A slightly smaller game than my previous Star Trek simulator, Buffer Time is a cooperative push your luck game of trying to have fun shenanigans while doing the work the bridge crew has assigned you. You earn Leisure (victory) points by playing Side Project cards to finish along with your Assigned Duties. Both cards require time so the more you collectively mess around, the longer it takes to get everything done. The way you get all this done is by drawing from a Shift deck mostly full of numbered cards that subtract from your time requirement. Finish your tasks and score your cards before moving on to the next.
In the same Shift deck lurk the bridge crew, however, and if you draw too many of them, they reprimand you for slacking and you fail the assignment and lose some precious Leisure points. If you run out of assignments before you hit a set number of points you lose but if you successfully dodge your superiors and bank enough points, you win!
Finally to give you some tools to aid in your chicanery are Ability cards that let you maximize your goofing around and help you buy some time or get away from meddling officers. Every turn you choose between chipping away at the tasks at hand, adding more to your plate, or seeing if you can pull a fast one and rig the game in your favor.
Like a lot of cooperative games it is prone to headstrong players trying to dominate the strategy and telling everyone what to do to maximize efficiency so I recommend calling that person a Boimler and focus on having fun. The game is fast and silly and the Lower Decks art and quotes are a delight. Getting caught by officers definitely makes you feel like a naughty ensign and there are few problems the game throws at you that can’t be solved by throwing Romulan Whiskey right back. Fun and sweet but you don’t have to just take my word for it. My 7 year old insisted we play it instead of reading stories at bedtime so take that for what it’s worth.
PS: I went to college with Mike McMahan who created Lower Decks and it’s been a blast watching the show blow up. Garashir forever!