- A game of skill and deduction
- Excellent replay value
- 60-90 minutes playing time
- 3-5 players
- Suitable for ages 12+
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Technical Details
Product Specifications
| Main Language(s): | English unknown |
| Model Number: | DOW 8001 |
| Number of Puzzle Pieces: | 1 |
| Batteries Required?: | No |
Product details
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Product Description
Product Description
Seeking a well deserved break from your last misadventures, you decide to treat yourself to the extravagant luxury of the legendary Orient-Express. But your holiday turns out to be short-lived...the train has barely left Paris when tragedy strikes - a passenger is found murdered.
The aptly renamed "Mystery Express" hurtles toward its final destination. Locked onboard, anxious passengers spin a web of intrigue and deception. Your mind races as you consider all possible suspects and their motives. Will you uncover the culprit before reaching the end of your journey?
Mystery Express is a whodunit deduction game aboard the Orient-Express despite their wealth and sophistication, all is not what it seems among the passengers. As you scramble to discover the who, what, where and why of the murder, you realise that before removing any of these crime elements from your list you must observe them, not just once but twice! In a further twist on the genre, time is beginning to run out: you must find the culprit before reaching Istanbul!
The aptly renamed "Mystery Express" hurtles toward its final destination. Locked onboard, anxious passengers spin a web of intrigue and deception. Your mind races as you consider all possible suspects and their motives. Will you uncover the culprit before reaching the end of your journey?
Mystery Express is a whodunit deduction game aboard the Orient-Express despite their wealth and sophistication, all is not what it seems among the passengers. As you scramble to discover the who, what, where and why of the murder, you realise that before removing any of these crime elements from your list you must observe them, not just once but twice! In a further twist on the genre, time is beginning to run out: you must find the culprit before reaching Istanbul!
Product Description
Mystery Express is a fantastic WHODUNNIT deduction game set aboard the Orient Express. Designed with lots of imagination and great fun to play.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
Im a huge fan of Days of Wonder board games - i have most of the Ticket to Ride series amongst others they have released. I was excited to get my hands on this game and was lucky enough to win a copy from a competition on the Days of Wonder website when the game was released.
Mystery Express is an imaginative deduction game. Players board the famous Orient Express in Paris just as the murder occurs. For the rest of the trip you travel through various locations; Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Istanbul trying to find out who, what, where and why the crime occurred. The one who correctly identifies the most elements of the crime by the time the train reaches its final destination wins. Simple. Almost.
Like all Days of Wonder games the quality of the game, its components and the design is outstanding. The artwork and illustrations are amazing and make the game feel like something special. There is a high price tag with this game but you can see where your money has been spent. I won't list the contents as it is mentioned in the description above.
The rules are complicated - this isn't the kind of game you can pick up in a few minutes. You will need to play a few times and get used to the gameplay and its tactics. I won't got into too much detail here as it'll confuse you but in brief here's a very quick run down ....
In the deck there are two of each card - crime cards (one of each; who, what, where, why and the time) are selected at random before the game starts and placed under the board for safe keeping. No peeking !
Each player gets 7 cards randomly picked from a shuffled deck with the rest going to two passengers and the conductor who will board the train later and affect the game. Still with me ? In addiction to the cards each player receives a ticket, notepad, telegram and character token that help to figure it all out. Ready to go.
Each character gets a special power that they can use once a round. Four of the players get to look at (once) a certain color of crime card when it is discarded. The fifth gets an extra hour for their investigation each round.
During each turn/destinations each player has 4-5 hours to turn up clues and solve the crime. This is done by visiting different carriages on the train where different actions are available. Each carriage has 1 or 2 actions that each take 1 hour or more to perform. After a player has used up his allotted hours, his turn ends and continues to the next player.
The end of the game varies to most deduction games - in most you must solve the crime precisely. This can be a little tedious as games can last forever. Where Mystery Express differs is that is has a timed ending with the player with the most correct deductions wins. In case of a tie Telegrams with predictions submitted at the half way point are used to determine a winner.
This is a long game - on average i'd say it lasts around 1 - 2 hours. This feels a little too much sometimes, especially when you are repeating actions and don't feel like you are getting any closer. Practice makes perfect.
In conclusion i'd recommend it, especially if you enjoy deduction games. It requires more skills that Cleudo and is good fun for an afternoon game session.
Have fun ! Hope this review if useful to you.
Mystery Express is an imaginative deduction game. Players board the famous Orient Express in Paris just as the murder occurs. For the rest of the trip you travel through various locations; Strasbourg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Istanbul trying to find out who, what, where and why the crime occurred. The one who correctly identifies the most elements of the crime by the time the train reaches its final destination wins. Simple. Almost.
Like all Days of Wonder games the quality of the game, its components and the design is outstanding. The artwork and illustrations are amazing and make the game feel like something special. There is a high price tag with this game but you can see where your money has been spent. I won't list the contents as it is mentioned in the description above.
The rules are complicated - this isn't the kind of game you can pick up in a few minutes. You will need to play a few times and get used to the gameplay and its tactics. I won't got into too much detail here as it'll confuse you but in brief here's a very quick run down ....
In the deck there are two of each card - crime cards (one of each; who, what, where, why and the time) are selected at random before the game starts and placed under the board for safe keeping. No peeking !
Each player gets 7 cards randomly picked from a shuffled deck with the rest going to two passengers and the conductor who will board the train later and affect the game. Still with me ? In addiction to the cards each player receives a ticket, notepad, telegram and character token that help to figure it all out. Ready to go.
