Space Alert

Players, goal, and mission length: Czech Games Edition lists designer Vlaada Chvátil, 1–5 players, age 12+, and an approximate 30-minute play time. The planning soundtrack lasts about ten real-time minutes; a full play also includes setup and evaluation. Players jointly serve as the spaceship crew, scan a dangerous sector, protect essential ship systems, and try to make the return jump safely. The goal is team survival, not necessarily destroying every threat that appears. The base game supports solo play.

Soundtrack and real-time planning: Start the ten-minute recording to begin the mission. Computer announcements report threat timing, location, and changes in the planning phase. Players discuss responsibilities while placing action cards face down in the numbered spaces on their own Action Boards. The board and pieces can be used to rehearse a plan, but the cards on the Action Boards are the only actions that count. The real-time limit forces the crew to make decisions while new information continues to arrive.

Twelve action turns: A mission uses twelve action spaces divided into three planning phases: turns 1–3, 4–7, and 8–12. In a four- or five-player game, each player takes five first-phase action cards and chooses cards for the first three spaces; two- and three-player games use different deal sizes, and solo has its own setup; unused cards may remain in hand. When players pick up the second-phase cards, they plan turns 4–7, and cards on turns 1–3 can no longer be changed. The third phase works the same way for turns 8–12. Earlier plans remain locked as the team advances.

Action cards and empty spaces: Each action card has a movement half and an action half. Orient one half up when placing the card in a turn space. Movement lets the crew member move through the ship to an adjacent station or use the gravolift; an action activates a system, weapon, or other ability at the crew member’s current location. Only the half facing up is used for that turn; the other half has no effect. If the space is empty, that crew member takes no action on that turn. An empty slot does not grant a free move or a replacement choice.

Communication, new cards, and locking: Players may talk about their cards and intended actions, but they do not show their private cards to teammates. The soundtrack may announce opportunities to draw an extra action card or transfer a card, and those options are resolved only when the corresponding rule and timing allow. A player may revise cards in the current phase before it is locked. Picking up the next phase’s cards or the soundtrack announcing the phase end locks the preceding phase. The crew should decide who will handle the computer, power, weapons, and internal dangers before an important set of actions becomes fixed.

Ship stations and actions: Each numbered turn provides room for one movement or one action, and a crew member’s location determines which actions are available. Typical duties include using the computer to help identify threats, supplying energy to shields or weapons, firing, directing battlebots against intruders, and launching missiles. Energy blocks, system status, and threat paths affect whether an action can work. A weapon card alone may not be enough: a crew member may first need to reach the correct station, and an attack may need to resolve before a threat arrives.

Resolution Round: When the soundtrack ends, resolve the recorded mission in turn order. Reveal each turn’s plan, update crew positions, perform the planned movement or station action, and check weapon results, external threat trajectories, internal threats, damage, and ship systems as directed by the rules. Timing and location matter; players cannot add an unplanned action during the replay. If a card was misplaced and causes a delay, use the correction procedure in the rulebook rather than freely rearranging the crew’s whole plan.

Survival and end of mission: The evaluation checks whether the ship can return safely and what damage or threat consequences the crew suffered. Players share success or failure; an individual score cannot replace the team’s survival objective. The base game includes difficulty levels and mission variety, with different threats changing what the crew should prioritize. This description covers the base game’s one-action-per-turn card system. Double Actions, specializations, new threats, and experience progression belong to The New Frontier expansion.