Orapa Space
Orapa Space Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Setup (2 Players)
Each player acts as both a questioner and a planet explorer. As a questioner, a player places planets on their own space board and answers the opponent's questions based on that placement. As an explorer, a player asks questions about the opponent's planet arrangement and records the information on the solution sheet. The first player to correctly identify the location and status of all planets on the opponent's board wins.
Questioner Setup: Take one space board and set it up so that its contents are hidden from the opponent. Take one set of planets. In the basic version, use only 6 out of the 7 planet pieces (2 white, 2 red, 1 blue, and 1 yellow).
Explorer Preparation: Prepare one solution sheet and a pencil or pen. Having an eraser is convenient. After deciding who goes first, players take turns asking and answering questions.
General Placement Rules
a. Each piece must be placed so that its edges align with the grid points or lines within the board. b. Pieces may touch the edge of the board's grid but must not extend beyond it. c. Pieces cannot be placed edge-to-edge; that is, different pieces cannot occupy the same grid cell simultaneously. d. When viewed from the edge of the grid, a piece cannot be completely hidden by being surrounded by other pieces.
Planet Placement and Laser Reflection
Depending on the surface of the planet it hits, the laser bounces off at a right angle (red) or horizontally/vertically (blue).
- Large White Planet (4×2 squares): It can only be placed with its straight edge touching the edge of the board. In terms of reflection, it is considered half of a large octagon. Only the two corners at the edge reflect lasers at right angles.
- Small Red Planet (1×1 square): It fits neatly into a single grid square. From a reflection perspective, it is a square. It reflects lasers only vertically or horizontally.
- Large Red Planet, Blue Planet (2×2 squares): They fit into a 2×2 grid area. From a reflection perspective, they are perfect diamonds. They reflect lasers only at right angles.
- Yellow Planet (3×3 squares): It fits into a 3×3 grid area. It has an octagonal shape and reflects lasers only at the four corners at right angles.
- White Ring Planet (4×2 squares): The circular part fits within a 2×2 grid area. The ring must be placed either horizontally or vertically, not diagonally. The circular part of the ring behaves like a perfect diamond, reflecting lasers at right angles. When a laser hits the ring vertically, it reflects back; when it hits horizontally, it passes through without reflection.
Play!
On your turn, as an explorer, you fire a laser once at your opponent's board. Choose a number (1–18) or a letter (A–R) along the grid edge and declare the point from which you are firing the laser.
The opponent, acting as the questioner, observes how the laser travels on their board and reports the result. The laser travels straight into the board from the firing point, bouncing off planets at right angles, horizontally, or vertically, and eventually exits the grid.
The questioner reports two things to the explorer: (A) Where (number or letter) the laser exited the grid, and (B) How the color of the laser changed.
The explorer records this information freely on their solution sheet. This concludes the turn.
Note: An explorer can re-ask about a previously fired laser without using up their turn.
Coordinate Questioning: Instead of firing a laser, the explorer may use their turn to ask directly about the contents of a specific grid square, such as, "What is in the square where Row 4 and Column E meet?"
The questioner will respond with something like, "There is nothing," or "There is a white planet."
Change of Laser Color
In Orapa Space, there are four types of planets: red, blue, yellow, and white. The laser fired by the explorer is initially transparent. The laser changes color when it collides with a planet, as follows:
a. When it hits a white planet, it changes to white. When it hits a red planet, it changes to red. When it hits a blue planet, it changes to blue. When it hits a yellow planet, it changes to yellow. b. When colliding with multiple colors, the colors mix and change: meeting red and yellow turns it orange; meeting red and blue turns it purple; meeting yellow and blue turns it green. If it meets red, yellow, and blue, it turns black. c. Additionally, when combining with white, the changes are as follows: meeting red and white turns it pink; meeting yellow and white turns it lemon color; meeting blue and white turns it sky blue. If it collides with red, yellow, blue, and white, the laser turns gray.
Note: Even if the laser encounters the same color multiple times, the color change is counted only once. (That is, even if it passes through red twice, it is considered influenced only once.)
Laser Color Reference
- Red + Yellow = Orange
- Red + Blue = Purple
- Yellow + Blue = Green
- Red + White = Pink
- Yellow + White = Lemon
- Blue + White = Sky Blue
- Red + Yellow + White = Light Orange
- Red + Blue + White = Light Purple
- Yellow + Blue + White = Light Green
- Red + Yellow + Blue = Black
- Black + White = Gray (i.e. Red + Yellow + Blue + White = Gray)
Game End
The player who first correctly identifies the positions and statuses of all planets wins. An explorer can use their turn to submit a solution sheet to the questioner. The questioner reviews the submitted sheet. If the sheet's contents exactly match the questioner's space board layout, the explorer wins. However, if this explorer was the player who started the first exploration, the opposing player is given one final exploration chance.
If the submitted sheet differs even slightly from the actual board, the submitting explorer immediately loses, and the game ends.
Playing with 3 or More Players
In games with 3 or more players, one player is designated as the questioner. The questioner arranges the planets on the space board but does not fire lasers or participate in exploration competition. The questioner's only role is to answer the explorers' questions.
All players except the questioner take on the role of explorers. They proceed by asking questions in turns and receiving answers. The first explorer to correctly identify the positions and arrangements of all planets wins.
Note: In games with 3 or more players, each explorer is allowed a maximum of two solution submissions. Even if they are wrong once, they may submit again on their next turn. If they are wrong twice, they are eliminated from the game. If all explorers fail twice, everyone loses.
Black Hole Expansion
If you have become accustomed to planetary exploration, you can add the Black Hole Expansion to your gameplay. In addition to the six basic planets, place black hole pieces on the board.
- Black Hole (1×1 space): Place it so that it fits within a single grid space.
- Black holes do not reflect lasers. If a laser directly hits a black hole, it disappears. The questioner responds, "It has disappeared."
- If a laser passes right next to a black hole, it bends once at a right angle along the black hole's outer edge — this is called refraction. Even if the same laser passes near the black hole again, it does not bend further. There is no color change while the laser is passing near the black hole.
- Due to the strong gravity of the black hole, the laser may get trapped inside the grid without being able to escape. In this case, the questioner says, "The laser is trapped."
If a laser's refraction caused by a black hole and its reflection caused by a planet would occur in the same space, the reflection takes precedence over the refraction.
Black Hole Exploration Example #1
Jiyeon fired a laser from point N. The laser encountered a black hole, bent once along the black hole's circumference, then hit Saturn and Jupiter, and exited at 15 in lemon color.
Black Hole Exploration Example #2
Jiyeon fired a laser from point N. The laser encountered a black hole, bent once along the black hole's circumference, but could not exit through any path. Yeonhwa responds to Jiyeon, "The laser is trapped."
Black Hole Exploration Example #3
(Diagram only in the original rulebook, showing two numbered cases of a laser refracting around a black hole next to a planet; no caption text accompanies it beyond the rule above.)
Credits
A game by Junghee Choi, Wanjin Gill. Illustration by Wanjin Gill. Published by Gameology Inc. | www.playte.com © 2025. Gameology, Inc. All Rights Reserved.