Space Alert

It's a cooperative team survival game. Players become crew members of a small spaceship scanning dangerous sectors of galaxy. The missions last just 10 real-time minutes (hyperspace jump, sector scan, hyperspace jump back) and the only task the players have is to protect their ship.

On 2 CDs (or Scenario cards if you don't have a CD player available) are ten minute long soundtracks that represent central computer announcements about the presence of various threats. These vary from space battleships and interceptors to different interstellar monsters and abominations, asteroids or even intruders and malfunctions on the spaceship. Players have to agree who will take care of which task and coordinate their actions (moving around the ship, firing weapons, distributing energy, using battlebots to deal with intruders, launching guided missiles, etc.) in real time to defend the ship. Only a well-working team can survive 10 minutes and make the jump back to safety.

The game offers several difficulty levels, huge variability and a unique experience for one to five player teams. One mission lasts only about 30 minutes, including setup and evaluation.

Designer: Vlaada (Vladimír) Chvátil
# of Players: 1 − 5
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Mfr Suggested Ages: 12 and up

Awards:
2009 JoTa - Highlight of the Year (Audience)
2009 Spiel des Jahres, Winner Special Prize for New Game Worlds
2009 Dice Tower Gaming Awards, Most Innovative Game, Winner
2009 BoardGameGeek Golden Geek, Innovative Game, Winner

Game components:
1 Spaceship Board
10 Action Boards in 5 colors
7 Trajectory Boards
1 Mission Steps Board
10 plastic figures
55+ blocks in 6 colors
1 blue and 3 green cylinders
90 Action Cards
6 Heroic Action Cards
55 Threat Cards
16 Scenario Cards
18 damage tiles
26 internal threat tokens
16 numbered tokens
2 CDs with 16 soundtracks
1 ship’s log
1 Rulebook
1 “How to Become a Space Explorer” handbook