A Study in Fuchsia, or Maybe Auburn (13 Clues)

The poor detectives of Scotland Yard can't seem to catch a break.  Sherlock Holmes (Consulting Detective, mind you) has been busy at work sparring with Moriarty, and Mr. X has drained their resources in his game of cat and mouse.  While this has been going on, the detectives have all spotted various clues related to the others crimes.  While they could solve all of these crimes in one night with a pooled resource, they are now all over London.  Worse, the criminals are intercepting their reports to the station.  The thing to do?  Get the detectives to guess their own crime, and hope that all 13 Clues get to them in time...



BACKGROUND:  13 Clues is a deduction driven card game, created by Andrés J. Voicu & Giacomo Tappainer, and published by Italian company dV Giochi & CMON in the United States.  All players attempt to guess a Who, Where, and Why that all players but themselves can see. 

GAMEPLAY:  Each player will have seen 5 cards; 1 Person, Place, and Weapon card which will be placed in the front of a players screen so all but that player can see them, and 2 placed behind the screen of the player who drew them.  Each turn, that player draws a Clue (maginfiying glass) token if they have none, and spend their Clue tokens to do one the following actions: Give a player a Clue token to ask them how many of a specific Color or Sub-Category (I.E., Inside or Outside, Close or Ranged Weapon) they see, or either put one of their Clue tokens in the central Pool or give one to a player with none to look at a face-down card.  The turn ends when that player runs out of Clue Tokens.

WINNING:  If a player believes that they have all the information, they give a Clue token to any player with none, or into the central Pool, to guess the Person, Location, and Weapon on their screen.  If they guess correct, they win!  If they don't, the players indicate as such, and play continues.

CONCLUSION:  This feels like a streamlined Clue, but with more information lacking. There can be, and usually are, cards that are never seen.  Because of that, you have to change your approach, and that can be a bit daunting to those new to this game.  Long story short, it's the next step of difficulty up from Clue, so if you like Clue, but want or are just interested in a slightly higher difficulty, pull out your magnifying glasses and scope out 13 Clues.

The Case of the Mysterious Mr. X (Scotland Yard)

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY:
Eyewitnesses have recently informed us that the criminal, only known as Mr. X, has been spotted in Central London.  As you know, this vagabond is wanted for such crimes as Grand Larceny, creating selling Forgeries, and disrupting the police force (seriously, none of us could stop laughing when Constable Harpers put his helmet on and out fell a dozen glazed doughnuts).
It is up to you to find and catch this hoodlum and place him behind bars.  We have seen to pre pay for your local transport tickets, as Mr. X's latest crime was sabotaging all our vehicles.
Scotland Yard's honor and reputation rest entirely in your hands, detectives.



BACKGROUND:  Scotland Yard is an asymmetric board game for 3-6 players.  It was first released in 1983, by Manfred Burggraf, and has since been published by Ravensburger Spieleverlag GmbH, Milton Bradley, and others.  One player takes the role of Mr. X, and sneaks around avoiding the rest of the players.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player has a set of tickets, with Mr. X having a different set than the other players.  On their turn, starting with Mr. X, the player uses one of their tickets to move along a path that they are connected to (e,g,, using a taxi ticket moves them on the road, but a bus ticket moves them along the bus line).  The detectives are seen, and move accordingly, but Mr. X is different.



X:  Mr. X does not use a pawn right away.  Instead, the player controlling him writes the path he follows on the Travel Log, and covers it with their ticket instead of returning it to the box like the players.  Mr. X can also double move (taking his turn twice) or throw off the players with black tickets, which count as any type of ticket. On the 3rd, 8th, 13th, and 18th position, the player puts the clear pawn on the space Mr. X ended up on to indicate where he is at that moment.  The piece is removed the next turn.  Mr X also cannot run out of tickets, and if that player ever needs tickets, they are allowed to use tickets in the box.

WINNING:  Mr X wins if he has successfully evaded the detectives long enough that they cannot move anymore, or reaches the last space in the Travel Log.  The Detectives win whenever they land on a space that Mr. X is already on.

CONCLUSION:  This game is a lot of fun, but it can be tricky and frustrating.  I think the biggest problem is when you are playing as Mr. X.  Because most players can't see where Mr. X would be, it can become tempting to cheat.  Mr X needs to be an honest player, who can lose gracefully, and more importantly, will remember where they are.  That's the biggest struggle; not players who cheat, but players who get lost as Mr. X.  There were a few times I just lost where I was.  Sure, you can look at the last place you were on the map, but at least in the version we were using, it was a pain to get it out, and it slows the game down when doing so.  That being said, it can be frustrating and mind-racking trying to find where Mr. X is, but it's also an enjoyable puzzle and rewarding if you do.

