Many tabletop games devolve into a race to get points before the game ends. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a unique game that, like many others, devolves into a point collection process with little or no theme left by the end of the game. I won’t be regurgitating the rule book or describing a play-by-play in this post. Instead, I want to focus on how this and many other games leave their theme behind towards the end of the game.
A board game is almost always a diversion into a world unlike real life, where players can slay dragons, explore dungeons and caves, or search for extraterrestrial life. The game reveals this alternate reality through theme, plot, and game mechanics. But like in sports, and even real life in some situations, the game is just a means to an end – that end being collecting points. How well the designer hides this from the players reflects on their “writing” abilities. In many games, including SETI, earning points feels like a side objective at first. While picking up a few points early on can be helpful, SETI draws players into something bigger — a journey of exploration. You launch probes into space to search for signs of life on distant planets and scan the skies for data that might lead to a breakthrough discovery. The goal in the game’s first half is to discover alien life. SETI is rich in theme—players launch probes into space and scan the skies, all while navigating the shifting alignment of the solar system. Every action feels grounded in the pursuit of extraterrestrial discovery. At the same time, there’s a sense of competition beneath the surface: players upgrade their equipment and race to be the first to make contact, turning the search for life into a high-stakes space race.
But once the aliens have been discovered and play continues, the game shifts—exploration and scanning become mere tools for point gathering.
Many games begin with strong themes, narratives, and style, but eventually become pure point-scoring competitions. Although players playing Terraforming Mars will compete for milestones early in the game, just to get the points from them later, the rest of the game can similarly feel like it has the same transition from thematic to point collection. By the end of Brass: Birmingham, building a network to further one’s reach is secondary to picking whatever action yields the most points. Some games have a more obvious change, such as with SETI, while others have a more gradual change. Or they start out less themed, making any transition much less noticeable. Any game that features engine-building—where players take actions to improve their capabilities in later turns—tends to follow this same arc. Territory control works similarly: gaining land often unlocks more options and accelerates expansion. However, gameplay typically narrows once the engine is running or the territory is secured. The player’s main objective becomes using what they’ve built to extract as many points as possible before the game ends.
A game with a rich theme can offer a more immersive and emotionally engaging experience than a purely abstract one. In a well-themed game, players might feel like they’re truly inhabiting its world. For example, when I play Firefly: The Board Game, I sometimes develop a genuine attachment to my crew. Taking on risky jobs becomes tense, not just for the sake of winning, but because I don’t want to lose any of them. The problem with an immersive game comes from losing that immersion.
Perhaps this shift is inevitable in any board game with a strong theme. The same pattern appears in real life: someone might take a class out of genuine interest in the subject, but eventually that knowledge becomes a means to a more practical end, like securing a better-paying job. The class may have been engaging in its own right, but once it’s over, what lingers is not the learning itself, but the benefits it provides. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Life benefits from a strongly thematic first half, immersing players in the excitement of space exploration. While the second half shifts toward more conventional point-scoring mechanics, it still offers engaging gameplay, even if the theme doesn’t shine quite as brightly.