Across the Universe

"He" fell to Earth in the year 1972, but now it's time to go back to the ★. You, as a fifth dimension being, must connect the stars and guide "him" to ★.

Across the Universe — 星を渡る (Hoshi wo Wataru) — is focused and themed on many musicians who died in the year 2016, especially David Bowie and Prince. The game includes references to many songs and albums, including ★ (Blackstar, Bowie's last album before his death), the Byrds' album "Fifth Dimension", and the Beatles' song "Across the Universe".

The game lasts five rounds (years), and at the start of each year, star cards are dealt into the spring/summer/fall/winter slots. The number of star cards dealt to each season varies. The players bid for these star cards to catch them. Each player must decide how much to bid for each season and must place four cards from their hand, one card for each season, at the beginning of the year. Once the resolution starts, the cards used to bid may not be changed. When a player wins a star card, they discard the card they used to bid; for those who don't win, they can re-use their losing bids in different ways. A player can:

 Take it back to their hand to use again in a later year.
 Shift the bid card to the next season, adding this bid's value to what's already there.
 Move the bid card to the player's second tableau. The bid card is multi-purpose and also acts as an upper limit to your star card score.

Publisher's summary:

１９７２年、地球に落ちてきた「彼」が、とうとう★に還る日がやってきました。5次元人であるあなたは、５年間で星々に「ワタリ」と呼ばれる道筋をつけ、彼を★まで還しましょう！ このゲームは、２０１６年に亡くなったミュージシャンたち、特にデヴィッド・ボウイやプリンスに焦点を当て、テーマを付けました。 手札から4枚のカードをプロットして、星カードを競り落とします。ただし、競り負けると次の解決が有利になったり、優先順位が上がったり、最後に得点化できる星カードが増えます。上手に勝って上手に負ける。しかし、プログラミングのため、そこまでうまくいくかな？