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Gone Cardboard: Mystery Express, Coming from Days of Wonder
Mystery Express, by designers Serge Laget and Antoine Bauza, is a new deduction game from Days of Wonder that will be released worldwide in April 2010. Unlike DoW’s earlier Mystery of the Abbey, which Laget co-designed with Bruno Faidutti, Mystery Express “explores the more analytical side of the genre, rewarding a logical and more precise approach to solving the crime,” according to a press release from the publisher.
In Mystery Express, 3-5 players are traveling aboard the Orient Express, and they’ve just left the station in Paris when a murder occurs. Throughout the remainder of their trip to Istanbul, as they travel through Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna and Budapest, they’ll use their reasoning and powers of deduction to try to determine the Suspect, Modus Operandi, Time, Location and Motive – that is, the who, what, when, where and why of the murder.
The game lasts five rounds, with one round taking place in each city. The Orient Express is composed of six cars, and in each car one action is available. “These actions allow you to see opponent’s cards or trade with them,” says Bauza. “For example, everyone but the active player has to reveal one of his cards, a Suspect card. Each time you see the two cards of a clue, you can rule it out on your deduction sheet.”
That’s right – unlike traditional deduction games like Clue, players need to spot the singletons among the pairs. Bauza says that Mystery Express grew out of his desire to design a game about trains. “Looking at all the existing titles from Martin Wallace and Ticket to Ride, I told myself that’s not a good idea,” he says. “So I decided a game that takes place in a train would be better.” He was familiar with Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, and thought that would be a good starting point.
Serge Laget got involved, says Bauza, as he already had some experience with investigative games and the two live relatively close to one another. “In our first talk, I told him the only mechanisms that I had in mind at the time: several mini-actions and a strange observation mechanism. He liked the idea and came up right away with one of the key features of the game, the pairs of clues.” All cards, except those related to the crime, have two copies, and players must track down the unique cards in order to reconstruct the scene of the crime.
To aid the detection efforts, each player has a special power unique to his character, with four of the five characters being able to learn additional information about one of the four categories, such as Location or Motive, while the fifth character has extra time during the train ride to spend on investigation. Each power can be used once during a turn. “If you happen to be a professional detective among beginners, you can choose not to use your special power as a handicap,” says Bauza.
Whichever player identifies the most elements of the crime by the end of the trip in Istanbul wins the game. Says Bauza, “The rules are quite simple but players have to do a real detective job: Watch carefully which player gives cards to who, sometimes follow your intuition, and always use your brain!”
Asked to compare Mystery Express with Mystery in the Abbey, Bauza says that Abbey is all about questioning the other players, while Express is about viewing and trading the right cards at the right moment – and, of course, keeping others from seeing the cards you don’t want them to see. “You can win the game with only three or four of the five items if the other players have even fewer than you,” he says.
In addition to a gameboard that lays out the travel itinerary, Mystery Express includes 72 Crime cards; a resin figure, ticket wallet and token for each character, 100 deduction sheets, a conductor, two passenger tokens, and a train whistle. (I’m curious to see how that fits into the game, if at all.) Mystery Express will retail for $50 / €45. This game has been added to Gone Cardboard.
Edited, Jan 25: Days of Wonder has posted a Mystery Express slideshow that reveals more of the game’s artwork and some details of the game play.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jan 25, 2010 at 09:00 AM in Game News, Game Announcements / 2757
Comments:
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Very interested. Train theme + deduction elements. Perhaps this will surpass Dracula as my main deduction game. Posted by Michael Sosa on Jan 25, 2010 at 12:45 PM | #
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Deduction games are a favourite of mine so I’m very intrigued by Mystery Express. However, the fact that you are trying to deduce missing cards while also allowing the trading of those cards sets off warning bells. It was the trading aspect of Mystery at the Abbey that made deduction very difficult, to the point that you mostly eliminated suspects only when you saw their actual card. Hopefully this will allow a more analytic approach. Posted by Greg Aleknevicus on Jan 25, 2010 at 01:35 PM | #
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In ME all cards shown or traded are “frozen” until the end of the current turn. So a card cannot be shown or traded twice in the same turn. This allow you to follow the card more easily… Moreover, the characters abilities allow you to look at one frozen card each turn, so you can have an additional clue… or checking an old one ;o) Posted by Antoine Bauza on Jan 25, 2010 at 01:42 PM | #
