The Thing: Infected at Outpost 31 is a good game. It really gets the feel of John Carpenter's movie a far as the characters, the props the look and layout of the outpost. That being said, the game has none of the suspense the movie has. But it can, with some house rules. The first game I played, we had 6 players. We played the game wrong had 3 infected. Even though we had too many infected, I was still able to pick all 3 infected. One I torched, 2 I got with the blood tests. Because the humans are able to talk about what cards are given to the captain with each mission, it's too easy to figure out the infected, unless the infected plays the game as a human totally straight. Because of that, the game is boring as it was too easy for the humans to beat the missions that it was a guarantee the game would get to the escape portion with no problem. During the game, the danger level didn't get past the third spot, so the danger never affected the missions. Far too easy for the humans. One friend, who was infected, played 2 sabotage cards we easily figured out he was infected. The other 2 I guessed because of the way they acted. Not the way they acted in the game, just the way they acted. After the game, I suggested that we not be allowed to say what cards you give to the captain. I suggested we say either we can help with the mission or we cannot help. One friend disagreed said it would be too easy for the infected to win the game by destroying 4 rooms or making 8 missions fail. I disagree. Due to the arguments of my one friend, we decided it was up to the captain as to whether the cards were told during their missions. This doesn't work because only an infected would want to not have the cards said. As I mentioned, in the first game the danger level only moved up to the third spot. In the second game, we played with 8 players. The danger level only moved up once. Once! There is no suspense when the captain looks at his cards says 34;No sabotage.34; because it's known the infected are playing the game as human, because they'll give themselves up otherwise. And once you're found out, you're left out for much of the game. I was infected in the second game. The first infected in fact. Every time I was chosen for a mission, it was with 3 or 4 player teams would have been too easy to figure out I was the infected if I sabotaged the mission. So, I played the game straight to the end. It was only when my friend accused me of being infected I gave up my 34;tell34; that he was adamant I was infected. So again, it had nothing to do with the game, but rather reading my face. So, basically, if you wanted, you could hand out the blood sample cards, accuse people of being infected, read their faces guess who's infected without having to bother with the nonsense of the missions. Give the guesser 2 blood tests, because you're guaranteed to still be in danger level 1 have 2 blood tests anyway. If the missions were exciting, I'd be all for it, but most of them aren't. It's just seeing who has the right cards, which with so many players, you're guaranteed to beat it. And so, my suggestion of not being allowed to tell what cards you're given is one of the ways to fix this game. Yes, it may be easier for the infected to cause trouble, but without this change, there is no trouble, no sense of danger, no chance for the infected to win, unless they get lucky get in on the escape. Without that chance of causing trouble, the game is monotonous is just a big guess at the end. Another way I thought of fixing the game is throwing in a random card during a mission. Just draw an extra card, without looking at it, mix it in with other cards then see what happens. That may seem unfair because then the mission may be too easily won (even more easily than they already are) so I suggested another way. If a mission parameter is to have a choice of number of players, for example 4-5 players, then the captain can only choose a 4 player team the 5th player would be a random card. This way, not every mission will have a random card drawn for it. Anyway, I do like the game, but feel it could be made into a great game with some kind of tweak to fix this major problem.

The Thing: Infected at Outpost 31 is a good game. It really gets the feel of John Carpenter's movie a far as the characters, the props the look and layout of the outpost. That being said, the game has none of the suspense the movie has. But it can, with some house rules. The first game I played, we had 6 players. We played the game wrong had 3 infected. Even though we had too many infected, I was still able to pick all 3 infected. One I torched, 2 I got with the blood tests. Because the humans are able to talk about what cards are given to the captain with each mission, it's too easy to figure out the infected, unless the infected plays the game as a human totally straight. Because of that, the game is boring as it was too easy for the humans to beat the missions that it was a guarantee the game would get to the escape portion with no problem. During the game, the danger level didn't get past the third spot, so the danger never affected the missions. Far too easy for the humans. One friend, who was infected, played 2 sabotage cards we easily figured out he was infected. The other 2 I guessed because of the way they acted. Not the way they acted in the game, just the way they acted. After the game, I suggested that we not be allowed to say what cards you give to the captain. I suggested we say either we can help with the mission or we cannot help. One friend disagreed said it would be too easy for the infected to win the game by destroying 4 rooms or making 8 missions fail. I disagree. Due to the arguments of my one friend, we decided it was up to the captain as to whether the cards were told during their missions. This doesn't work because only an infected would want to not have the cards said. As I mentioned, in the first game the danger level only moved up to the third spot. In the second game, we played with 8 players. The danger level only moved up once. Once! There is no suspense when the captain looks at his cards says 34;No sabotage.34; because it's known the infected are playing the game as human, because they'll give themselves up otherwise. And once you're found out, you're left out for much of the game. I was infected in the second game. The first infected in fact. Every time I was chosen for a mission, it was with 3 or 4 player teams would have been too easy to figure out I was the infected if I sabotaged the mission. So, I played the game straight to the end. It was only when my friend accused me of being infected I gave up my 34;tell34; that he was adamant I was infected. So again, it had nothing to do with the game, but rather reading my face. So, basically, if you wanted, you could hand out the blood sample cards, accuse people of being infected, read their faces guess who's infected without having to bother with the nonsense of the missions. Give the guesser 2 blood tests, because you're guaranteed to still be in danger level 1 have 2 blood tests anyway. If the missions were exciting, I'd be all for it, but most of them aren't. It's just seeing who has the right cards, which with so many players, you're guaranteed to beat it. And so, my suggestion of not being allowed to tell what cards you're given is one of the ways to fix this game. Yes, it may be easier for the infected to cause trouble, but without this change, there is no trouble, no sense of danger, no chance for the infected to win, unless they get lucky get in on the escape. Without that chance of causing trouble, the game is monotonous is just a big guess at the end. Another way I thought of fixing the game is throwing in a random card during a mission. Just draw an extra card, without looking at it, mix it in with other cards then see what happens. That may seem unfair because then the mission may be too easily won (even more easily than they already are) so I suggested another way. If a mission parameter is to have a choice of number of players, for example 4-5 players, then the captain can only choose a 4 player team the 5th player would be a random card. This way, not every mission will have a random card drawn for it. Anyway, I do like the game, but feel it could be made into a great game with some kind of tweak to fix this major problem.

