REVIEW: Panic Station

This year I asked for games for Christmas (don't know why I didn't think of that before!), and I was elated to get this one as my first game gift of the holiday.  Even better, I had a game night planned for the very next night, and we got it to the table twice.  Here's the lowdown:

GAME DESCRIPTION

PANIC STATION

Designed by David Ausloos

Published by Stronghold Games and White Goblin games, 2011 (still in print)

---

COMPONENTS, PACKAGING AND PRESENTATION

The game comes in a hinged tin which is pretty visually appealing, although I really am not a fan of non-standard sized game containers in general.  This one's not too bad, though, and the insert is functional, although it does not appear to have been designed for this specific game… I could be wrong about that, though.  Inside are a rulebook (more on THAT later, but here’s a hint: YIKES), a bunch of wooden disks, a sheet of stickers to apply to said disks, and a heap of cards.  One point of irritation right out the gate: if you're going to make me apply stickers to my pieces, fine... but don't make the friggin' stickers the exact same size as the pieces I'm supposed to attach them to, especially when the pieces themselves aren't perfectly cut!  Occasionally irregular wooden discs with perfectly round stickers... what an absolute joy a huge pain in the ass to work with.  Ugh.  Anyway, cards are average in quality, and the artwork is decent and easy to differentiate.  There's some pretty dubious iconography going on, though not nearly as off-putting as games like Race For The Galaxy, the standard bearer for games with confusing icons.  If I need to roll a three or higher on the die for a card to function, putting "+3" on the card doesn't work for me.  Overall, though, I'd say the component quality was acceptable, and the groovy tin pushes it slightly above average.

COMPONENTS RATING: 5.5/10

---
RULES & PLAYABILITY

As has been well documented on BGG, the rulebook that comes with this game is nebulous to a fault.  Although the basic concepts of gameplay are fairly straightforward, there are MANY times when a situation could come up that the rules are not able to clarify.  Furthermore, straight out of the box the game might be considered broken if the people around the table get into too much of a “groupthink” situation.  However, there are revised rules easily available on BoardGameGeek (see link above) that fix almost all of the problems the rules have, and some wonderful users have created a file for those rules that can be printed out and cut such that it effectively replaces the original rulebook entirely.  With these revised rules, the game plays very smoothly and has very little room for confusion, although there are a couple of mechanics that can be difficult to remember at first (for instance, how to determine if a player has been infected or not).  Overall, though, the game plays pretty well… once you have the revised rulebook.  Unfortunately, I have to rate the game based on what I actually got in the box.  This rating will improve significantly in future printings, I’m sure, but for now… sorry.

RULES & PLAYABILITY RATING: 3/10

 ---

GAME EXPERIENCE

Once you get the rules hashed out, playing the game is a BLAST.  If you’re the Host, you’re trying to stay under the radar juuuuust long enough to infect someone at a crucial moment and turn the game in your favor, and if you’re a Human you’re constantly giving everyone else around the table a wary eye, all the while trying desperately to avoid waves of Parasites that are randomly sweeping through the station.  It captures the paranoia of other games like Battlestar Galactica and Shadows Over Camelot perfectly, and distills it down into a simpler game in a much shorter play time.  Because the mechanics of the game are so simple and straightforward, there’s very little to interfere with the vibe of the game, which is where this game really shines.  This game is all about the vibe… if you have people in your gaming group that aren’t able to tap into that, you might have a less-than-ideal play experience, but I think that’s going to be the exception rather than the rule.  The sparse mechanics lend themselves well to creating the right mood around the table, and once the card trading starts, no one feels safe.  Well done!

GAME EXPERIENCE RATING: 8.5/10

 ---

REPLAY/OWNERSHIP VALUE

There is very little depth to this game mechanically speaking (although there is a mini-expansion for the game that might improve that somewhat), but because of the randomized layout of the station itself and the fact that anyone could be the Host in any game, this game definitely has some legs in the right game group.  If you tend to play the same games with the same people week after week, I would recommend playing it before you buy it if possible… but even if it’s not, it’s a reasonably-priced game ($20 - $30, depending on where you buy it), so it’s not like you’re going to be throwing a ton of money away if your group doesn’t enjoy it.  Otherwise, if you’re more of a “travelling gamer” like me, I think this is a must-buy.  It’s one of the rare games out there that plays well with six players, can still get done in an hour or so once everyone knows the rules, is easy enough that you might even be able to get some non-gamers to play it occasionally, and creates tension around the table that can’t be duplicated in that time frame by any other game I know of.  It’s a perfect end-of-the-night game for any game group, when everyone’s a little tired and doesn’t want to burn their brains anymore.  In short, this one depends on your situation, but I think it’s a worthy addition to any game collection.

REPLAY/OWNERSHIP VALUE: 8/10

 ---

OVERALL RATING: 62/100

This is a solid game, and once it gets reprinted with an updated rulebook, it’s going to be even better.  As long as you’ve got the right group of people sitting around the table, this one’s going to be a hit.  However, buyer beware: you’re going to have to do some digging to get that updated rulebook, or else you’re going to spend a lot of time frustrated while teaching the game.  Use the link I provided above, download the updated rulebook (and maybe a player aid or two), and have a great time.