''Orient Express'' is a

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

published by

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...

and

Just Games Just or JUST may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Just (surname) * Just (given name) Arts and entertainment * ''Just'', a 1998 album by Dave Lindholm * "Just" (song), a song by Radiohead * "Just", a song from the album ''Lost and Found'' by Mudvayne ...

. The game is based on the 1934 novel ''

Murder on the Orient Express ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the U ...

'' by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

. The game was designed by

Jeff Smets Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

and released in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. The game contains 10 different murder cases, each of which can be played only once. Five new plots were released in 1987.

Development

The board game is first released in 1985 by developer Just Games and by developer Jumbo in 1986. The game have been translated into numerals of languages, ex. English, German, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish and Danish.

Gameplay

The game is set on the train

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

, going from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. The players choose one case among the 10 possible cases. On each case a murder has been committed by one or more of the 8 suspects on the train. The suspects are handily named so that the first letter of each forms a successive list of the first eight letters of the alphabet: the actress, the baroness, the count, the diplomat, the entrepreneur, the fortuneteller, the gambler, and the heiress. It is up to the players to solve the mystery before the train reaches Istanbul and the murderer gets away. Prejudices such as gamblers aren't law abiding, fortunetellers lie, colonels are armed with guns etc. must be set aside. It is possible that more than one suspect is guilty. Another aspect of the solution: players must identify the motive behind the murder. Possible motives: blackmail, espionage, insanity, jealousy, money, and revenge. The players start in the middle of the train and move around in the two train wagons according to dice rolls. By moving through the train players are able to get clues about the characters by talking to the innocent crew on board or examining the rooms. The suspects can also be interrogated - they never lie but they might be telling useless information. In practice text cards represent the staff, the suspects and the rooms.
An engine pawn is moved one station every time the specialized die shows a green figure. The detectives receive a telegram about one of the suspects or the victim on certain train stations. When the train stops at Istanbul each player must announce their solution of the murder. The player with the correct solution wins.

Critical reception

Awarded winner of "Beautiful Game" by "1987 Spiel des Jahres".
Awarded winner of "Best Family Game" by "1987 Årets Spel".

Reviews

*'' Jeux & Stratégie'' #45https://archive.org/details/jeux-et-strategie-45/page/24/mode/2up

References

External links

Official site
* {{Hercule Poirot Board games introduced in 1985 Jumbo Games games Murder and mystery board games Roll-and-move board games