The History of Cosmic Encounter Online, an online multiplayer game
Cosmic Encounter is a unique multiplayer online game. There are thousands of games online, but there are literally no multiplayer online games like Cosmic Encounter. It is not a copy of any other game and no online game has ever been able to copy it. Cosmic Encounter was called "One of the most original games of modern times." by Games Magazine. With its scifi theme of alien encounters, it uses the suspension disbelief enabled in a science fiction game to break all the rules. Breaking the rules is what makes Cosmic Encounter Online such a fun game. Each alien added to the game exponentially increase the thousands of possible multiplayer games.
Players have been playing Cosmic Encounter for more than thirty years. Cosmic Encounter was played as a board game since 1977. We often ask our players what their other favorite games are, and we get a wide range of results. See the Press and Awards page at the top right of the menu for details. Suffice it to say that Cosmic Encounter Online has a large following among a diverse group of gamers who play mmporgs, online rpg games, role play games, strategy games, adventure games, and fantasy games. We designed Cosmic Online as a flash game to enable ease of updates with a small client. It is a web game that is completely playable in your browser. The fact that it is a browser game does not detract from the gameplay, but rather enhances accessibility.
Cosmic Encounter has been described as a 1/3 luck game, 1/3 strategy game and 1/3 social interaction game. Players who favor luck games also like games like poker. Players who favor strategy games or fantasy games enjoy games like Magic The Gathering. And the social gamers like casual games. Cosmic has always had a loyal following of women gamers and girl gamers. The monthly winners and best players in the Cosmic Ranking metagame are often women and girls. The Cosmic ranking has for daily, monthly, yearly and annual stats and comprises the Cosmic Encounter Online mmporg. As is our custom, we break the rule as to what is an mmporg.
Designers of many of today's games of all types cite Cosmic Encounter as one of the games that inspired their work. In the Cosmic lobby you will find an article written by Magic The Gathering designer, Richard Garfield and Peter Olotka, one of the Cosmic designers, on the connection between Magic The Gathering and Cosmic. Cosmic Encounter has been used as a model for teaching game design by designer Alan Emrich and other game designers in their college game design courses.
We offer Cosmic Encounter Online as free game so that new players can easily try it. Players can enter directly as Guest or make a free player name. We also offer a subscription game of Cosmic Encounter Online with more aliens, tournaments and player ranking. The accessibility of Cosmic Encounter attracts whole families of players who are looking for family games. The age range of players spans generations. One of the attraction of Cosmic Encounter as an online game to the family market is the that Cosmic is a funny game. It is designed as a humorous game with each alien described by an alien history which sets up its unique power and then offsets the power with a weakness in its dark underbelly. The social part of this online multiplayer game is held up by the fact that it is a chat game. The in game chat can be as funny as the antics of the aliens using their powers.
Since we do most of our artistic game development on mac computers we were deliberate in making Cosmic Encounter Online a top notch mac OS X game. By focusing on being a mac online game, we were catering to the game starved mac gamers. And as it turns out there are a lot of mac gamers who fall in love with the mac Cosmic Encounter Online. We can tell by the percentage of mac os x Safari browser gamers in our users stats.
Awards
Inducted: Cosmic Encounter Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame
1997 Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design
Selected: Cosmic Encounter Editors Choice
2000 Netscape Editors
Reviewed: Cosmic Encounter Originality 8 / Enjoyment 9
1999 SciFi Channel Reviews
Selected: Cosmic Encounter Desert Island Games #4
1998 The Gathering of Game Designers
Selected: Cosmic Encounter Games 200
1996 Games Magazine
Voted: Cosmic Encounter Best Science Fiction Board Game
1992 Origins Awards
Voted: Cosmic Encounter Best Science Fiction Board Game
1982 Games Day - London, England
Voted: Cosmic Encounter Best Science Fiction Board Game
1980, 1981 Space Gamer Magazine
Voted: Cosmic Encounter 2nd Best Family Game (after Monopoly)
1980, 1981 Games Day - London
Selected: Cosmic Encounter Games 100 Games Magazines "Best Games"
Ô80, Ô81, Ô82, Ô83, Ô84, Ô85, Ô86, Ô93
Selected: Cosmic Encounter Honorable Mention "Top Ten Games"
1980 Omni Magazine
Press
"Compared to other online games... Cosmic Encounter has lots to recommend it. [It's] an easy, fast and entertaining way to experience one of the classic games of all time."
...Eric T. Baker, SciFi.com
"Sessions [are], about thirty minutes or so, accompanied by many groans, cheers and vows of revenge."
...Jessica Mulligan, columnist
"Cosmic Encounter is one of the most beloved... games of all time and soon it will have a new home online."
...Computer Gaming World,
Fantasy Role Playing Market
"The best thing about Cosmic Encounter is precisely [its] limitless variety."
Richard Garfield designer of Magic: The Gathering
"Magic's most influential ancestor is É Cosmic Encounter."
Richard Garfield, designer of Magic: The Gathering
Casual Game Market
"Cosmic Encounter One of the most original games of modern times."
ÉBurt Hochberg Senior Editor Games Magazine 1996
"Everyone we know who has tried Cosmic Encounter likes it."
ÉGames Magazine
"Cosmic Encounter is the real thing."
ÉPlayboy Winners Guide to Boardgames
Science Fiction Market
"Cosmic Encounter a teeth-gritting, mind-croggling, marvelously demanding exercise in what if?"
É Harlan Ellison, award winning author & tv writer
"Of all the products reviewed in the past year ..I believe Cosmic Encounter to be the best."
ÉGalileo Magazine
Ratings
Gameplay: 90%
Graphics: 90%
Sound: 90%
Stability: 95%
Overall (this is not an average): 90%
Pros:
- Simple, fun, and challenging
- Text chat during game
- Game engine controls pace of game
- Low system requirements
- Free game play
- Low subscription costs
Cons:
- None
...Dave Peck, MacGamer.com Quotes
"Any game that can appeal to such disparate tastes can't help but be a winner."
ÉIrony, WomenGamers.com
"The original Cosmic Encounter game has been cited as the inspiration for many modern card and board strategy games, and today the game will feature a guest appearance by Richard Garfield. Garfield is the designer of Magic the Gathering, one of the most popular and prolific card games on the market today. What's more, Garfield himself cites Cosmic Encounter as one of the inspirations for his own game."
...Peter Cohen MacCentral.com
"Cosmic Encounter Online is an addictive strategy game..."
ÉChris McVeigh, Games Reviewer Apple.com
Fan Quotes
"I loved the game and it is one of the few games I always go back to!"
f / 18 - 25 / only favorite: Cosmic Encounter
"Awesome game. I've been playing Cosmic Encounter since the age of 8 with my father, and have introduced countless friends to the game. They've all become fanatics as well."
m / 18 - 25 / other favorite: Quake 3
"Played Cosmic Encounter at origins when it first came out, had the entire set. All decks of cards went to the wife in the divorce."
m / 36 - 45 / other favorite: Total Annihilation
"Cosmic Encounter's the most genuinely entertaining game out there. There's always something different happening. It has long-lasting appeal."
f / 26 - 35 / other favorite: Trivial Pursuit
"Absolutely love Cosmic Encounter! My friend got me hooked on the board game a few years back and I can't get enough. I was delighted to discover the online version."
...m / 26 - 35 / only favorite: Cosmic Encounter
"In my top 3. Still cling to my Eon Cosmic Encounter and 9 expansions! Played over 200x! Dune is great tooÉ"
m / 26 - 35 / other favorite: Bridge
"I have played Cosmic Encounter for more years than I'd like to admit, I think the online version is too cool for words."
m / 26 - 35 / other favorite: Role Playing
"Cosmic Encounter has been a favorite of a group of my friends for many years (going back to 1980 or so)."
m / 36 - 45 / other favorite: Quake
"I love it. Every single aspect."
m / 26 - 35 / other favorite: Quake
"Cosmic Encounter is one of the greatest examples of original gameplay in our time! Finding this online was a welcome break from the techno-bloodfests everywhere else."
m / 18 - 25 / other favorite: Internet Backgammon
"Cosmic Encounter One of the two or three best games ever made."
m / 36 - 45 / other favorite: Magic
"Cosmic Encounter is the best online game that I have played so far. I would give it nine out of ten."
m / 13 - 17 / only favorite: CE
"Cosmic Encounter It's awesome!!! I've never played a game quite like it. I can't wait to find a copy of the board game."
m / 13 - 17 / other favorite: Starwars
"Cosmic Encounter Simply the greatest game ever."
m / 26 - 35 / other favorite: ship wargames
"Cosmic Encounter The greatest game design I've ever seen for a social game!"
m / 36 - 45 / other favorite: Magic
"I have never ever met anyone who doesn't like Cosmic Encounter . I have introduced the game to many Ônon-gamers' and they have all taken to it quickly."
m / 26 - 35 / only favorite CE (by far)
"Cosmic Encounter Perhaps the greatest strategy game of all time."
m / 18 - 25 / other favorite: Ultima Online
"Cosmic Encounter The most awesome game ever invented."
f /26 - 35/ only favorite: CE
"Cosmic Encounter a game that's also fun to lose."
f / 18 - 25 / other favorite: bridge
"Cosmic Encounter Excellent and really addictive. "
f / 13 - 18 / only favorite: Cosmic Encounter (My favorite used to be Quake)
"We love Cosmic Encounter and have introduced about 12 people to CE. "
f / 36 - 45 / other favorite: Triva Pursuit, Clue and CE are about tied!
"I have been playing Cosmic Encounter for 10 years with different people. In every town where I move, I organize a Cosmic group."
f / 26 - 35 / only favorite: CE
"Cosmic Encounter rocks! And brings back some strategy lost in games today."
f / 13 - 17 / other favorite: Starcraft on Battle.net
"I think Cosmic Encounter is really clever how a board game can actually be transformed into an online version of the game, and it is really fun. "
f / 13 - 17 / other favorite: Now it's this! Cosmic Encounter
"Endless combinations. Every Cosmic Encounter game is different, and most are interesting. We play every week or so. I've just moved away from my CE friends, and we're all interested in using your site to keep our CE skills honed for when we can play in person. Good luck! "
f / 26 - 35 / other favorite: Master of Orion
"Cosmic Encounter brings back fond memories. I was one of the throng of teenagers who played nearly non-stop at SunCon in Miami in 1977. Quality time! I'm still into Science Fiction, although not a devoted gamer."
f / 36 - 45 /only favorite: CE