Forget everyone you ever thought you could trust, detectives. We have 13 suspects and even Sherlock Holmes himself is among them. You’ll need to outwit your fellow crime solvers to be the first to crack this case! Hurry, the game is afoot!
What Is It?
A deduction micro-game for 2-4 players. One card is set in the middle of the table as the criminal, and the rest are split evenly among the players. Each turn players can do 1 of 3 things: ask everyone at the table if they have a certain symbol (those who do just raise their hands to say yes), ask 1 player how of a certain symbol they have, or attempt to guess who the culprit is. Players all take notes on their clue sheets behind screens, and want to be the 1st to figure out who is guilty. If a player guess incorrectly, they can no longer take turns, but must still answer questions from other players. If they guess correctly, they win!
Who Is It For?
- Ages 8+
- Families
- 3-4 players
- Those who game on the go
- Fans of light deduction games or who are newer to deduction
Components + Quality
Not many components in here, but overall very solid quality! There are 13 cards which are pretty nice quality, some really nice art on them. I’m not a fan of the fact that they’re printed horizontally, though; I feel like it makes them harder to easily look at all at once in hand. The clue sheets are well-laid out, very clear, & plenty of room for notes. Games are quick, so it’s unfortunate that they’re paper instead of reusable. I’d recommend laminating them, or using plastic sheet covers so you don’t run out too fast. The screens are nice quality, stand with ease, don’t just fall over. They have a nice, and language independent, reference of actions on the inside, and the sheets fit behind them well. They also have more great art on the front! The rules are simple and straightforward, which makes sense for such a quick and easy game. And the box is a fine size for what’s in it.
Variants
Advanced: In this variant, 1 card in hand doesn’t count essentially – i.e. players don’t include the symbols on the rightmost card in their hand when answering whether they have certain symbols, and/or how many they have. It can be a little fiddly to remember at first, because I feel like most people naturally move cards around in hand, and you can’t do that here. And it can be hard to remember to rotate your hand every turn if you’re not used to it. But once you get in the flow, it does really up the difficulty and helps avoid games ending too quickly, so it’s a great change once you know the game.
PROS
- Really nice artwork
- Small + portable; also doesn’t take up a lot of table space
- Easy + quick to learn and play
- Good for a wide range of players
- Great introduction to deduction mechanic
- Great filler between longer games because of little set up
CONS
- I wish it had come with some of tiny pencils many games have to make it even easier to be portable and play anywhere
- Often ends too quickly due to luck of the cards, feeling a bit lackluster
- I’m not big on the 2-Player standard game. The actions are slightly different, but one goes away after it happens twice (swap one of your cards with one in the center) so it felt more boring to me. The advanced variant definitely improves that
- Theme feels super tacked on and weird because reputable characters are suddenly suspects for a random crime? There’s some detailed backstory on the BoardGameGeek page, which I liked (about a criminal in disguise), but not everyone is going to look at that page, so I wish something had been included in the rule book
- I do not like the cards being printed in landscape instead of portrait. It felt unnecessary and makes it more awkward to look at the symbols
Final Thoughts
It’s a small and cute deduction game for a small group. You can’t play a lot of deduction games with only 2, so I appreciate that you can with this, but would really recommend only playing with the advanced variant at 2 because it’s much better. I will say, for me, it felt a little too much the same every play, so it isn’t something I’d want to play a lot in a row or super often, but I think it’s good to introduce players to the mechanic, or even to play as a filler between longer deduction games. And again, if you are already familiar with deduction games, and enjoy them, definitely go for the advanced variant right away, because I thought it was much improved for a veteran gamer.
My Final Ratings:
Overall Game – 6/10
Aesthetics – 7/10
Replay Value – 5/10
Difficulty – 3/10 (standard); 5/10 (advanced)
*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*
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