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I’m with Greg in my suspicions about trading. There are a number of deduction games, including Abbey, that feature trading and they really make the straight deduction aspect almost pointless. However, we’re dealing with two designers who know their business, as well as a publisher who’s turned out a hit or two, so I’m going to remain positive on this. I love deduction games and the theme sounds fun, so I look forward to seeing how you all managed to lick this problem. Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 25, 2010 at 07:13 PM | #
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So who would have laid down a $20 spot that I wouldn’t comment on *this*? : ) My friend Lori and I are both Clue aficionados. We are co-hosting a “breakfast and boardgames” game night this weekend at my house. And she’s making the chocolate waffles! (LOL) Anyway, I had thought about buying the new Clue! game… *Clue! Secrets in Paris* for this game night. So Lori and I are discussing this topic, just this evening, and I was speaking about how I could really get more energy for the new Clue spinoffs if they would just break the formula of gameplay a bit more so that the game experience was just as unique as the locale. So I swear we were also talking about a game “setting” taking place on the Orient Express. And lo and behold I come here and BINGO....just the type of game I would LOVE to see designed! I do agree with Greg about the warning bells from Mystery of the Abbey, as the trading was the one big hiccup from that game… but I most certainly take Days of Wonder at their word when they say this game will take a more analytic approach. EVERYTHING about this game looks to be a huge, huge home run for the casual gamer. The art looks terrific, AWESOMELY themed, the gameplay itself looks promising, GREAT title. INSTANT potential must-buy. Mind you, I thought Mystery of the Abbey was a very,very good game and is one of my overall absolute favorites. So this could be the big home run I kept hoping for Days of Wonder to hit! That may very well have knocked it out of the park. And if the gameplay is good, then box it up and Spiel Des Jahres it, because this is a game done completely right. So just beside myself with glee. : ) Finally something from the boardgaming world to truly get excited about!!!!! Great way to open the decade, Days of Wonder! Posted by Ryan B. on Jan 25, 2010 at 11:41 PM | #
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If I could slow you down to just a *little* over 100 mph, Ryan… Deduction games are a very special and narrow niche. I know that Clue is popular, but we all learn that in the cradle, so that’s different (just like Monopoly is different). I’m sure DoW will do a good job of presenting this in as approachable a package as possible, but there’s just a lot of casual gamers who don’t like to think that hard. Heck, there’s a lot of *serious* gamers who don’t like deduction games, because they’re too much work. Can Bauza and Laget set the balance in such a way that ME is a true deduction game, but isn’t so hard that it turns off most gamers? That’ll be a very delicate line to walk. I hope they succeed, but I’ll be shocked if this approaches Ticket to Ride in popularity and I’ll be awfully impressed if they and DoW can make it sell as well as Small World. I hope they prove me wrong, as the game sounds like a lot of fun. Regardless, I’ll be checking it out. But I am happy for you that you can get back on the DoW bandwagon! Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 26, 2010 at 12:04 AM | #
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Actually, in going over to their website and reading more about the game, I am even more excited about Mystery Express.... because I think that if the full analytical side of the game is explored, then I believe it will create even more value for going out and buying Mystery of the Abbey too. This is because *Mystery Express* could create the missing sense of variety in the genre..... and it will take the pressure off of Mystery of the Abbey to be the requisite *pure deduction* game from DoW that it never really aspired to be… but that all of the deduction and mystery game fans out there *wanted* it to be. Want a more logical, analytical, deductive game experience? Mystery Express. Want a fun, possibly lighter “deduction themed” game that is a more mirthful, chaotic, conivival and a “shared” game experience? Mystery of the Abbey. So if Mystery Express lives up to its promises, now you can have BOTH out of the Days of Wonder game library. And I always get excited about having more game variety on my game shelf. The bottom line: Mystery Express could allow Mystery of the Abbey to be re-celebrated… on its own merits this time. Posted by Ryan B. on Jan 26, 2010 at 12:07 AM | #
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142 mph is my top speed Larry… out of my little Z3. Much faster than a bandwagon. : ) Posted by Ryan B. on Jan 26, 2010 at 12:10 AM | #
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Love deduction games. Loathe Mystery of the Abbey. Will definitely want to try before I buy. Posted by Michael Denman on Jan 26, 2010 at 12:35 AM | #
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Looks like the game could use a BGG entry, if DoW is listening. I’m with Michael on the try before buy option.... Posted by Jeffrey D Myers on Jan 26, 2010 at 12:34 PM | #
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Bruno Faidutti just posted a preview of Mystery Express with similar details but new pictures. Worth checking out for folks looking for more info. Posted by David Lund on Jan 27, 2010 at 01:27 PM | #
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A link for the lazy: http://www.faidutti.com/index.php?Module=ludotheque&id=663 Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jan 27, 2010 at 01:31 PM | #
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I’m lazy. Thanks. Posted by Ryan B. on Jan 27, 2010 at 08:02 PM | #
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