(Photo credit to Libellud)
Written by Ed Carter, Staff Writer
It’s Halloween night and a group of psychic investigators has gathered to uncover a murder most foul. The ghost of the victim sends visions of the deadly deed but cannot remember all of the details. It’s up to the psychics to interpret the visions they receive and if they are right, they will hear 2 knocks, getting closer to finally letting the ghost rest in eternal peace as justice will be served at long last!
Mysterium is a cooperative game for 2-6 players where one player is the ghost and the rest are a team of psychics who will attempt to uncover the mystery of the ghost’s murder. The ghost player chooses cards with visions and clues that when interpreted correctly, will reveal to the investigators, the person, place, and weapon that was used to end their life. These visions are not exact, so it will take the skills of the investigators to study, think and interpret what the ghost is trying to say as the ghost only communicates by a knock once for wrong and two for right.
To start, the ghost will select a person, location, and weapon and place them in a hidden screen that only they see for each player. The play area is divided into three sections, with a group of suspects, locations, and weapons. Players will begin to determine who the killer is, if they are right, they will then advance to determining the location, and finally the weapon based on the clues they receive. Then in one last attempt with each player’s visions, they will receive three final visions that will help them determine from their pool of suspects, locations, and weapons, which one is guilty.
The game is played over seven rounds and the investigators while working together, can work to advance their ability to interpret the final visions. For each guess that another player agrees with, they earn points which will determine how many of the final three cards they get to see, the more correct answers, the more cards are revealed at a time. This gives one player a better advantage if they can view all three of the final visions, as opposed to another who can only see one or two at a time. If all of the players agree on the final guess they all win including the ghost, if not, then they all lose and the ghost still haunts the old house until the next Halloween.
Mysterium is a clever twist on Clue, as the victim is an active participant in finding the killer and carefully chooses clues that will lead the other players to the correct solution. I like the skills of deduction that are needed in this game; players are really engaged in working together to help each other to find out what the ghost player is trying to say. I think that is a great game for all the player counts, but I think it shines with 3 or 4. 5 and 6 can drag and feel bogged down. The game only lasts for a total of 8 rounds and that can range anywhere between 45-90 minutes depending on the player count. Even with two players, there are always a minimum of two investigators so the player will always have to decide between two scenarios.
Overall, for a new and challenging take on Clue, Mysterium is one that may well be worth adding to your collection.
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