Let's Talk About: Deduction games

Oh, if you want to include hidden movement games (which I'm not arguing), I'd heartily recommend Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan. It's on deep discount most places and it's fantastic. Extremely thematic and it reminds me of Mark of the Ninja which is a plus.

Gumshoe is better than Shelock Holmes. If you like the latter, you should try the former if you can find a copy

Yeah, in my head what I was referring to should maybe be called "mystery" games. Things like Clue, Mystery of the Abbey, Mystery Express, etc. Those differ from hidden movement games to some extent (in my head anyway) because there is a set item that is unknown that item doesn't change. A hidden movement game like Fury of Dracula has moving goalposts, so even if you missed something early, you can get back on track a little easier.

Space Ghost wrote: Gumshoe is better than Shelock Holmes. If you like the latter, you should try the former if you can find a copy

I've heard the 1st edition has quite a bit of erratta. Is that something that a person should worry about when tracking this down?

I love deduction games, even though I'm generally pretty terrible at them. I've played a ton, which I'll give my thoughts in another post.

The game I think would be good for Defanso is Lady Alice, a release from just last year. It's a deduction game that not only doesn't require note-taking, it's forbidden! Plus, a game usually finishes in 30 minutes or less, which is often about the limit most people have for this type of game.

The premise has each player as part of Holmes' "Baker Street Irregulars." The mystery is made of four separate clues (location, person, time, object) and each player is dealt one. On your turn, you use a nifty little flip book to make a guess. Then everyone "votes" Resistance-style by tossing in a card saying "Yes, I have one of those clues" or "No, I don't" (revealed randomly). Then everyone places victory points like bets on any clues they want. These can be used to bluff or to sincerely earn points. Pretty quickly it becomes clear what the answers are (especially since you all start with one piece of the puzzle) and someone will put forth the solution and the points are scored.

It's very non-intimidating and feels cooperative even though it isn't. Definitely a little-known gem.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Lady Alice includes a central board (for placing bets) that shows all the possible clues. This helps a lot for keeping track of things.

VonTush wrote: Clue I think is a fantastic game and I love it! Mystery of the Abbey so far is looking promising.

Both very solid games.

Would Stratego be a deduction game? Trying to find your opponent's flag? If so, I love that one.

Funny, but I never thought of it like that, but sure as shit it is.

I'm also a big fan of "Guess Who", for real. I love that game. "Does your person have makeup on that resembles a crack whore?" Seriously, one of the all time best drinking games.

A great deduction game is the Clue Cake Caper or something like that. Really, probably the best Clue version because it's way less abstract than the original. Less questioning people and more exploration. Another really good one is Spy Trackdown. That's probably the best.

I just played a game called King and Assassins, it's Polish I think (although not made by the Doom/Atlantic City guy) and it's fantastic. Very, very fun. It's like Stratego in the sense that it melds conflict with deduction.


But I'll tell you, I <<hate>> hidden movement games. HATE. DESPISE. FART IN THEIR GENERAL DIRECTION.

Scotland Yard, Scorpion Clan Ninja, Nuns on the Run, all of them. Fury of Dracula is probably the best one I've played and I refuse to play Dracula. Scorpion Clan is good, sort of, in that there's more for the infiltrator to do, but it's still very one-sided as far as playing goes. It's one guy doing a lot and the other jotting shit down.

Thoughts on various deduction games:

Clue - The granddaddy. Honestly, I haven't played this one in years. I liked the premise well enough, but it's severely hampered by the cumbersome mechanic of moving your piece around the board. For this reason, I actually preferred the Clue Card Game that came out several years ago. It eschewed the board which made it faster and more interesting, while still being basically the same game.

Clue Museum Caper - I liked this one quite a bit, but it's very similar to Scotland Yard, NY Chase, and Letters from Whitechapel, each of which I probably like more. Fury of Dracula falls into this category as well, although there's a little more going on there.

Sleuth - I agree that this is one of the great "find the missing cards" deduction games. Solid note-taking is key to success in this game, as it can lead you to make logical leaps. It also helps that it gives you cards to guide your questions.

Black Vienna - This is a great deduction game that is very easily destroyed by player mistakes. It's long out of print, but there's a great online version of it that completely eliminates the possibility of player error. Requires good note-taking.

Code 777 - This was reprinted not too long ago in a nice edition. Like Sleuth, it has cards that guide your questions for you. Note-taking is important, but generally easier than some other games. Players are trying to guess their own hand of cards (not unlike Hanabi). An interesting aspect of this is that if you guess incorrectly, you're not out-- you just grab a new hand. This keeps everyone involved, which I like.

i9n - This is an obscure one from a few years ago that most people didn't care for as much as I did. It has a crazy/cool physical component for randomizing the value of oil wells on a map, and players try to figure out the best places to drill.

Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective - A really fantastic game that feels more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book than a deduction game. But there are real clues to be figured out and connections to be made and it is a truly collaborative game, not just cooperative. It was just recently reprinted, too, so I imagine new or old copies are not hard to find.

Mystery of the Abbey - Oh yeah, I forgot to comment on this one. I didn't care for it all that much. The moving about was not a laborious as it is in Clue, plus the swapping and changing of cards helps spread information around faster. However, like others have said, there's a lot to keep track of and it's hard to know how to focus.

Funny that nobody mentioned Mastermind. It is pretty dumb, no doubt, but still, it's the original.

Two-player Deduction Games:

Stratego, Battleship, Mastermind - Good ole Milton Bradley in the 70s! These are all solid but basic games. They're probably better suited for teaching logic or deduction than they are for long-term enjoyment.

Destination Tresor/Discovery - A neat production for a fairly lackluster game. Each player has a map of a jungle on which they can chart their progress. The key is to deduce where you are and where the treasure is. It's been a long time since I've played, but I remember being disappointed after such a neat premise.

Mr. Jack - A neat game of cat and mouse. Not only does the detective player have to figure out who is Mr. Jack, but he must also prevent him from escaping. Having this dual goal (and the reverse dual goal for the Mr. Jack player) keeps the game interesting. I've also played with the expansion, which is nice but completely unnecessary. I haven't tried Mr. Jack in NY, but it is supposed to be equally good, yet different. Mr. Jack Pocket is good enough and quick, but very different. I'm eager to try Phantom of the Opera. I think it's basically the same game, but the changed setting is suppose to give it a stronger narrative appeal.

Confusion - A good but not great game; I wanted to like it more than I did. The components are fantastic. You have pieces that move in a number of different ways. However, only your opponent knows exactly how. When you make a move with a piece, your opponent tells you whether it is legal or not. Through this, you are both trying to move a McGuffin briefcase to the opposite side of the board.

One more for the conversation: Heimlich and Co/Top Secret Spies. It's a weird mix of "race" and deduction in the sense that you don't know which pawn is which and so you may inadvertently be helping an opponent by moving their pawn. Great game for a LOT of players, but with less than 5, it loses some shine.