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Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension box art

Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension

Game ID: GID0147034
Game Info
Year
2013
Players
1-4
Age
10+
Playtime
45 min
Complexity
1.7/5
Collection
Rating
Mechanic profile
Not enough video data yet
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Description

In Gravwell, players command spaceships that have been pulled through a black hole, transporting them into a different dimension. With each ship lacking fuel to get home, each player must collect basic elements from surrounding asteroids, using the gravity of the dimension and what little resources they have in order to reach the warp gate that will take them home. But in this dimension, moving ships will travel towards the nearest object, which is usually another ship, and when those objects are moving either forward or backward, reaching the warp gate isn't always easy. Time is running out to save your crew and your ship! As a grim reminder of the cost of failing to escape, the frozen hulks of dead spacecraft litter the escape route — but with careful card play, you can slingshot past these derelict craft and be the first to escape from the Gravwell!

Gravwell uses 26 alphabetized cards to determine movement order and thrust; most cards move your ship towards the nearest object, but a few move you away from it. At the start of each round, players draft fuel cards, picking up three pairs of two cards, with only the top card of each pile being visible; you get some information as to which moves you can expect from the other spaceships, but you won't know which moves you'll be forced to make when you draft your cards!

During a round, each player will play all of their fuel cards in the order of their choosing. During each phase of a round, each player chooses one card, then all cards are revealed and resolved in alphabetical order. When your opponents move in ways you didn't expect, you won't always be heading in the direction you thought you would! Each player holds an "Emergency Stop" card that they may tactically play only once per round to avoid such a situation.

Whoever first reaches the warp gate wins, but if no one has escaped after six rounds, then the player who is closest to the gate wins.

Description

In Gravwell, players command spaceships that have been pulled through a black hole, transporting them into a different dimension. With each ship lacking fuel to get home, each player must collect basic elements from surrounding asteroids, using the gravity of the dimension and what little resources they have in order to reach the warp gate that will take them home. But in this dimension, moving ships will travel towards the nearest object, which is usually another ship, and when those objects are moving either forward or backward, reaching the warp gate isn't always easy. Time is running out to save your crew and your ship! As a grim reminder of the cost of failing to escape, the frozen hulks of dead spacecraft litter the escape route — but with careful card play, you can slingshot past these derelict craft and be the first to escape from the Gravwell!

Gravwell uses 26 alphabetized cards to determine movement order and thrust; most cards move your ship towards the nearest object, but a few move you away from it. At the start of each round, players draft fuel cards, picking up three pairs of two cards, with only the top card of each pile being visible; you get some information as to which moves you can expect from the other spaceships, but you won't know which moves you'll be forced to make when you draft your cards!

During a round, each player will play all of their fuel cards in the order of their choosing. During each phase of a round, each player chooses one card, then all cards are revealed and resolved in alphabetical order. When your opponents move in ways you didn't expect, you won't always be heading in the direction you thought you would! Each player holds an "Emergency Stop" card that they may tactically play only once per round to avoid such a situation.

Whoever first reaches the warp gate wins, but if no one has escaped after six rounds, then the player who is closest to the gate wins.

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Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 5
This page: 5
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
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Video Ma8k-QKkPgI watch it play TBL Discussion at 0:45
video_pk 69092 · mention_pk 165422
watch it play TBL - Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:45 · YouTube ↗
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none
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none
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none
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Mechanics unknown.
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No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • hi everyone welcome to watch it play TBL
  • my name is Rodney Smith in this weekly segment I propose a gaming related topic share my initial thoughts on it and then invite your responses through the YouTube comments and your own videos that I'll compile into next week's table TalkBack episode that way we can all participate in the conversation
  • this week's going to be a little bit different though I recently got back from the gamma trade show and I had shot quite a bit of footage there which I put online on the channel you may have seen some of that and I wanted to do a wrap-up video to sort of I don't know summarize my experience there and perhaps answer some additional questions that you might have about the show
  • what I want to do here is just invite you if you have any questions at all about the videos that I posted conversations I had with Publishers or their Premier presentations that maybe I didn't answer directly in the videos feel free to put them in the comments below and I will do my best during this week to get those answers for you I might even have an opportunity to talk to some of those Publishers if I don't personally know the answers myself
  • don't forget of course forbidden Stars the big released from Fantasy Flight Games was announced there so if you have any specific questions about that game I did do a half demo and I'm sure there are people who are curious about how it works I'll do my best to draw in my memory to try to answer those questions
  • any questions you have just put them in the comments below and next week I'll come back and try to answer as many of them as possible and that will provide a little bit of a wrap up to the gamma trade show experience for me and for what I was able to share with you guys from being there
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Video hHLb7E-e8JA Watch It Played Playthrough
video_pk 68668 · mention_pk 164948
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none
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none
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none
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none
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Video NJW8aUff7o0 Watch It Played Playthrough
video_pk 68669 · mention_pk 164949
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none
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none
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none
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none
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Mechanics unknown.
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Video r_A-67Xu2F0 Watch It Played Rules Teach at 0:00
video_pk 68313 · mention_pk 164692
Watch It Played - Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:00 · YouTube ↗
Pros
none
Cons
none
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none
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none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Mechanics unknown.
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Video Az4lIwU7XrQ Meeple University Top List at 8:43 sentiment: positive
video_pk 64830 · mention_pk 158390
Meeple University - Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension video thumbnail
Click to watch at 8:43 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • Fun randomness
  • Plays up to six players (second edition)
Cons
  • Some text in the second edition that might not appeal to all players
Thematic elements
Comparison games
  • Colt Express
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • programming — Not quite programming, but similar in feel to Colt Express.
  • simultaneous selection — It's simultaneous selection.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • we are sharing our list what we would usually play and why coming up
  • it is a very personal list because your dynamics are going to depend on your family's uh capacity to play games
  • my parents played a lot back in the 80s less so since then
  • looking for at least five players generally speaking
  • project gaia first then no no there's no food chain magnet here your dad would be like what they there are no uh small text though or are they
  • the crew is uh if the group plays up to five in a a very good i know your family is used to playing trick taking games i think
  • colt express was a hit a few years ago um at our christmas place it's really fun plays up to six
  • gravwell being a you know it's a it's a little bit more abs it's definitely much more abstract than cult express but it has the same um i mean it's not quite programming but it's simultaneous selection and enough things will happen that it's going to uh that you can't always plan for everything
  • it's a good travel game as well indeed
  • camel up is also a racing game but it's more so of betting than racing
  • it's very clever racing game um because it takes the dice out of it
  • it's the quacks of werdell burke
  • this one's more on the thinking side of things of course if you uh it's it's it's one of the classic simple thinking games
  • if you've never heard of any of these games you can still have fun with family monopoly it'll happen
  • i only just realized that cludo was a pun on um on the old die rolling game ludo
  • internet's always right so assume that exactly that is correct then
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