Nebular Colors Review - A Card Game That’s Out of This World

0:00 Welcome to Board Game Animal. My name is Justin. A game that we talked about quite a bit at the end of 2025 was Marceline Lyman's Heavenly Bodies. A game that made its debut at the Indie Games Night Market at PAX. It turns out that that actually was my favorite game that came out of the Indie Games Night Market. And one of the highlights of it for me was standing there and watch people excitedly line up to pick up copies. The only downside was the fact that I was also there to watch people excitedly pick up a copy and they couldn't because of course there were limited quantities at the Indie Games Night Market. So you can imagine how excited I was that Plate picked it up, gave it a fresh face as Nebula Colors and here we are. And you know, this is a very unusual review video because before this specific copy ever got to me, I had already written this entire review in my mind. The only thing that I really had to wait and see in person was the production and actually get a chance to play with it.

0:53 Nebula Colors is a card game inspired by rummy where you're melding and splaying cards to make some traditional runs and sets but scoring in a really unique way because you're going to be getting cards through blind draws or perhaps by riskily taking one of two entire discard piles. And you don't just automatically score for playing a meld. You have to have met a certain threshold of cards in your play area of a given suit to score for them. And then get bonuses for the additional card that you play out in that suit. Now the combination of that scoring element plus the fact that you have to discard one of the two cards you drew not something that was already in your hand may feel a little tight and restrictive for some folks. However, the ease and speed of what you're doing on your turn in general in this game make it feel like a light and breezy cup of coffee kind of game. And ultimately those two vibes balance each other out into a tremendously solid cozy but crunchy little experience.

1:47 I also love that the game has elements of push your luck because you're always wondering should I just take that discard pile now and I'm going to take a little penalty with it and make a meld or if I wait a minute my hand and that discard pile could both be a little juicier, I could score better, but I also could be just risking making that discard pile worse and taking a bigger penalty. Balancing out those choices as well as the will they won't they of if the other person's going to pick up one of those discard piles before you can get to it, or maybe they purposely put something there that they can intuit is not going to be useful for you. All in all, all of these things together can result in some of the most satisfying payoffs or some of the most punishing moments, and both are really, really entertaining that makes the whole thing really, really engaging. Additionally, throw in a shoot the moon element, and that's the icing on the cake for me. Typically, I am not good at any shoot the moon options, but I personally adore when a game includes them.

2:40 And you just take all of this together and you're creating a fantastic little package of a game. It is an experience that feels very classic, very traditional in a lot of ways, but at the same time has those little spices that spark things up. The space theme is really fun, and I love that Playte kept that. I mean, how cool is it to see that NASA is your artist on the game? And it's just a really fun, nice theme to look at. When games of this nature are mostly theme-less anyway, it's something pretty that top of just being traditional numbers and colors on cards. Now, listen, here at Board Game Animal, we play a lot of card games and a lot of two-player card games at that. And over the time since initially checking this out because of the Indie Games Night Market to now, I can solidly say it's one of my favorite two-player card games, period. Nebula Colors for me is a solid 9.5 out of 10, and again, I am just delighted that so many people are now going to have the opportunity to play this awesome little game.

3:34 I actually want to give it a compliment that I also gave one of Marceline's other games, High Tide, because I said about that game that it is the kind of game that everyone should own. And for this, and what's interesting is at the end of the day, I enjoy Nebula Colors more than High Tide, but because it's a little more niche and hobby-ish, it may not that statement may not apply as much. But, if you were the kind of person who loves card games, two-player card games, traditional card games, rummy, anything in that vein, I absolutely think this is the kind of game that you should check out. And just to note, I am friends with Marceline. So, you may want to take that into consideration. However, as I've said in this channel many times before, my reviews and recommendations, regardless of how I had an opportunity to play game or who designed it or who worked on it, it is irrelevant. You will always be hearing our straight honest opinions about the game no matter what.

4:25 And I am just thrilled that people have the opportunity to get this one. Now, hopefully put put some smiles on the faces that I saw frown when when the copies of Heavenly Bodies ran out at PAX last year. So, please check out the Playte store to snag yourself a copy. You can check out the link and see all the other great games that Playte has down below. I want to give a huge thanks to them for providing the review copy of this game. I knew after my history with it, I couldn't help but talk about it again. Again, and actually in reference to the Indie Games Night Market and Playte, there are going to be two videos on their way to you very, very soon on these two topics. And yes, that's the Indie Games Night Market of last year. I have some unfinished business. So, if you had a chance to play Heavenly Bodies last year, if you had a chance to check out Nebula Colors yet or you want to and you have questions, please feel free to leave comments down below. I would love to talk to you about it.

5:14 Thank you so much for watching, liking, and subscribing, and don't forget to always play board games like an animal.