Escape Velocity Nova is an expandable card-driven board game based on the popular computer game from Ambrosia Software. In this game, you will take the role of a trader captain in a vast and dangerous galaxy. There are pirates, aliens, and enemies lurking behind every asteroid, waiting to strike when you least expect it. Meanwhile, there are vast riches to acquire, intriguing missions to run, and new technologies to discover. This game intricately weaves adventure, trade, political conflict, military tactics, and strategy together to give you the best of Ambrosia's classic computer game and DG Associates Card Gaming Systems. There is almost nothing you can do in the computer game that is not represented in this card game, and yet, it is still simple enough for an 8 year old player to understand. Escape Velocity: Nova has fast action, political intrigue, immense variety of options, and an intense struggle for survival. Components include a 20" x 20" board, 124 cards, 5 colored pawns and 16 hostility markers in the Boxed set. 40 different 15-card expansions are available to add to your experience. There are 600 total cards available to acquire, but the set is non-collectible, in that the expansion packs actually tell you what is in them on the back. You can browse the contents of each expansion pack online as well, if you prefer to make online purchases. This game is no longer available for sale from the publisher's website but may still be available at many game stores around the US.