Plenty of Space – A Review of SETI

SETI comes in a big box and promises a lot of careful decision making. Is it a bright sun or a black hole?

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a game from CGE. The game has a LOT going on. Cards being used for different options, resource management, actions that can cascade, end game bonuses… there’s plenty of stuff going on in the game. At the core, it’s about careful planning and decision making. Is it the right time to play this card, or should I do this other action first. The player aid folds in half, that’s how much is going on in this game!

I’ve played SETI a few times and overall, I like the game. It’s very thinky and purposeful actions are key. Knowing how to get the most out of your limited resources is critical to doing well. The art on all of the cards is very nice, the iconography is well done once you understand it, and overall the gameplay is solid.

So why did I just sell my copy?

We did a three player game at Origins and with a rules refresher, it took almost three hours to play through. While the gameplay is fun, the pace of the game is slow while everyone is figuring out the best way to do what they need to do to score points. Is it better to send out a satellite or play a card? Where should I move that satellite once it’s in play? Do I wait until time passes and the planets rotate? Once I get it to a destination, do I land it as a rover or maintain it as a satellite around that planet? This is just one aspect of the game. You have to balance investing in exploring space, researching the data that’s collected, scanning sectors to get the data to be researched, etc. And then once you’ve done all of this research, the game adds extra cards and rules in the form of two alien races that change game to game and add more rules and choices to make. Every action is important and one poorly timed action can really hurt your progress in this game.

I enjoy playing the game, but I have to recognize that a game can be good and not something I need to own. I have a friend with the game and if I ever play it locally, they’ll be one of the players for sure. But on a given open game night, I have two to two and a half hours of game time. Do I want to struggle with the decisions of SETI or play a few other games in the same timeframe?

SETI is good. It’s gotten plenty of support from players. As of this writing, it’s the 15th best game according to BoardGameGeek.com. It has fourteen honors and awards. It’s clearly a game that other gamers love to play. It’s just not one that I need to have in my collection.