On Board, I'm the Captain (Coup)

Royalty.  The good life, the pampered position.  But you never know when some rich duke is gonna want to sign you up for marriage, or if some wanna-be assassin is going to try to take your life.  So, what do you do?  Even in the future, things aren't all that great, and it can be just as easy to Coup as be Coup-ed...

BACKGROUND:  Coup is a hidden role card game created by Rikki Tahta in 2012 and published by Indie Boards & Cards.  Players attempt to gather up coins and take the others influence down.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player starts with a pair of Role cards, kept hidden from the other players.  Each turn, players can take 1 of 7 actions.  Some of these actions are dependent on Coins, such as performing a Coup requires 7, and is required if a player starts with 10+ Coins.  Some actions are determined by the Influence cards, and most of these can also be blocked by other Influence Cards, but no player is technically required to have that Influence card in their hand.

CHALLENGE:  If, at any point, a player takes an action from a Influence card, another player can challenge that they have that card in their hand, or the player that would be affected if it is a single effect, like assassination or stealing Coins.  The challenged player reveals a Influence from their hand.  If they do not have that card, the effect is nulled, and the challenged player discards an Influence card..If they do have that card, the effect applies and the challenging player discards an Influence card, while the challenged player shuffles the revealed card back into the deck and draws a new Influence card.

WINNING:  The player who has the last Influence wins the game.

CONCLUSION:  I can honestly say that Coup is a fine game.  I will give it credit for being one of the few Hidden Role Werewolf-esque games to be drastically different than Werewolf, and causing players to directly fight each other rather than relying on subterfuge and misdirection as strongly as most other games in the genre.  In addition, it also has a thematic component, being in the Resistance universe, but that only goes so far, and it doesn't have much of a connection personally.  If you like the Resistance universe and that helps sell this game for you, great, it's a fine universe, but not one I'm invested in.  That being said, it is nice to have a game like Coup for those that want to play Werewolf of Secret Hitler, but have fewer players.  Coup is meant for that, and it's worth checking out, but it still won't replace some of the other games I've reviewed better (again, see Secret Hitler, The Resistance, or One Night).

Shaken, not Stirred (Shifty Eyed Spies)

Agent Stephens reporting:
I have successfully made my way to downtown Paris, where my contact is supposedly meeting me, if I deciphered the clues correctly.  We at S.E.S are known to hire the best spies of the business, but even the best of us get caught and intercepted, or misinterpret our contacts.  That seems to be my contact with the red umbrella.  Agent Stephens, out.



BACKGROUND:  Shifty Eyed Spies is a hidden role card game for 4-8 players designed by Prospero Hall and published by Big G Creative.  Players attempt to deliver intel to other players at various locations.

GAMEPLAY:  Each player has 2 cards at all times, a Deliver Intel card with a characters face on it who is in the game, and a Receive Intel location which is somewhere on the table.  Spies wink at other spies to indicate they have their characters Deliver card.  Once winked at, the spy winks at the location to indicate that they are meeting at that location

SCORING:  Each player may attempt their mission or pass with "I'm lying low".  To attempt a mission, the spy places the Deliver card face-up on the table, and announce where their meeting at.  If unsuccessful, they say that the location is wrong, but is not revealed.  The player discards their Deliver card, and play passes.  However, if successful, reveal both cards, and pass and score them.



INTERCEPT:  Each player starts with 3 Intercept binocular tokens.  If a player believes they know who or where the players are meeting, they may use an Intecept token and call out the player or location on the card.  If incorrect, the player who revealed the card scores the point.  If correct, the intercepter scores the card.

WINNING:  Each card scored is worth 1 point.  Points are indicated by placing the card under one of the 5 sides.  The game cannot be won by Interception.  Once two players have scored at least 5 points and filled each side of their card, they win.  If a player ever scores more than 5, the cards are stacked.

CONCLUSION:  Shifty Eyed Spies is a twist on the classic hidden roles game.  You have a player you have to find, but you don't know which player that is.  However, unlike some games that try this attempt, this is one that manages to both simultaneously hit the mark AND manages to utilize a smaller group, something that games like Secret Hitler and Werewolf struggle with.  The spotting mechanic allows for the smaller groups to work out well, without punishing the max 8 players available.  My biggest critique, however, is that once you know who your spy and location are, it makes the game feel slower, so I would, oddly enough, suggest playing with no more than 6 players, but 8 is still enjoyable.  If you want to try a really solid hidden role game, I solidly recommend Shifty Eyed Spies.

