Description

In ???????????? (Back to the Earth), players are researchers developing and launching exploration satellites to investigate nearby planets, as Earth has been threatened by a sudden turbulence in the gravitational field of the universe.

The game takes place on a "board" of 4 pieces of paper that are set into a plastic bag and show the near-by planets and their orbits. The provided "planets" are clear plastic hemispheres that the players fill with colored clay during setup to establish the look of their galaxy.

Each of the planets has a magnetic strip along the base and a player's goal each turn is to "launch" a satellite (steel ball) from a rocket (wooden chute) that they position as they like above the Earth piece. Moreover, their goal is to have the ball reach a target planet, swing around the planet's orbit using a "gravitational slingshot" type maneuver, and return to the earth with data about the planet. If successful, a player plants one of their flags in the planet and earns victory points.

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.