SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

You will spend two hours looking for aliens and there is a real chance you won't find any.

A game about the actual search — pointing radio telescopes at promising stars, launching probes to Enceladus and Titan, sifting the data for something that isn't noise. Tomáš Holek built it on real astronomy: the solar system on the board is the one outside, the exoplanets are named after exoplanets, and the science is close enough that you'll come away knowing things.

What makes it work as a game is the slow reveal. Nobody knows at setup which of the alien species are in play, and the discoveries you make are shared with the table even as you race to be the one who confirms them. It's a heavy, sprawling euro with a lot of moving parts and it takes real commitment — up to two and a half hours at four — but it earned its reputation quickly and the solo mode is properly built rather than bolted on.

Perfect for: Groups who read the rulebook for pleasure, and anyone who has ever left a computer running overnight to help process radio telescope data.

1–4 players | 40–160 minutes | Age 14+

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