Cosmic coasters is an example of a real strategy game mixed with a totally random game. The randomness is the RPS (Rock/paper/scissors) element - though, as Jay said, if you're really good at reading people, you can *sometimes* tell what they're going to throw. The strategy, while not as deep as chess, is pretty good, imho.
One thing that I didn't realize when I first played it, that when I teleported onto another coaster, I could land on ANY spot that I chose - in other words, I could land right on top of a control pad and destroy the ship there. Yeah, I know it's right in the rules (
http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/CosmicCoasters/Rules.html) but no one has ever accused me of being patient and reading all the rules all the way through. :) This changed my strategy immensely.
Control points are, in my opinion, the key. Are you on the Rabbits list? Maybe we can ask some of the Coasters fans to give us hints for you and your boys.
As for the "planet/moon" thing - that was probably because Andy could find cool pictures of moons in our system - and (as a cool bit of science content for your boys) the 4 moons of Jupiter (Io, Callisto, etc) are the ones Gallileo could see w/ his puny 4x telescope - and it's what rocked the world away and finally brought us to a sun-centered understanding of the solar system.
4x telescope - I think that's about the strength of what they gave away as a toy in the McDonald's kids meal w/ the pirate give-aways.