Sky Team Board Game Review

I admire airplanes and their engineering. I'm also quite familiar with the physics of flight and know that planes remain one of the safest forms of transport. Yet, I'm afraid of flying. I probably have too vivid an imagination and can clearly picture those long minutes when something goes wrong and you're plummeting toward the ground. My obsession with the documentary series Air Crash Investigation (Mayday) is likely to blame.

Today's flying machines are full of electronics and advanced software. It almost seems like pilots are only there to show off after landing and enjoy the passengers' applause. Despite technical advancements, landing is the most complex thing you can experience in any aircraft. That is, if you're planning a controlled landing and want the plane to stay on the ground in one unburnt piece.

And that is exactly what the beautiful board game Sky Team focuses on. Sky Team is a cooperative game for two where you become the crew of a commercial airliner with a clear mission – to land at one of 11 airports around the world. I've never hidden my love for two-player games, and Sky Team even won this year's Golden Geek award (organized by BoardGameGeek) in the Best Cooperative Game and Best 2-Player Game categories.

Once I found out what the game was about, it was clear I had to try it. I definitely didn't make a mistake, and I can say with a clear conscience that the game truly deserves the award.

All Aboard

One player is the captain, the other the first officer. Just like in real life, each has slightly different tasks. The game itself consists of an instrument panel shared by both players. The panel features actions—some mandatory, some optional. Together, you must meet several conditions to land successfully and safely: you need to reach the airport, avoid other traffic, land at the correct angle, have the landing gear down, set the flaps correctly, and brake safely.

This applies to the basic airports. For others, you may also need to manage fuel, wind direction, maneuver between obstacles, train an intern, stress over fuel leaks, or try to brake on ice. To make matters worse, the game occasionally triggers a real-time condition where you only have 1 minute per round.

You have to solve a lot during the landing. At the same time, Sky Team is a beautiful example of a game with very simple rules (you only need to see one round to understand), ultra-fast setup, and a playtime of around 15 minutes—yet you'll still break a sweat. Players can discuss their strategy before the round starts, but they shouldn't communicate during the round itself. Which is—thankfully—the exact opposite of what should happen in a real cockpit.

Fasten Your Seatbelts, We're Landing!

What does a game round look like? At the beginning, both players secretly roll 4 dice, which represent individual actions. Then, they take turns placing the dice on the instrument panel. Some actions are mandatory, some optional, some require a specific die value, and some must be done in the correct order. It's not rocket science. The trick, of course, is that players don't know what values their partner rolled or exactly what they will do. Because there are few actions and so much to accomplish before landing, there is no shortage of tense situations. If you fail to complete the mandatory actions together, fail to plan your approach correctly, or don't meet the specific conditions of the airport, the game ends immediately.

Even our first attempt ended in a hypothetical cornfield—just before the finish line. Sky Team feels like a primitive game, but with a bit of roleplaying, you can squeeze out plenty of hilarious, tension-filled moments. It's a good thing the game also offers a few ways to influence your die rolls.

Final Accident Report

Sky Team is a very accessible game with top-notch production and an unconventional, yet brilliantly designed theme. It's an ideal, low-maintenance game for a few minutes—a pleasant "filler." Although luck plays a big role, players still have plenty of ways to deal with it.

I fell in love with Sky Team immediately. If only because during the game, I can imagine myself shouting at the tower that they need to clear the runway immediately because we're approaching disgustingly fast, at the wrong angle, and have no idea how we're going to stop at the end. It's a ton of fun, even though I definitely wouldn't want to experience it for real!

author Karel Krajča