Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Are you ready to leave the runway and start your flight? You'll find out in Clear for Takeoff.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Are you ready to leave the runway and start your flight? You'll find out in Clear for Takeoff. Each player has a fleet of three airplanes: small, medium, and large. Eight weather cards are shuffled into a small deck, then players are dealt a hand of six cards from a deck that contains cards labeled A, B, C, D, Delay, and Lucky Captain. A runway with sections A, B and C lies in front of all players. On a turn, a player either discards 1-3 cards or takes an action. An action can be either playing a Delay card on an opponent's plane (which moves that plane back one space on the runway unless the opponent discards a Lucky Captain card) or playing a set of 1-3 cards of the same letter to advance one of the player's planes. If you play a single A, for example, you can place your small plane on the A section of the runway; if you play three As, you can place your large plane on the A. If you play three Cs, you can advance your large plane from B to C. To take off, you must play 1-3 D cards (depending on the size of the plane), then reveal the top weather card, which might show that one size of plane can't take off. If this size matches the plane trying to go airborne, then you discard the cards to no effect; otherwise, the plane leaves the runway and heads into the sky (a.k.a. the game box). A Lucky Captain card can represent any letter card when played. At the end of your turn, refill your hand to six cards. The first player to get all three of their planes airborne wins!