Playmats are an optional add-on. They are not required but can help players keep things organized for each of their crewmembers on their Away Team during Planetary Exploration.
The playmats are not small and if you will be using all four of them, you will need a table bigger than a standard 33.5 inch square card table. I have an XL card table (38 inch square) and they just barely fit. I adjusted how everything is laid out on my table for all four Sections on the Away Team ready for use by one or two players (sitting at the bottom of the table as seen). If there are three players the third player could sit on the left side of the table. With four players, I would reorganize the way things are set up on the table to have two playmats across each side of the table (the two on the “top” would be rotated to be properly viewed by two players sitting on that side of the table.
Playmat:
Playmat ready for Tutorial play:
And here is how all four playmats just barely fit on a 38 inch square card table:
Here is the short 5 minute video I made (yes the video is there and plays fine … YouTube is being obstinate and putting in a weird placeholder for the video window) :
Info on using a playmat=> Playmat Explained (illustrated playmat areas)
Info on the size of a playmat=> Playmat Size
Info – I bought this table to use with ISS Vanguard=> XL Card Table
NOTE: I paid for my playmats! I did not receive any money nor any free product from Awaken Realms! I paid for the game myself (got nearly everything) for $514.
My ISS Vanguard 
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