Some Items in the game can be equipped and then provides some additional bonus or ability for the Hero who has equipped the item. Such Items are referred to as Equipment.
There are different types of Equipment, marked by icons for WEAPON, ARMOUR and FOOD (where "FOOD" is everything that isn't a WEAPON or ARMOUR). Heroes have equipment type icons on their Hero Profile boards indicating what kinds of Equipment the Hero in question can equip.
Item
Items refer to stuff that can be found on the Mission Map during Missions, and also be received as rewards after Missions. The Items are mainly usable for the Hero Players, although the Overmind Player can gather Items to prevent the Hero Players from getting them, and to recycle Items into Abduction Points.
Items are represented by small cards, and are usually drawn randomly from the Item deck. The Items are of two main types: single-use Items that are discarded to trigger some effect and then are gone, and equipment that provides some permanent ability or bonus. Some equipment Items can be Upgraded to an "Advanced" form; those Items have the "Advanced" form printed on the back of the Item card, while non-upgradeable Items have cards with a generic "Item" back side.
Since some of the cards have Item information on both sides, cards should normally be drawn from the bottom of the Item deck rather than from the top.
An item card has a name at the top, then an image showing the Item, then a line with Resource icons, and then a text box that describes how the Item works. Upgradeable Items have an icon with two arrowheads pointing up next to the Resource icons, to indicate that the Item is upgradable. For upgradeable Items, the Resource icons indicate the Upgrade cost, while for other Items, the Resource icons indicate how much Resources can produced by discarding the Item to pay for another Items Upgrade cost.