SETI: Space Agencies
Official Description:
SETI: Space Agencies is an expansion for SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence that introduces powerful asymmetric organizations, each with unique abilities, strategic advantages, and starting conditions. These organizations represent real and fictional space agencies, offering players new ways to approach the search for extraterrestrial life and adding depth to the base game’s strategic options.
Players select one of these organizations at the start of the game, which shapes their playstyle and influences their decisions throughout the game. The expansion enhances replayability by providing a diverse range of abilities and strategies, encouraging players to experiment with different combinations and approaches.
By integrating these asymmetric organizations, SETI: Space Agencies expands the thematic and mechanical scope of the original game, allowing for a richer and more varied gameplay experience while maintaining the core focus on scientific discovery and space exploration.
SETI: Space Agencies is currently in the early stages of table testing here, but it’s already clear why it’s drawing attention from veteran groups. The asymmetric agency powers are the main tactical lever—each player’s organization comes with a distinct set of abilities and starting conditions, which immediately shakes up the familiar SETI rhythm. The Quick Start cards are a practical fix, trimming out the slow ramp-up and letting players dive straight into meaningful decisions. This expansion’s hook is the way it removes the “dead air” of early rounds and forces players to adapt to new strategic landscapes from the first turn. For groups who’ve already exhausted the base game’s symmetry, this is the kind of injection that keeps a title from drifting off the active shelf.
Physically, the expansion is a non-issue for storage—everything fits in the base box, and the added cards, agency boards, and tokens don’t bloat the footprint. That said, the session length and setup are not for the faint of heart. With a 160-minute runtime and a technical setup, this is a main event game night anchor, not a filler. Expect a solid 20+ minutes to get everything sorted, especially if you’re integrating new agencies and reviewing their unique rules. The logistics are manageable, but you’ll want a dedicated table and a group ready to commit for the evening.
From a teaching perspective, this is a technical teach that demands a veteran lead. The biggest pitfall is the signal token mechanic—players need to remember to scan the base and trigger activations, which is easy to overlook in the heat of asymmetric play. I make a point of emphasizing this in the teach, since missed activations can throw off the balance. Once the game is underway, the parallel play structure means you can step away to troubleshoot other tables, but you’ll want to check in periodically to ensure agency powers are being used correctly. The interaction is mostly indirect, so the room stays focused but not rowdy—ideal for groups who prefer deep, individual planning over table talk. For anyone running multi-table events, this expansion is a must-have: it fixes the pacing, deepens the strategy, and keeps SETI relevant for experienced players.
MY score
8
Our Total Plays
3
Last PLayed
23 Jan 26
🌱 Breaking In
Player Count
1-4
Playtime
160 mins
