The Thing Teaching Aid, v. 1.

0, Patrick Olmstead

Setup (in order):

 Set up character boards in 3 stacks (of 4) by color. Each player rolls 2 dice. Highest roll
is captain. Choose 1 of the character boards. Read character and abilities aloud. Take
corresponding character mover (“mini”). Next player chooses a board from one of the
highest remaining stacks. Read character and abilities aloud. (We do this during rest of
setup.)
 Put board in middle, and place Objectives Tracker and Infection Trackers on table
(according to player count).
 Computer token goes on Contagion Level 0 of Infection Tracker.
 Player minis go to Rec Room.
 Create mission log, according to number of players (see bottom left corner of cards).
Shuffle, place on game board.
 Cards for Dynamite, Flamethrower, and Rope go to side of Main Board. (Later, you will
show the team that these are objectives.)
 (I keep out one of each type of supply card for explaining the rules.)
 (I keep our room chips by sector for explaining the rules.) Discard – team members may
discard a Supply card and draw a new one.
 (Keep out imitation and human blood sample cards for explaining the rules.)
 Take room chips by sector, shuffle face down, place randomly in corresponding sector.
 Shuffle supply cards and place on board.
 Deal each player 5 cards from supply deck. Keep cards on your character board. Do not
share your supply cards with other players.
 Create 2 decks of blood sample cards – one for Game Start, and a second for the blood
sample deck, according to this chart:

Players Game Start (H/I) Blood Sample Deck (H/I)

4 3/1 7/1
5 4/1 4/1
6 5/1 5/1
7 6/1 5/2
8 7/1 6/2

Explanation and Game Play:

