In either case! HappyCOM-9’s Department of Defense needs to know more about the frail bodies and precious fluids of common organisms like yourself. To this end, they have set up a series of Human Research Pods at the Institute. When you are at the Institute, you have the option to check yourself into one of these Pods. If you elect to do so, move your playing piece to one of the open Pods, and go out of play: turn your pin upside-down and end your turn. On your next turn, enact one of the following results (your choice):

• Lose 50 points of Intelligence
• Lose 150 points of Power
• Gain six points of Stress

You will note that none of these results are particularly friendly. However, your time as a human research subject does not go unrewarded: at the exact moment that the result takes effect, you may collect $500.

As long as you are still alive and sane, you go back into play once you have undergone the results of the experiment and collected your money. Simply turn your pin right-side up again, move from the Pod to the main area of the Institute square, and end your turn. Take your next turn normally.

If you are killed or driven Insane as a result of Institute effects, remain out of play and simply move your pin to the Sanitarium or the County Hospital, as covered under “Death” and “Insanity” in the Citizen’s Guide. You still receive your $500 payment even if the research renders you Dead or Insane.

You can subject yourself to multiple experiments in a row, but note that this is time-consuming. Once checked out, if you want to use the Institute a second time, you will need to pass the Movement phase of a turn in order to stay on the Institute and check yourself in again. You will then need to spend the following turn out of play inside the Institute to undergo the experiment.