Humans have been searching for signs of extraterrestrial life for more than a century, funding international efforts to search for signals from distant planets, launch probes, and build bigger and better telescopes. Tomáš Holek’s SETI makes that quest competitive by having players take on the role of rival agencies trying to wisely spend their resources in order to learn the most about the universe.
Like actual space research, SETI is complex and time consuming. Even with player guides for everyone that explain the various actions you can take, how technology upgrades work, and what the end-of-game scoring tiles mean, it’s easy to make mistakes on a first playthrough. It’s more satisfying on a second or third attempt, though even then it’s going to require several hours of commitment since even setting up the board involves a fair amount of work.
