The First Teaser Trailer For Mondo’s THE THING Board Game Has Arrived

Here's three things the Birth.Movies.Death. crew enjoys: John Carpenter's The Thing; the always-cool collectibles produced by our sister company, Mondo; and board games. Put all of these things together and you've got The Thing: Infection At Outpost 31, the very first board game from Mondo and Project Raygun. As you can imagine, we're exceptionally excited about it!

We've been covering Infection At Outpost 31's progress for several months now - this is Mondo's first foray into the board game arena; of course we're excited! - but now we're officially entering the home stretch that'll ultimately bring us to the game's release: today we've got brand new photos of the Mondo-exclusive version of the game (featuring killer new artwork from Jock) and the very first Infection At Outpost 31 teaser trailer.

Let's start with the trailer!

Awesome!

So what's it all about? Here's a plot description, directly from Mondo/Project Raygun:

It is the start of the bleak, desolate Antarctic winter when a group of NSF researchers manning the claustrophobic, isolated U.S. Outpost 31 comes into contact with a hostile extraterrestrial lifeform. Bent on assimilating Earth’s native species, this being infiltrates the facility—creating a perfect imitation of one of the Outpost 31 crew. The staff frantically begin a sweep of the base, desperate to purge this alien infection before escaping to warn McMurdo Station that somewhere, out there in the frigid darkness, something horrible is waiting.

In The Thing™ Infection at Outpost 31, relive John Carpenter’s sci-fi cult classic as a hidden identity game designed to push you to the edge. Play as one of a dozen characters like helicopter pilot MacReady, mechanic Childs, or station manager Garry. Face sabotage and infection as you investigate the facility—gather gear, battle The Thing, expose any imitations among you, and escape Outpost 31!

Tension mounts and paranoia ensues as you question who you can trust in the ultimate race to save humanity.

Let's now take a look at the Mondo-exclusive version of the game, featuring the aforementioned brand-new artwork from Jock. Here's the front...

...here's the back...

...and this is what it looks like when you crack it open!

There'll be plenty of copies of the regular version of Infection At Outpost 31 to be purchased, but for those of you (like me) who lean towards the collectability factor, here's what you need to know about the Mondo-exclusive version of the game:

"The Mondo exclusive version of The Thing™ Infection at Outpost 31, to be sold exclusively through MondoTees.com, is limited to 1,982 copies, and features different packaging artwork by Jock. The limited edition game will also come with a Mondo print, enamel pin and two additional sculpted movers: the Norwegian character and the Palmer Thing."

"This film is a personal favorite of mine, so it was great to revisit the material. Mondo’s Jay Shaw and I played around with lots of different ideas for the packaging while I worked on the art – and I’m pleased to say that I’m really proud of the final product. I had the chance to test the game before starting work on the art and was very impressed with how it played; it literally feels like you’re in the movie!" said artist Jock.

And here's Mondo Creative Director Jay Shaw with some thoughts on the Mondo-exclusive version:

"In 2013 Jock created an outstanding Mondo poster for The Thing with his depiction of an icy alien imitator erupting from the arctic snow. At the time he also came up with a collection of great concept sketches that we really wanted to see finished some day. When we asked Jock to create the box art for our limited edition version of the game he dipped back into those concepts and came back with a viscerally beautiful rendering of an imitation overtaking its host and reaching out to ensnare the viewer in its tendrils."

Here's one last look at the Mondo-exclusive set:

If you compare the image above to the ones below (which show off the retail/standard edition of the game), you'll notice a few of the extra goodies that come with the Mondo-exclusive edition. That one's undeniably gorgeous, but - honestly, from where we're standing? Both versions look amazing.

Look at the detail on those cards! On all the little character pieces! This thing is so cool! This is, of course, precisely the top-quality stuff we've come to expect from Mondo over the years, but they've really outdone themselves with their first-ever board game.

Now we're just super curious to find out how Infection At Outpost 31 actually plays. Good news is, we won't have to wait much longer - the game will be on display this week at SDCC (Mondo's at booth #835), and the game itself will start rolling out in October. That's right around the corner!

Stay tuned for much, much more on The Thing: Infection At Outpost 31 as it becomes available. In the meantime - which version of the game do you think you'll go for? Gonna try your luck picking up one of the Mondo exclusive editions? I know that's the version I'll be gunning for.