Mysterium is a
cooperative board game
Cooperative board games are board games in which players work together to achieve a common goal rather than competing against each other. Either the players win the game by reaching a pre-determined objective, or all players lose the game, often b ...
designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko. It blends aspects of
murder mystery game
Murder mystery games are a genre of party games where one of the players is secretly playing a murderer, while the other players must determine who among them is the criminal. In some styles of game, the murderer may be aware that they are the k ...
s and
card-based guessing game
A guess (or an act of guessing) is a swift conclusion drawn from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while the person making the guess (the guesser) admittedly lacks material for a greater degree of certainty. A guess is als ...
s. One person plays the ghost of a murdered individual who can communicate with the other players only through a series of visions in the form of illustrated cards. The other players, who take the role of psychic
mediums
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...
, must interpret these cards to identify a suspect, location, and murder weapon. Following its release, ''Mysterium'' received positive reviews.
Gameplay
Thirty years ago, a servant was murdered in his employer’s mansion during a party. A group of mediums organize a
séance
A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...
to solve the mystery. The ultimate goal of the ghost is to indicate who killed him, where, and with what weapon. A series of illustrated cards are laid out for each of three stages: one for suspects, one for locations, and one for murder weapons. One person plays as the ghost. This player may not directly communicate with the other players, who play the mediums; however, the mediums may collaborate. The ghost secretly selects a suspect, location, and murder weapon for each medium to guess. Each round, the ghost hands out one or more illustrated cards to each medium, which is its sole means of communication with the players. Mediums progress through the stages by correctly guessing their respective suspect, location, and murder weapon. Players may indicate whether they believe guesses to be correct or not through tokens. If all players have advanced past the third stage by round seven, the ghost gives a final clue as to which medium holds the true identity of the ghost's murderer. Depending on how quickly players advanced through the stages and how many correct tokens they have placed, they may see one, two, or three cards from the ghost. Players may again collaborate on interpretation of the cards, but their final vote must be secret. If the majority guesses correctly, the players win and the ghost is set free to enjoy the afterlife.
Publication
''Mysterium'' was initially published as ''Містеріум'' in Ukraine. French publisher Libellud, after acquiring the English- and French-language rights, made several changes to the rules and art.
Reception
''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
'' identified it as one of the best games of
Gen Con 2015. Nate Anderson of ''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' called it a "truly novel" combination of ''
Dixit'' and ''
Clue
Clue may refer to:
People with the name
* DJ Clue (born 1975), mixtape DJ
* Arthur Clues (1924–1998), Australian rugby league footballer
* Ivan Clues
* Tim Cluess
Arts, entertainment, and media ''Clue'' entertainment franchise
* ''Cluedo'' ...
''.
[ Joshua Kosman of the '']San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' rated it 5/5 stars and also compared it to ''Dixit'' and ''Clue''. Matthew Baldwin of '' The Morning News'' compared it to '' Codenames'', calling it more visual and complex. The game also won BoardGameGeek
BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...
's 2015 Golden Geek Award for Best Artwork and Presentation.
References
External links
*
* {{Bgg title, 181304, Mysterium
Cooperative board games
Murder and mystery board games
Board games introduced in 2015