Wormhole: Galactic Conquest with Pen and Paper
Wormhole was born from a personal challenge: design a complete game using nothing but a pen, a piece of paper, and a few dice. Inspired by the tactical depth of Cosmic Encounter and the auction mechanics of Ra, it’s a game of galactic conquest for 2 to 4 players.
Setup
Players draw 9 to 13 circles on a piece of paper to represent star systems. Each player starts with 15 ships in their home system.
Core Gameplay
Each turn consists of three distinct phases:
- Draw Wormholes: Draw bidirectional paths between systems. You must draw one new path from each system you control, expanding the map as you play.
- Attack: Move ships along wormholes to claim new systems. Combat is resolved by rolling d6s (up to 10) for each side, with rolls of 4-6 counting as hits.
- Reinforce: Gain new ships based on the number of systems you control (1 ship for every 2 systems).
Strategic Depth
The “mind-bending” aspect comes from the network you build. Since you control where the wormholes go, you can create bottlenecks, flanking routes, or rapid transit lines across the galaxy. The game ends when all systems are controlled, and the player with the most systems wins.