Liftoff!

Liftoff! box cover

Liftoff! is a 1989 board game by Fritz Bronner and originally published by Task Force Games. I'm going to run a play-by-email version of the game, so here is a summary of the rules, a copy of the Research and Development Worksheet, details of the various mission types and the newspapers that record the outcome of the turns.

The aim of the game is to land a person on the moon and return them safely to earth.

The basic sequence of play for this version is:

1. Read the newspaper for the outcome of the previous turn and to review your space agency current status
2. Submit order for your space agency
3. Resolution of research and development (performed by the referee)
4. Carry out missions (performed by the referee)
5. Modify Budgets to reflect the outcome of the missions (performed by the referee)
6. Add the current budget to cash in hand (performed by the referee)
7. Draw Event Card (performed by the referee)
8. Write Newspaper (performed by the referee and records the results of the turn

Your order for your space agency needs to include:

1. New research programs started and new hardware purchased
2. Exchange of money and/or hardware with other players
3. Number of R&D dice purchased (and on which programs)
4. Declaration of the planned missions for the following turns
5. Declaration of the scrubbing of planned missions for this turn (if any)
6. The rushing of this launches (if any)
7. What, if any, provisions have been made for rescue missions (of either your own agency's mishaps or, if desired, those of other agencies.