For example: picking a lock with the lock picks costs 2 action points and firing your SMG will cost you 5. You have a maximum of 75 actions points and if you go over this you lose. Time is measured abstractly with the oddly named 'suspension of disbelief' tracks, its basically a track where you add up the cost of the actions you take during the game. You lose if you die during your adventure or you run out of time. During many games, you barely scrape enough clues and you can only make a best guess! Its not easy! You are then tasked with deducing who the Villain is and if you do, you win the game. To win the game, you must make your way to the computer room (clearly marked on the map) and fight a final battle and shut it down. This variable ending is one of the charms of this game. There are 36 Villain Chits that corresponds to 36 possible endings to the game, making it possible to replay this game unlike Ambush, where once you reveal the game's hidden situation and there is no longer surprise, its less fun the next time you play. During your exploration of the station, you will hopefully encounter clues as to who the villain is. Apart from the paragraph system (which I will describe shortly), the game is also a game of sleuth. The amount of equipment you can bring is limited and your choice will make a huge difference on how you approach to the puzzle and the risks you dare face.

You start the game by either selecting to become the hero or heroine in the adventure and then choosing the equipment that you will bring on your adventure. The game's premise is the usual space station computer gone haywire and commanding all its robotics & systems to kill the humans on the station, you are the intrepid adventurer that will not only shut down the misaligned computer but also discover the mysterious Villain behind the sabotage. There hasn't been many paragraph system games, the Ambush series of games being the obvious exception. This old 1981 Ares magazine game, long out of print, is an absolute classic and a rare breed of game that uses a paragraph system that brings the adventure alive.

You can be the stainless steel rat