Mysterium

Today's review is of the 2015 release, Mysterium. For 2-7 players, it takes 42 minutes (that's impressively precise and from the game box- it took us over an hour).

Overview

Murder most foul! A spirit [one player] is communicating beyond the grave to a team of friends looking to solve whodunnit. Each other player has a set of person, location, and weapon known only to the ghost. The ghost can't speak- he gives images [cards] to each player to help them determine their specific set of who, where, and with what. Play is done over 'hours,' and players have only six hours to determine their specific set. On the seventh hour, the ghost selects one of those sets as the culprit, and lets players see one, two, or three cards [based on that player's clairvoyance points, earned through guessing if other players are right or wrong throughout the game] and use those clues to guess the murderer. If the majority of players have selected the correct set, everyone wins! If not, everyone loses.

game components and setup; image from here

Review

This game is good, not great. It is fast to learn, easy to play, and accommodates up to seven- all pros. The main challenge is the art cards that the ghost gives out are so abstract, it is very difficult for the players to understand why a card was chosen. Every now and then, an obvious one popped up, but by and large, it was hard to discern if a card was chosen for color, shapes, objects, and so on. It led to some fun conversations, but seemed a touch too hard. But some, I imagine, would love the challenge.

Rating: B