by Dan Katz, Mike Selinker, Foggy Brume, and Meta Group A
Answer: SPACE BAR

In this space disco, the patrons are dancing four dances. For each set of three puzzles, the answers form a set which also contains the name of a dance as a fourth member. The sets are these:

1. DROOD, PICKWICK, RUDGE (Dickens title characters): TWIST
2. BAND, MITER, SABRE (types of saws): JIG
3. HURRICANE, NITRO, SMITHERS (cities in West Virginia): CHARLESTON
4. DRAGONFLY, REVENGE, TESTAMENT (Kevin Costner films): FANDANGO

With each dance called in, solvers gain the next set of puzzles and a quarter of this grid.

After all the sets are solved, the social director says, "Thanks for all your help! I wish my guests could find some more friends out on the dance floor, though... These dances look great with three dancers, but they'd look even better with two more!" The grid can then be treated as a dance floor, where two more dancers (coincidentally with the same colors as the Brass Rat crew) can spell out two more members of each set. The colors of the colored spaces on the hex grid match the colors of the eight pawns that come with the board game; the eight pawns have numbers written on their edges. Words are spelled moving from space to space in the direction of the numbers, and the two members for each set can then hook up on one hex, given here in parentheses.

Zoe: SCROLL (SP)

Ernie: CIRCULAR (SP)

Leah: NO WAY OUT (AC)

Blastoid: WATERWORLD (AC)

Harold: CHUZZLEWIT (EB)

Scotchy: NICKLEBY (EB)

Algernon: WHEELING (AR)

Ralph: HUNTINGTON (AR)

These spaces, read left to right, spell Zoe's location, the SPACE BAR.