Each character gets a special power that they can use once a round. Four of the players get to look at (once) a certain color of crime card when it is discarded. The fifth gets an extra hour for their investigation each round.
During each turn/destinations each player has 4-5 hours to turn up clues and solve the crime. This is done by visiting different carriages on the train where different actions are available. Each carriage has 1 or 2 actions that each take 1 hour or more to perform. After a player has used up his allotted hours, his turn ends and continues to the next player.
The end of the game varies to most deduction games - in most you must solve the crime precisely. This can be a little tedious as games can last forever. Where Mystery Express differs is that is has a timed ending with the player with the most correct deductions wins. In case of a tie Telegrams with predictions submitted at the half way point are used to determine a winner.
This is a long game - on average i'd say it lasts around 1 - 2 hours. This feels a little too much sometimes, especially when you are repeating actions and don't feel like you are getting any closer. Practice makes perfect.
In conclusion i'd recommend it, especially if you enjoy deduction games. It requires more skills that Cleudo and is good fun for an afternoon game session.
Have fun ! Hope this review if useful to you.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
7 reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A deductive game that requires great attention to detail
2 May 2011
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
The main game element is similar to Clue: you are trying to deduced who was murdered, at what time, in what car, the motive, and the murderer. One twist is that, rather than asking people questions about the cards they have in their hand, players exchange cards based on actions that occur in each car. Players must also strategize how to spend their time on each turn - there is a limited number of moves that can be made based on how long the train takes to get from one station to the next. Each card appears twice, which means that seeing it once doesn't necessarily rule it out. To determine the time the crime happened, there is a separate deck of cards that operates similar to memory - you flash through the cards quickly and try to determine which one is missing (time cards are a set of 3). Also, in starting the game, not all cards are yet in play. Passengers board the train at two stops, at which time players have access to additional cards.
Set up and first play with a rules run-down is a very long experience. With 4 players, all seasoned board game aficionados, we had to keep revisiting the rules. The entire game play took 3 hours. Even if we were all familiar with this particular game, it is unlikely to be playable in less than 2 hours. The best strategy is to keep track of where you saw the cards, to whom you passed cards, and who passed cards to you.
Esthetically, the board is beautiful and the cards are well-appointed. Each player has a "ticket book" to hide his/her notes and deductions, which are nice. The ticket book also has a run-down of the mechanics of each train car for reference, which comes in very handy.
If you like light-hearted, easy games, or to socialize during games, Mystery Express is not recommended. It's best suited for people who enjoy logic puzzles, long games, and strategy. It requires a great attention to detail and multiple moving parts to achieve the correct solution.
Set up and first play with a rules run-down is a very long experience. With 4 players, all seasoned board game aficionados, we had to keep revisiting the rules. The entire game play took 3 hours. Even if we were all familiar with this particular game, it is unlikely to be playable in less than 2 hours. The best strategy is to keep track of where you saw the cards, to whom you passed cards, and who passed cards to you.
Esthetically, the board is beautiful and the cards are well-appointed. Each player has a "ticket book" to hide his/her notes and deductions, which are nice. The ticket book also has a run-down of the mechanics of each train car for reference, which comes in very handy.
If you like light-hearted, easy games, or to socialize during games, Mystery Express is not recommended. It's best suited for people who enjoy logic puzzles, long games, and strategy. It requires a great attention to detail and multiple moving parts to achieve the correct solution.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Good, but too long
3 July 2010
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
This game is another in the series of train travels. However, despite the good idea (Clue on steroids), the game is too long and we became bored before the end.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Days of Wonder Wins Again!
13 Jun 2011
Amazon Verified Purchase
Durability:
Educational:
Fun:
I've been wanting to buy this game for a while now. My family is really into board games, and Days of Wonder is without doubt our favorite gaming company. MYSTERY EXPRESS is another brilliant masterpiece from Days of Wonder. If you've never played any Days of Wonder games before, I would recommend playing Ticket to Ride first, but Mystery Express is almost as good.
Mystery Express is basically "Clue" on a train. On the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul, someone is murdered, and the players must spend the whole trip attempting to identify the suspect, the motive, the "modus operandi" (the "how"), and the location. These are figured out by visiting the different cars on the train and looking at other players' hands.
To keep it brief, if you like Clue, you'll LOVE Mystery Express. The one complaint I have is the length of time in between turns, but that may be because my family was playing it for the first time. I expect that as we get better at it, it will go quicker. Also,it says 3-5 players, and we had 5; I'm not sure how well it would work with 3 or 4.
DAYS OF WONDER IS THE BEST!! And Mystery Express will not fail to satisfy any family or group that loves challenging and unique board games.
Mystery Express is basically "Clue" on a train. On the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul, someone is murdered, and the players must spend the whole trip attempting to identify the suspect, the motive, the "modus operandi" (the "how"), and the location. These are figured out by visiting the different cars on the train and looking at other players' hands.
To keep it brief, if you like Clue, you'll LOVE Mystery Express. The one complaint I have is the length of time in between turns, but that may be because my family was playing it for the first time. I expect that as we get better at it, it will go quicker. Also,it says 3-5 players, and we had 5; I'm not sure how well it would work with 3 or 4.
DAYS OF WONDER IS THE BEST!! And Mystery Express will not fail to satisfy any family or group that loves challenging and unique board games.
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