And, here we are: like every year, those geniuses from CGE come out with a treat for the palate at Essen Game Fair. Two years ago, they showed up with Deal with The Devil and Starship Captains; last year with Kutna Hora; and for this truly space year, 2024, they delivered right on time with SETI.

These four simple letters took me back to the 90s, when the quote “I Want to Believe” was very popular and agents Mulder and Scully filled millions of TV screens. And if you don’t know X-Files, I’m already feeling too old…

On the other hand, however, the fascination of the search for the little green men is timeless. What will they look like? How will they behave with us? Will they be good? Will they want to blow up the Empire State Building like the “Independence Day” movie? Are they already among us like in “Men in Black” movie (Will Smith must really like aliens)? We try to answer all these questions with a magnificent Eurogame, this time with a rather (not very) scientific (very) fantasy theme.

Yes, because we, as tech companies with telescopes pointed at the sky, should launch probes, make them orbit and land on the various planets of the solar system without missing what is going to happen light years away, on Vega or around Barnard’s Star.

And after a few turns of play and some hard research, thanks to the myriad of unique cards that will accompany us painted with wonderful astronomical descriptions, something will appear.

But it will be unknown; because the alien race tiles, well-hidden during setup, will reveal unique races that will add rules, dynamics and further depth to the game.

We are still talking about an Eurogame, but the exploration mechanics and especially the discovery of alien races give a peculiarity that the Germanic game too often lacks. Well done CGE, and well done Cranio for bringing this gaming pearl to Italy!

Like any complex “German” board game, however, we are faced with the usual organizational problems: between meeples, tokens and hundreds of cards you risk being overwhelmed in the search for extraterrestrial life… in the game box.

Thanking the publisher for providing us with a copy to get our hands on well in advance, we got to work right away, and here is our official organizer for SETI – The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, created in collaboration with CGE.

Each alien race will have its own tray, each technology token its own slot and each player its own box, for a truly alien gaming experience. The setup will be reduced to the bare minimum and you will never have to go crazy looking for Omuama, Mascamites or Exertians again.

Because when space research calls, you have to be prepared and organized. I want to believe, in order of course!

Discover also the other games in our catalog and contact us for any request or question!