 General concept and victory conditions: Human Victory: all team members in the final
Escape are Human. Imitation Victory: Stow away an Imitation with the team in the
Escape; get Contagion Level to Maximum, get Destruction Tracker filled (Destroy 4
rooms).
 Outpost 31 Board. Each “mission” will start with all players in the rec room. First,
resolve any event cards. For example, there is Smoke, Fire, Destroy Room, and Power
Out. Placed in a room in highest unlocked Sector. No duplicate tokens. Power Out stays
Power Out. (Cannot investigate without a team member discarding a flashlight.) Smoke
-> Fire -> Destroy Room. (Cannot investigate without a team member discarding a fire
extinguisher, which also rids room of Smoke or Fire.) Ignore events for Destroyed
Rooms. If Smoke or Fire is present in 2 or more rooms, or in a room that has already
been investigated (shown by no room chip), Captain may send a player individually to a
room by themselves to clear Smoke or Fire by discarding fire extinguisher (cannot go to
same room as team).
 Then, Captain will draw and reveal Mission Log card. Captain will then choose
additional team members (Captain + __). If possible, Captain must meet requirements of
Number and Departments. (If Captain cannot do this, then Captain cannot swap out a
card from the Pool. See p. 18.) Players can talk about their hand, but they cannot show
their cards. Discuss freely who should go/stay behind.
 Objective. Captain chooses room with Room Chip in an unlocked sector. Put team
member minis in that room. One player must discard fire extinguisher or flashlight if
needed. Then, all players turn in one Supply Card. Captain shuffles (under the table, if
she wishes). Captain looks at pool first. Any red Sabotage cards are revealed and
resolved immediately. Captain can now swap a card out of the remaining supply pool,
and draw top card off the Supply Deck and adds to pool (without looking at it). All
discards next to Supply Deck are placed face down. (Captain can use one of 2 special
Captain Powers, but only one may be used per turn.) Start flipping over cards per
direction of Mission Log. If Sabotage card is revealed, resolve it immediately (or
investigation fails). Roll number of dice indicated (to maximum of 6) and compare result
to requirement on Mission Log.
 Mission Pass. If you pass the mission, reveal the Room Chip. If Gear is revealed,
Captain takes that Gear card with maximum number of uses showing. If Gear fulfills an
open objective, the Room Chip is placed face up on the Objective Tracker. If The Thing
is revealed, a Battle begins (see p. 14).
 Gear can be used during play whenever the player in possession of the Gear is in a
position to use it. Rope – (a) skip the current Captain, after Mission Log is revealed, (b)
leave an otherwise required player (by player count or department type) behind during
investigation (which means Captain cannot swap out cards). Dynamite (found in Sector
2) can change pip value by +1 or -1. 2 uses per Dynamite, but only one use per die per
turn. Flamethrower (found in Sector 3): (1) after Mission Log is revealed but before
team is selected, use on another player to make them secretly reveal their Blood Sample
card to user of Flamethrower only (only when Flamethrower has 2 uses remaining); (2)
give Captain 3 additional rolls for Mission Log directive or battle; (3) after Mission Log
is revealed, but before team is selected, may use both uses of Flamethrower to Torch a
player [identify who you want to torch, discuss as a team, hold out hands with thumbs
sideways, count down “3, 2, 1” and then thumbs up for Torch and thumbs down for
“No”] [only 1 Torch per game in 4-5 player game]. If Torched, player reveals blood
sample card to everyone. (See pages 12 and 15 for effects.) If “no,” Flamethrower is
fully expended.
 Battle. If Thing is revealed after succeeding in Objective, you must battle The Thing.
Put Thing mover (“mini”) into room with Team. Discuss what card you will contribute
(without showing your Supply cards). All team members hand in a Supply card to the
pool. Captain shuffles pool (she may shuffle under the table). Captain looks at pool and
reveals any Sabotage cards and resolves them. Captain may swap out a pool card with
top card of Supply deck (and discard the replaced card face down). Pool is revealed.
Captain gets the number of dice revealed (up to 6). Captain must roll requirements of the
The Thing chip. Level 1 – 3 rolls to get 3 of a kind; 2 – 2 rolls for 3 of a kind, 3 – 4 rolls
for 4 of a kind. If you defeat The Thing, that chip goes on empty spot of Objective
Tracker in the current Sector. If you do not defeat The Thing, shuffle all the room chips
remaining in the Sector and replace them on rooms that have not been already cleared or
destroyed (those are left empty).
 Resolve Smoke or Fire. After resolving the Investigation, any individual player sent to a
room may discard fire extinguisher to put out Smoke or Fire. Then, resolve any
remaining Smoke or Fire tokens. Smoke -> Fire -> Destroy Room. If Room is
Destroyed, advance Destruction tracker.
 All players go back to Rec Room. Draw up to hand of 5 Supply cards. Players who
stayed behind in Rec Room may swap out a card with Supply deck, if they were not tied
up with Rope. In the Rec Room, before a Mission starts, a player may discard a Molotov
face up. Everyone may discard a card and draw a new one. In addition, the one who
discarded Molotov may swap out an additional card. Only one Molotov per round.
 Contagion. If team fails Investigation or is unable to defeat The Thing in battle,
Contagion spreads. Computer token is moved up the Infection Tracker. Resolve Fallout.
If Infection reaches end, the game ends and the Imitations win.
 Fallout. As Infection Tracker moves up, resolve in the room the team visited in the Turn.
Place a Power Out, Smoke, Fire, or Room Destroyed item, as indicated. If 4 rooms are
destroyed, the game ends and the Imitations win.
 Assimilation. If you fill in Objective Tracker for Sector, the next Sector is unlocked.
This risks Assimilation. Captain deals one card from Blood Sample deck to each player.
Players pick up both of their blood sample cards, mix them up and return one, face down,
to the pool (to become the next Blood Sample deck). If Human gets another Human card,
return one. If Imitation is dealt Human card, return Human card. If Imitation is dealt
Imitation card, return 1 of them. If Human is dealt Imitation card, return the Human
card; they are now Assimilated.
 Next Turn – all players should have 5 Supply cards in their hand. Anyone bound by rope
is freed. Captain indicator moves to left.
 Escape. When final Sector 3 Room Chip is placed on Objective Tracker, we go to
Escape phase. Captain of team that placed final token nominates a Final Captain. Choice
is discussed. Captain calls for vote. Hands out, thumbs sideways. Count down “3, 2, 1”
and thumbs up = Final Captain, and thumbs down = no. (Tie = No, just like in Torching.)
If no, then player to current Captain’s left becomes current Captain and nominates
another Final Captain. For every 2 nominees rejected, the Contagion Level rises by one.
If Infection Tracker fills, game is over and Imitations Win.
 Once Final Captain is selected, check the current Contagion Level on the Infection
Tracker to determine how many Blood Tests you have. After discussing, Final Captain
selects players. They reveal their Blood Sample cards.
 Final Escape. Final Captain then chooses final team to join him in the Escape. Final
Captain must choose as follows:

Players Size of Team for Escape

4 2-3 players (no humans left behind)
5 3
6 4
7 4
8 5
 Then, each player starting with Final Captain reveals Blood Sample.
 Human Victory: all team members in Escape are Human.
 Imitation Victory: Stow away an Imitation with the team in the Escape; Contagion Level
to Maximum, Destruction Tracker filled (Destroy 4 rooms).