At the beginning the nine different city tiles are placed on the table in an increasing order. The aircraft is then placed on the city with the lowest number (1). The number on the city not only tells you where to place the city tile but also how many victory points you can find in the corresponding treasure cards that are placed next to the city tiles respectively. Beginning with victory points of one and more in the first city, this increases up to 25 victory points in the last city.

After dealing all players their hand cards (their equipment for the journey) and all passengers have entered the aircraft the journey can begin. But wait! We still need a captain. Well that is just one of us, determined by chance at the start and going clockwise around during the game for each new step of a journey (moving the aircraft from one city to the next).

For one step of the journey the players follow the same procedure: First of all the captain rolls a number of dice as indicated on the next city tile. Beginning with two dice for the city tiles 2-4, this goes up to four dice for the last two city tiles. Each die gives the players events which the captain has to overcome in the next phases. But before that each player but the captain (a captain never leaves his ship) has the chance to leave the aircraft and enter the current city to go for their treasures. As a result of an exit the player draws one of the treasure cards from this city. The card is safe for him then, but on the other hand he forfeits going farer to the cities with the more valuable treasures. Well, at least if the aircraft doesn't crash...

All players who are still in the aircraft after this have to trust the captain who then must use equipment cards from his hand to overcome the rolled events (cards with the same symbol like a lightning for overcoming a storm). If the captain succeeds in this he moves the aircraft to the next city and passes the control of the ship to the next player (clockwise) who is still on board. If however, he cannot or does not want to play enough cards the aircraft crashes, nobody of the remaining passengers draws a treasure card and a new journey with all players begins on the first city tile again.

To be successful in Celestia you have to bluff and negotiate a lot. Does the current captain have the right cards to overcome the events of the dice? Is he also willing to play them? And which cards have the other players still in their hand, because they can influence the trip, too. The reason for this are six different kinds of special cards that are dealt among the other equipment cards. These cards allow players to influence the journey, even if they are not the current captain or some even if a passenger has already left the aircraft.

So, for example the disembarkation card lets you disembark other passengers and a jet pack causes the aircraft to crash, with only the passenger who played the card using the jet pack to safely go down to the ground (and by this collecting a treasure card of the current city). Other cards influence the events of the journey (positive or negative, for example a new roll) and can also be played after passengers have left (mostly to their annoyance).

Celestia was one of the positive surprises in my gaming group. A lovely design of the aircraft and the colourful illustrations on the box and the cards encourage the players to attempt one journey after another. The game is very fast, so that players who left the aircraft do not have to wait too long before the next journey begins and they take part in the game again. Also the total duration of the game is comparatively short (about 30 minutes, if you play fast), so you can play several games in a series.

I have heard that Celestia has overcome some of the minor imperfections of Cloud 9, but as I have never played the older game, I cannot say for sure. What I definitely can say is that Celestia is a fast, light-weighted, but entertaining game especially for larger groups. It works with less players (2 at least are necessary), but then it is more predictable and there is less negotiation. So I would recommend it for 5-6 players. It is more than a filler and also a perfect party game.

The expansion-set A little Help introduces new game elements that make the game even less predictable and let the players' find their individual way to win the game. 36 new cards find their way into the deck of the base game. The number alone makes the game less predictable for other players, but there are also new ways to play the game.

The biggest variation comes with the equipment card "A little Help". This card let the passengers prevent a crash, after the captain has declared that he has not enough cards to manoeuvre to the next destination. In a crash all passengers may play one or several of these cards face down on the table and at a command all cards are showed at once. Of course all cards played must be discarded, but if the challenge can be completed by this, the aircraft doesn't crash. The captain is even allowed (or better forced) to play another card, if he can complete the challenge by this. These cards make it much harder to decide when it's the right moment to quit the journey, because even if the captain has only very few cards left, the challenge can be completed with the help of the other passengers.

To balance this better chances for the captain, you have a really annoying new power chard, too. This is called "Mooring line" and let the captain discard all cards he used to complete the challenge. Beyond this, the captain is relieved and the next passenger takes over. Worst still, the aircraft doesn't travel but stays at the same city. It is a good thing that the other new power chard, the "Bandit", let the captain throw one more dice.

A little Help also introduces upgraded equipment cards, that will allow players to face 2 events of the same type. Again, this is a justified consequence of the help cards and of course it makes it more difficult for the captain to reach the next destination.

Finally the expansion give the players character chards with individual powers. This truly influences the way to play the game, but only slightly, because this card may only be used once throughout the game.

A little Help is a nice addition to the base game. It only slightly changes the way to play, but the game feels completed with it. It is not essentially necessary, but it feels right to add. As a result, I increase my total evaluation to an eight for the game with the expansion: