Wildstar

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast Off!”

Collect rocket parts (five color rockets each having five stages) by swapping cards from your hand with ones from the warehouse, or press your luck with rocket research and try not to get two of the same number or you’ll go bust! Once you have the cards you need in hand for a launch, lay them down and count down. Can you build all five rockets before everyone else?

Each rocket has five stages, from the engines and cloud of smoke (1) to the nose (5). You can only blast off once for each of the five color rockets in the game, and the full game lasts until someone blasts off all five. But you can decide to stop at an earlier target (two rockets, for example) for a shorter game.

Rocket stages 2 through 4 are available in 2-color versions that you can use for either of the colors to build your rocket, and if you’re missing the parts you need, the namesake Wildstar cards are there to bail you out: they can be used to improve your hand or take the place of any card for any rocket (except the 1).

See also: Baker’s Wild, which introduced a similar wild card mechanic (chef’s hats or toques instead of stars); this game started as a fork from that.