Professor Bloom in the game room with the gun ... deduction game, ie games where you kill by logical conclusions are his opponents, a game style that suits my mathematical and scientific spirit. In the following I would like to make a few points carefully, which I do about this genre in recent years, every now and then going through your mind. Most deduction game have a simple problem: with the right technology notation they can be solved for each player to about the same difficult and reduced to a moment of happiness, who is the right time, the crucial question.
The easiest way to be the example of "Sleuth
"Sid Sackson illustrate. In Sleuth, players compete to be the first of the missing gem card that was face down on the side to be identified. For this, the rest of the 36 gem cards evenly distributed to the players and each player, each round a player exactly a question to the specific criteria of the stones (size, color, shape). The selection of one of the question and the notation of the answers on your own flyer are the decisive moment in the game. This is where the game is won or lost. Unfortunately, one of the form of the question only limited influence, since it is limited to select from a potential on its own-held set of questions a (Question choice) while the notation, however, reduced to a purely organizational problem, if you played the game a few times and has recognized its structure.
I'm not sure if Sid Sackson had recognized the problem that way. After all, there were a number only in the quality of the material change in conditions of the game with the same rules. Maybe I am the only idiot who sees it that way. In my opinion, but the limitation of the player on the question cards randomly drawn a clear shortcoming. On the other hand, the game is too "easy" if everyone each round may well ask the questions, which brings him in this situation, the most information. This is the number of 36 possible Results simply too low. This criticism is not to please get me wrong. I think Sleuth still a great game, but I think it's better. But how?
An improvement of this concept In 1996, Bruno and Serge Laget Faidutti tried with "The Mystery of the Abbey
" published by Days of Wonder
. The precious stones were replaced by monks in a medieval monastery, changed the characteristics of body build, facial hair and religious affiliation and the game missed a good deal of atmosphere, mood and background noise. The abbey is different in three important respects from his grandfather Sleuth:
1) It is not (
only) reason to identify a missing monk and indict. You can win the game even if you at certain points in the game has the right idea and gives an appropriate tip. This is an improvement, as it was offered at Sleuth only the all-or-nothing tactics. If one sets up a false claim in Sleuth, one is from the game. End.
2) In the secret in the abbey, the monks assigned not to the end of the game permanently assigned to a player, but they change, sometimes quite often, their position. Each player has at the end of each day (4 rounds) a certain number of monk cards to pass on his neighbors. This creates a good deal of chaos spread in the lot to lose now because many of the answers given so far in value.
3) Finally, we are not into the mystery of the abbey bound to issue cards, but can and should build up any questions. As long as a question answered with yes, no or a number and does not allow a direct conclusion of individual monks, it is allowed. Unlike in Sleuth but also get all the other players the same information as the points and answering the question is public. A tricky situation. How do I ask my question at the most skilful, the fact that they are only brought me new insights?
The whole is, as already mentioned, with a deposited dose history and atmosphere, and ensures that "The Mystery of the Abbey a great social experience rather than a deduction game is. Of course, you think. Of course you can cut through the right conclusions better than his teammates, but the focus is obviously more to the game experience as the detective, just
hike because the monks from hand to hand, just
because the action cards and the story behind the most beautiful plans to overthrow.
The social component of the Abbey is no accident. Earlier games have attempted to combine deduction and social interaction. The most successful among the games I know it was certainly "
incognito" by Leo Colovini and Alex Randolph appeared at MB. Incognito is a game that you play, ideally, four of them, because two players want to carry as a team to win. To achieve this they must first recognize, however, see and. Each plays a secret agent in the Venice of the Renaissance. None of the players know their own identity and I need to find out first who is my accomplice. Together with it I have to fulfill a secret mission, which in turn is only known when my partner and I bring together our respective halves of the plan and decrypt.
Even in incognito there are elements of luck. Pulling on the plan is carried out with a slightly souped up cubes in the form of a carnival mask. Won the game but between the players. Who can I trust, who gives me the vital clue what my partner tried to tell me? Secret signs (scratching the nose, sneezing, ...) and are clever deflection by trivial chatter to each lot to it. Incognito has a relatively clear Deduktionsanteil plays, but very exciting.
can not fail to mention here, of course, I published "
Cluedo " by Anthony E. Pratt
at Parker. Cluedo is another classic of Deduktionsgenres me happy but these days mainly due to its absurd situations. Cluedo is perhaps the only game where a player can be the killer, without knowing it and he is surprised at the end of the resolution just like the rest of the players ("I accuse me ... ... on with the gun in the games room ... I'm sorry ...") or the game where the murder weapon must be determined first, although a bullet wound but quite obviously distinguishable from one Würgeseil needs. My opinion: Too much luck (drawing by cubes), too little supply (of wandering between the rooms, it takes hours
until I'm in the right room to ask about my next interesting question) and the notation Sleuth the same problem as when one sees through it once added, it is resolved.
interjection: Cluedo is to my knowledge one of the first games that has been filmed. In 1985 the film " Clue: The Movie " was released in theaters. An excellent Tim Curry as a butler and wonderfully bizarre scenes that will be resolved by three different resolutions on the DVD. Yes, exactly, several film ends. Great film ...
In a very different direction than the previously mentioned games is "Old Town
" by Stephan Riedel published by
Clicker . This is about on the basis of reference points cards thus prone to the position of to reconstruct buildings in an abandoned western town. On the one hand, a completely unused theme and the other a funny game. While coming here again the happiness in this form of maps. There are simply cards that fit better on my current situation than others. If I can be triggered by a single card a long chain reaction, I'm almost uncatchable. Unless my team-mates have similar good cards in hand. But it's fun anyway.
All in all, I enjoy playing deduction game. I play but mostly always happy
new deduction game, they want to be yet discovered. So I'm very excited about what the coming year, this game about will provide. But the recent vintages have been hiding the one or the other treasures. For example, I would like to play "Black Vienna". It looks very simple.
Pawns & Carlotta 
