Star Winch

Star Winch is a game about one taut line. Lower a probe into the dark, wait for something to take the hook, then bring it up without parting the line. Holding the pad winds the drum and drives tension up the column; letting go sheds tension, but the catch takes line back. A safe band drifts along that column — keep the tension marker inside it and you gain ground fast. Let the marker top the column and the line snaps.
Every expedition carries three lengths of line. Surface whenever you like and the whole hold pays out; spend the last length and you are hauled up with only a fraction of it. Ground you make is kept in quarters, so one slip never wipes out a long fight — but the drum is spent for good, and knowing when to stop is the whole game.
Fifty specimens wait across five depths, from the warm shallows above the dust line to pressure past every chart