SNAP Review – Astro Trash: Fast Flinging Fun!

In a galaxy far away, civilization was freed of its plebian origins, and peace existed across all planets. That is, until a sanitation craft turning space waste into fuel, lost control of its messy collection. Now the solar system is littered with free-floating debris!

Quickly rid your world’s rubbish by flinging trash towards cosmic rivals and incinerating scraps with help from the Sun. Be first in the frenzy to clear your planet’s clutter, and rule the universe.

Today we review Astro Trash: a game that plays 3-5 players and is published by The OP. Listen in to Nick and Izzy’s review, or read the transcript below.

The object of Astro Trash is to be the first player each round to get rid of all the garbage on your planet. Doing so gets you a Trash Trophy. Collect three Trash Trophies to win the game!

Setup

Place the Sun in the center of the play area.

Each player chooses a planet as their play mat and places it in front of them. Then give them three dice (one of each type).

Each player will take a random assortment of Trash pieces based on the player count and put them on their player mat.

Next, let’s talk about the dice players will be using and what they do.

Trash dice have colored shapes on them that match the pieces of trash in the game. They tell you what trash to move.

The Direction dice have icons for passing Left, Right, to the Sun, or a ?. (The question mark is the player’s choice.)

Quantity die shows the maximum number of pieces that may be moved (1,2, or 3).

How to Play

Gameplay is fast and furious in Astro Trash. All players simultaneously roll dice and do what the dice tell them to do.

For example, if my roll shows: blue trash, the number two and a R (right arrow). That means I toss two pieces of blue trash to the player on my right.

If the direction die had a Sun on it, I’d toss it into the sun to burn up!

The question mark lets me toss trash to sun or any other players. That works great when a player is farther away from you and you want to keep them from going out.

The only catch is that you can’t lock dice away like you do in Yahtzee. If you don’t have matching trash pieces on your planet mat, you pass nothing: scoop and roll again.

Players keep chucking dice and trash until someone gets rid of all their trash. When that happens, give them a trophy.

Reset the game and continue playing rounds until one player gets three trophies.

The player who collects three trophies is crowned the ruler of the universe. You win for having the cleanest galaxy!

That’s why you like playing this game, it encourages kids to clean. I see what you did there, O.P.  Well played!

Izzy

Impressions

The O.P. did a nice job on the components. I like that the trash pieces come in different shapes and sizes. They’re made of chunky plastic that’s easy for kids to handle.

It’s fun because you get to mess with your neighbors. I liked rolling dice instead of using cards. It was a good design choice.

Astro Trash really rocks with the more players you have. There’s not a whole ton of strategy to the game. It really comes down luck of the dice roll. You need to get rid of trash as fast as possible. That’s the key to the game! The best way to slow down your opponents is to give them lots of trash.

Its fun that you get pass trash around. Its quick and five people can play. And younger kids can play without their parents!

Jace

Astro Trash reminds of me the LCR game. But this one is a million times more fun.

Astro Trash will cause quite ruckus when playing. I think that’s due to the frantic nature of this type of game. It will get loud, players will groan taking on trash and players will trash talk (no pun intended).

It’s all in how fast you can get rid of your trash.

Pro tip: If you see a player running low on trash and happen to roll a question mark, give them trash immediately to keep them from going out.

You’ll need to balance giving trash away to other players or to the sun. Going to the sun reduces the total amount of trash floating around.

Best advice I can give is: the faster you can chuck dice and get rid of trash, the better. Roll like your life is depending on it!

Who is Astro Trash great for?

It’s great for kids, because it’s a great game that can be setup quickly. And one they can play on their own. No adult supervision required!

There are very few rules, which makes it easy to teach and get going.

I think adults who enjoy real-time competitive games will also find this one fun. Our family and friends have enjoyed playing it, so we always pack it for family game nights. It’s a game that can easily span generations; from young children to their grandparents.

Astro Trash is great gift idea for a kid’s birthday gift or a party activity (for a space themed party).

It’s under $20 bucks and is way more fun than the gift of slime! (Less messy, too!)

We rate Astro Trash 4 out of 5 cosmic balls of trash.

The Family Gamers received a copy of Astro Trash from The OP for this review.

This post contains affiliate links, which do not change your price, but help support The Family Gamers.

SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?