Alienation

About this board game

Alienation is a real-estate game for 2–4 players that takes about 30 minutes to play. Across three rounds, players compete to satisfy alien creature clientele and finish with the most points.

Each player drafts a hand of nine alien creature cards. Cards display one, two, or three creatures from six distinct races: Friendlies, Meanies, Rowdies, Sleepies, Matchies, and Sunnies. Each race has its own personality and interacts differently with neighboring creatures.

On a turn, the active player chooses one of two actions:

• Play one card in their own solar system.
• Play one card in another player’s solar system.

Cards must be placed adjacent or diagonally adjacent to the sun card, and play proceeds to the left. This creates a shared placement puzzle as players develop their own systems while also adding cards to their rivals’ layouts.

A solar system is full once it has eight creature cards surrounding its sun. From that point onward, its owner may only play cards in other players’ solar systems. The round ends when every solar system is filled; each player’s final card is placed in the discard pile before scoring their solar system.

With its compact playing time and direct competition for placement, Alienation turns intergalactic property development into a race for points. Build your solar system, manage the different alien races, and try to finish each round with the most rewarding arrangement.