Space Race post show description

The following is a more detailed look at the post show for Mission Space, as tested back in September 2002. This is how the show was back then, but as always, things are likely to change.

There is a stage with a ramp leading to it. On the stage are two main stations, each divided into four individual consoles, for a total of eight guests on the stage at a time. Additionally, there were two "hosts" for the postshow, each of which rooted for a different team, Orion or Triton, one Gold, one Silver (please note: I could be mistaken as to which of the two teams was assigned which of the two colors as well as which side of the room in the floorplan...don't be surprised if something is reversed). On the main floor were 12 or 16 (can't remember) individual stations for each team (only 12 in the diagram, for the sake of illustration), allowing a total of 24 or 32 (depending) players on the floor and 32 or 40 (again, depending) for the game. The players on stage were the "mission specialists", and the players on the floor were "mission control."

Players onstage were each assigned individual colors (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue) corresponding to one of their team's consoles and representing one of four different ship systems. Players were presented with a diagram of their ship with markers corresponding to their controller's color. At the bottom of the screen, tiles created by the mission control players would appear. Players onstage could grab the tiles by holding the "apply patch" button, then moving them into position, and releasing the apply button to drop them into the markers. As each marker was filled, more would appear until that player's system status reached 100%. Once a player has completed all the repairs for his system, that player could then assist his team-mates by grabbing their systems' tiles and dropping them onto the appropriate markers. Once all system's status reached 100%, one player could then hit the "BOOST" button to move on to the next level. The team that managed to get the most boosts in (or whose ship systems' levels were higher, in the event of a tie) would win.

Mission control players use a console to create the "patches" used by the mission specialists to repair their ships. The individual stations are about the size of the video game demo stations you would find at a department store. Players create the patches by selecting the color corresponding to the patch they want to make (again, red, green, yellow or blue, corresponding to one of the ship's systems). Once the patch type is selected, the player must use the buttons on the console (colored white, in the diagram) to solve an onscreen puzzle. Once the puzzle is solved, players press a button to send them to the crew. Players must listen for cues from their mission specialists, who are encouraged to communicate to mission control what particular tiles they need.

The game lasted for two periods. There was a quick halftime, where the different teams' progress was compared. After the second period, a CG video showed the winner (of course, it ends up being neck-and-neck to the finish line). The winner "docks with the space station", and the other befalls some disaster such as flying off into space towards a distant world.