The Thing

About this board game

The Thing is a 2–4 player game with a 45-minute play time, based on John Carpenter’s 1982 horror movie. One player begins as the Thing, while the others start as human members of the Antarctic research facility Outpost 31.

The game unfolds through six asymmetrical card decks: three for the humans and three for the Thing. Managing your hand and choosing when to use each deck are central to the struggle. The narrative is divided into three acts, with the second and third acts shuffled to create a different sequence of encounters in each game.

Twelve Outpost 31 team cards are positioned between the players, with each human player taking one character. The team must survive encounters inspired directly by events from the film while deciding how to allocate its people to important tasks. Since the humans cannot accomplish everything they want, they must carefully choose their priorities.

• Face encounters including the Autopsy of Norwegian-Thing, Battle in Dogtown, and Conduct Blood Test.
• Investigate locations such as the Norwegian Base and the Crashed Saucer Site.
• Give the Thing opportunities to place infection or dummy infection cards beneath human characters.
• Race to construct the Blair-saucer by cannibalising parts from the bulldozer, radio room, and helicopter.

As the game progresses, the Thing may secretly infect other players—or merely make the others believe it has done so. Humans must keep their wits about them as they attempt to stop the alien organism, while the Thing works to thwart their plans and complete its own objective.

With paranoia, shifting suspicion, and encounters drawn from the movie, The Thing creates a tense fight for survival in which the greatest danger may be hiding among the team.