'Panic Station' Guest Review

(This game is being reviewed by Shokou Okano, member of the board game club.)

Panic Station, is a board game that falls into the science fiction, betrayal, and adventure category.  The minimum number of players is at least 4 players but is recommended to be played with 6 players.  The game is about a group of people called the Extermination Corps, sent by the government, to investigate the deadly virus that may infect the human population. Each player will control two characters, an android and a human, uncovering room by room searching for the virus hive to burn it, while cautiously keep a distance from each other, not knowing who has already been infected by a parasite.  As for the player who is the host, he or she must set out more parasites while infecting others to win the game. This game is a unique game which includes a traitor system, tactical plays, and an intense mind game between every single player. In my opinion, Panic Station, is a really fun game which has many great points, but it does has parts where it could be fixed to become a better game.

The points that make this board game a fun and intense game, is the traitor system and the mind game that plays a huge role in this game. As you start the game, everyone knows someone is the host of the virus, but they can’t tell who. This keeps everyone in suspense and focused on the game. After a few turns you can usually start to tell who is the host, because of their actions, face expressions, and cards. That is where the mind game kicks in and keeps the game flowing.  If you are a human it is crucial to listen and watch the game to pinpoint who’s human and infected. The host would have to take smart moves to trick others to fall into his trap and infect them. The host who can make the best poker face and fool others to believe him will infect everyone one by one. However others will start to notice some abnormal movements the host may take to infect someone, such as, moving onto the same tile to infect them multiple times.

Although this game works really well it does have some points that could be fixed. One point is that it is really hard for the host to infect others because it is like one against five in a six player game. And the humans would easily find out who is host if the host doesn’t infect someone quickly, which usually doesn’t happen. So a suggestion could be that you could increase one more host that would be infected later in the game if they draw a host card from a search pile. This would make the game much more interesting and to make it fair for the humans, additional gas tanks could be added so that the humans would have a higher chance to get them. Another point that could be adjusted is to allow a human to defend itself if it is armed with a gun. In this game the android the only character that could be allowed to shoot a weapon. However if your android is killed, the human is defenseless. That situation has happened to me a few times, and it frustrates me to find that I can’t shoot the suspected host with the fully loaded heavy gun right in front of me.

Putting all these points together, the good and the bad, I would rate this game with a 9/10. The reason is that the intense mind game and the traitor system works really well in this game and it is a perfect family or party game. Next time you bring your friends over to your house, take this game out of your shelf, or even buy this game to play with them, because you guys would be finishing the game, with enthusiastic faces, ready to explain how the game ended.