintentionally hilarious. Someone accidentally cocooned another player in Out of Space, that’s what gave us the idea.
Out of Space Unusual Methods brought to you by David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
