Incoming Transmission

About this board game

Incoming Transmission is a cooperative futuristic board game for 2–5 players, played in about 40 minutes. One player becomes Mission Control, while the other players form a Cadet team stranded on a heavily damaged space station that is set to self-destruct.

The game takes place on a 5×5 grid of tiles, with stations and objects scattered randomly across the board. Some of these elements are broken. Mission Control has a list of objectives to complete, but communication with the Cadet team is deliberately limited and the instructions will not arrive in order.

Mission Control uses command cards to provide simple directions or actions. These cards can instruct the Cadet to move East, West, North, or South, or to collect or drop objects. Each round, another card tells Mission Control how many command cards to give the Cadet team, but those commands are randomized before they are revealed.

• Asymmetrical cooperation: Mission Control and the Cadet team have different roles but must solve the same emergency together.
• Shuffled instructions: Deduce the correct interpretation of commands after they are revealed out of order.
• Limited communication: Work together without speaking while guiding the Cadet meeple across the station.
• Objective-driven play: Complete the required tasks within the allotted number of rounds.

Every decision depends on interpreting incomplete information and turning a confusing stream of commands into a workable plan. Too many mistakes can allow time to run out, so the team must use its wits and cunning.

With its silent coordination, randomized command sequence, and shared objectives, Incoming Transmission creates a distinctive cooperative challenge for groups looking to solve a crisis through careful deduction.