- Publisher(s) : Pegasus Spiele, Tribuo
- Designer(s) : Gabriele Ausiello, Virginio Gigli
- Artist(s) : Dennis Lohausen
- Players : 1–5
- Playing time : 30–75 Min
- Weight BGG : 2.27
What's this?
Forget NASA’s space conquest, it’s time for the junkyard! In First Rat , you lead a family of visionary rats who, after reading an old comic book, are convinced the moon is made of cheese. Your goal is simple (but audacious): scour the junkyard for materials, build a rocket, and send your “rattronauts” to the lunar surface. It’s a family-friendly yet strategic racing and resource management game where optimizing your movements is the key to becoming the most legendary rat family in history.
How do you play?
The game is based on a fluid and clever movement mechanic along a path strewn with resources and treasures:
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Moving the rats: On your turn, you can move either a single rat from 1 to 5 squares, or several rats from 1 to 3 squares, provided that they all land on squares of the same color.
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Collection and actions: Depending on the square you land on, you collect components (pieces of metal, light bulbs, cheese) or you advance on technological tracks.
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Construction: Use your resources to build sections of the rocket and earn points.
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Junkyard Rats: Meet allies to obtain special abilities (backpack, energy drinks, comics).
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The Burrow: Train your new rattronauts to send them towards the rocket.
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Space flight: As soon as a rat reaches the end of the course, it enters the rocket and earns victory points.
The game ends when a player has placed their 4th rat in the rocket or has used up all their scoring tokens. The points accumulated on the various tracks and the construction are then tallied.
Is it good?
First Rat is a very pleasant surprise. It’s a strategic racing game that offers real depth without ever becoming overly complex. In fact, it’s the perfect title for introducing new players: it’s very accessible for beginners while remaining challenging for experienced players.
Throughout the game, you’ll be torn between two tactical options: moving a single rat far ahead to take the lead, or moving your entire group to specific colors to maximize your gains. The game demands a real sense of timing and a good dose of opportunism.
There are many and varied ways to score points: building rocket parts, reaching the end of the track first, not forgetting cheese donations or the burrow for recruiting new “rattronauts”. Here, speed is rewarded: the faster you are on these different tracks, the greater your winnings.
Several elements enrich the strategy: the lightbulb track, essential for boosting your resource gathering; backpacks and comic book pages that grant special abilities; and energy drinks to double your earnings at crucial moments. Let’s not forget the end-game scoring capsules that will greatly influence your strategy.
Beneath its guise as a simple racing game, First Rat hides a beautiful tactical depth reinforced by great modularity thanks to its variable setup (board, abilities and score capsules).
On the downside, it can be criticized for the board not always being easy to read during the first few games, for a somewhat long setup, and for mechanics that, in the end, remain quite classic in the world of Eurogames.
In short, First Rat is a racing and resource management game that’s as interesting as it is clever. It’s a fast-paced and intelligent adventure, ideal for those who like to optimize their movements while aiming for the stars (and the cheese!).
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First Rat review
Positives
- Original theme
- Movement mechanics
- Modularity of the platform
- Different ways to score
- Accessible but strategic
Negatives
- Minor readability issue
- The implementation
- Quite classic