My Grandson likes this game.

My Grandson likes this game.

nbsp;The Thing Infection at Outpost 31 is a good mix between the Resistance board game and Dead of Winter Board Game. If you are looking for a hidden traitor game and like this theme then you should check it out.

Firstly, I would give this 4 1/2 stars if it were an option but It is a five star experience under the correct conditions. I played this game twice over the holidays with my extended family and had wildly different play experiences. I first played 4 players late at night when most people were gone or asleep so everyone was focused on the game and no one was distracted. We had an awesome time but could tell it would’ve been better with more players so the bad guys could hide and humans would get more combinations of good guys to take on missions. Very very fun though. Ps I was the only one of the four who had seen the movie, and always thought it would make a great game. The second game was 7 player and it was terrible because it was right around dinner time so everyone was distracted and constantly leaving the room if they weren’t on a mission or something. 2 or 3 people felt like they weren’t doing anything because they weren’t selected for some of the missions, when in reality even if you’re not on missions you should still be ‘playing’ by studying the people who are on it and chattering to determine who might be the imitation. One person left the game altogether and we had to shift a bunch of things around and then in the end two people had to leave because of how long it was taking because of people getting distracted so we actually stopped halfway through. These opposite experiences display to me that this game is boom or bust. It can be an incredibly fun time if all the players are invested in being focused and keeping the rounds snappy and moving along. It can just as easily be a disaster if people aren’t engaging and leaving the table a lot and are getting distracted so they aren’t reading the table.

I found this at my local HPB and picked it up on a Black Friday sale. I’m glad that I did. We’ve played it a few times and can provide some insight for potential buyers. First of all, let’s start with players. The more players you have, the better. You cannot play this with less than four players. You cannot double up and play multiple characters yourself because one of you is an infected human and the goal of the game is to find out who. I would say that you want at least 6 players to have a truly exciting game. You can get lucky and have a shorter game, but you should probably count on close to two hours with setup and gameplay. Naturally I bought this game because I am a fan of John Carpenter’s The Thing. The game is just as fun if you’ve never seen the movie, but it was definitely made with fans in mind. The character pieces or “movers” are remarkably detailed and actually do look like the movie characters. The instruction manual also adds plenty of movie references and background. The board looks beautiful and details abound everywhere. This is actually one of the best looking games I’ve ever seenand we have well over 100 board games in our game closet. As far as recreating the feel and ambiance of the movie, this game excels and easily deserves 5 stars. As far as gameplay itself, this is a fairly complicated game with many different facets. The alien has three ways to win the game and the humans only have one. We never came close to winning, but it’s definitely possible. If you are used to games like Monopoly or Risk, this game will seem overwhelming and excessively complicated. This is better for people who enjoy more complicated board games to start, but anyone can learn to play. You task is to clear out the outpost, finding supplies and fighting aliens along the way. One of you is already infected, however, and will try to sabotage your progress. Your goal is to escape on the helicopter with only humans, leaving the aliens in disguise behind (or torch them with a flamethrower). If you fail tasks or fail to beat an alien, the outpost starts to take damage and the infection spreads. Along the way, you will need to tend to various emergencies in the outpost or risk losing it from damage. Faults – there are a few. This is a complicated game and the instructions do not appear to cover all contingencies. We ended up making our own rules when some aspects of gameplay were unclear. For instance, do you need to clear all rooms in a sector before moving on, or can you advance as soon as you find the necessary supplies? We could not determine this from the instructions. Can you put out two fires at once by sending one player to one room while the rest of your team goes to another room with fire or smoke? As I mentioned, you can always make up your own rules so that’s not a game-ender. What is a little more troubling is determining who the imposter is. You are encouraged to talk out loud, but there really aren’t any questions or challenges that make spotting the imposter any easier. If the imposter HAD to sabotage the party, it would be much easier. Instead, the best way for the aliens to win is to play along like any other character and be chosen in the escape party. With that being the case, it’s essentially just blind luck in the end to determine who the imposter is. Your best bet is to use the blood tests, but this too is mostly just a shot in the dark. This is the one area of the game I think could use improvement, but no one ever said surviving was easy. So in the end, The Thing is a fantastically constructed, beautiful game that should please fans of the film and people who enjoy large-group board games. It’s complicated, but not impossibly so. It could use clearer instructions and may take you a couple trial runs before you understand it all. That said, it easily deserves 4 stars if not a little more.