Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons game (1993)

What's in the box?

• Instructions
  
• Board
  
• "Cloudbase"
  
• Characters (x6)
  
• SPVs (x3)
  
• Mission Cards (x6)
  
• Mysteron Cards (x6)
  
• Location Counters (x12)
  
• Spectrum Cards
  
• Single die

Number of players:
The box says two to four, but it's actually two to six. However, the more players you have, the more interesting the game is. To be honest, I wouldn't recommend playing in a pair as you both would instantly know who the Mysteron is (this will be explained in a moment) and you can both avoid each other easily.

Instructions/Rules:
The object of the game is to visit your two locations, given to you when you pick up your mission card, and then to arrive on Cloudbase first.
The instructions tell you explicitly how to set up the board and prepare to play, but I think we can skip that here.
I will, however, explain what I said about "knowing who the Mysteron is". Basically, if there are less than six people playing you have to take an extra Mysteron card until they are all gone. Five of the said cards say "Spectrum" and "Mysteron" on them, while the final one says "Mysteron" only. The player with the "Mysteron" card is the equivalent of Captain Black - (s)he is a Mysteron throughout, and cannot become a member of Spectrum. (S)he is also impervious to the "Captain Scarlet" Spectrum card, which allows a mysteronised Spectrum member to ignore any one Mysteron command during the game.
The "Captain Scarlet" card is one of the Spectrum cards. The others are:
SPV Permit Card - the role of this card is pretty obvious, I should think. As I mentioned in the list of contents, there are three SPV counters. The holder of an SPV permit card can pick up the nearest one on the board. SPVs enable you to move double the throw of the dice - provided you don't roll 1; if this happens you miss a turn and return the SPV to a vacant pick-up point.
Angel Assistance Card - you can call in an Angel strike against a fellow player. You name the suspected Mysteron and then roll the die. If you roll 1, the attack backfires and you miss a turn. Should you roll 2, 3 or 4, the attack is successful and the suspect misses their next turn and has to return their SPV if they have possession of one. Rolling 5 or 6 will lose the suspect a location counter. The attacker is not allowed to keep it, however; it must be returned to a location that holds less than two counters.
Lieutenant Green Communication Card - this card enables you to move to a player's square and remove the location counter from a location that they've visited without having to get to it yourself.
Colonel White Control Card - using this card, you can interrogate all the other players on the board. Each player in turn has to show you their Mysteron card, without showing the other players.
If a Mysteron agent lands on the same square as a Spectrum officer, the Spectrum officer gets mysteronised. However, if a Spectrum officer lands on a mysteronised colleague, they can release them from Mysteron control. The "Captain Black" equivalent remains a Mysteron regardless of what happens to him/her.

My verdict:
A very complicated but fun game to play. It's better with 4-6 players, as less players tend to miss one another and so many of the game's features are missed as a result.