The Butler Did It (Mysterium)

December 4th, 1928.
I fear my time on this earth has come to an end, or so it would seem.  Just yesterday I woke up and passed right through the privvy door.  I know that no one will be able to read this, as I write it with my finger, and the words appear for the briefest of seconds.  The man living here, Mr. MacDowell, seems to be a nice but a bit jumpy.  I am not sure if he is reacting to my presence or not, but I can only pray it is the former.  I leave this Mysterium (oops, meant to write mystery) to him.



BACKGROUND: Mysterium is a board game published by Libellud in 2015 for 2 to 7 players.  One person takes the role of a ghost with amnesia, and can only give the barest hints of who killed them, while the other players, or mediums, attempt to decipher the clues.

GAMEPLAY:  Each turn, the ghost takes a Vision Card, a card with very pretty art, and gives one to each medium, drawiing back up to 7 cards each time a card is dealt.  Using a crow token allows the ghost to discard based on the difficulty.  Then, the Mediums look at their cards, and the timer is flipped.  Each medium tries to guess appropriately based on the cards laid out in front of their tokens on the first stage.  Once time runs out, mediums cannot move their token anymore.  At the end of each turn, the clock hand moves forward 1 hour.



WINNING:  If a token is placed on the card that matches the card on the ghosts board, they move forward on the track.  The players win only if every player guessed correctly all 3 times.  If at any point the clock would move past 7 o'clock, the game ends and everyone loses.

CONCLUSION:  Mysterium shares a lot of similarities with Dixit, both are weirdly named games with enjoyable mechanics and beautiful artwork.  Mysterium could have fallen into the trap Exploding Kittens did, where just the art sells the game, but it manages to be so much more.  Although this game is supposed to be co-operative between the ghost and mediums, it never felt as difficult as other co-op games, and that's a shame.  I enjoy working against the clock, against the game itself, and I never really seemed to struggle.  Does that make it easy?  Well, I do know the clock did get to 6, so I don't know.  Playing with your normal game group might actually make this too easy.  This is a game that seems to embrace the idea of playing with strangers, or as an ice-breaker.  There's a simplicity to this that makes it accessible to others not used to games, but it is a detective game, first and foremost.  You might have fun solving this one.

Riddle Me This (Crack the Case)

2 men are found in a cabin in the woods.  There are no signs of a struggle or murder.  The both are resting on chairs.  The cabin is made of metal, but there is no sign of any burns or lightning damage on the cabin or the 2 men.  How did they die?
The solution:  They died in an airplane crash.



GAME DESCRIPTION: Crack the Case is a puzzle game for 2 or more players.  Players attempts to solve a mystery from a given scenario, by asking Yes/No questions and applying deductive reasoning.

SET-UP:  The cards are split into 3 difficulty levels, and 1 player is chosen to be the Moderator.  Players split up into 2 teams, and choose the difficulty of their Cases.  Each team takes turns solving a Case.  The Moderator reads each Case and Mystery aloud, reads the Solution and Story silently to themselves, and answers all questions given by the other players, or Investigators.

QUESTIONS:  Investigators may only ask Yes/No questions.  The Moderator may respond with 1 of 7 responses:

• YES:  Answer is clearly yes.
• NO:  Answer is clearly no.
• YES AND NO:  Answer might be Yes or No, but not in a way most people would see it.
• IRRELEVANT:  The question doesn't affect the Case or give any helpful information.
• I DON'T KNOW:  The question may give information, but the answer isn't in the story or solution.
• REPHRASE YOUR QUESTION:  Used if there are two questions in one, or a false assumption was made
• DEFINE WHAT YOU MEAN BY:  Used to clarify a term or question, and help

CLUES:  If the Investigators are at any point stuck, they may take a time penalty, and are given one of the clues located at the top of the card.  If they are still stuck, they can take the other clue for another penalty.  Each penalty is different, and specified according to the clue.  But, if an Investigator can prove they knew the information given before the clue was read, the time penalty doesn't apply.

CASE SOLVED:  At the end of each Case, the Moderator stops the clock, adds up any penalties, and awards the appropriate amount of points shown on the card to the team that played this case.  The game ends when each team has finished 3 Cases, with the winners being the team with the most points.  

CONCLUSION:  This is a fairly hard game, even if you only play the easy cases.  A lot of the Cases that are given are word-play, such as a mint and a plate being not a sugar mint and dinner plate, but a bank mint and money plate.  It requires a mind that likes to be challenged with difficult riddles and puns.  If you are that type of person, and can find some like minded friends, then this is a great, solid game.