Usually when talking uniqueness in the board game arena, a new mechanic or combination of mechanics is mentioned. However, sometimes a new perspective may be needed. Cranio Creations is changing how you view a board with Mystery House.
Mystery House is a cooperative escape room style game that plays one to five players, but looks to be optimal for four players. The board for Mystery House looks to be almost as deep as a standard square Ticket to Ride and slightly smaller as well. The outside of the box contains five cut out holes that allow you to see all the way through the board area. Enigma cards slide through slits in the top of the board area, forming the rooms and passageways within the house. These form the setting for the scenario for the game.
Players are given instructions for the objective of the scenario through an app. They must discuss what they can see inside the house to the other players, but they can only see into the side of the board that they are facing. Included are some mini-flashlights to help players look into the house and see around the corners created by the enigma cards.
The app not only helps you proceed, but will track your progress and see how close you are to escaping. The game gives you an hour to escape, so you’ll need to be observant and communicate well with your fellow players to make it in that time. The base game will come with two adventures out of the box, with more available after that. However, it doesn’t sound like the app will randomize any parts of the scenario, so once you’ve been successful you probably won’t have any reason to play through it again.
Fans of escape rooms or adventures like TIME Stories should keep an eye out for Mystery House. If Cranio Creations can provide enough value through the base game and expansions, it looks like a great way to introduce board gaming to non-gamers.
While not working as a Database Administrator, Keith Schleicher has been associated with Gaming Trend since 2003. While his love of video games started with the Telestar Alpha (a pong console with four different games), he trule started playing video games when he received the ill-fated TI-99/4A. While the Speech Synthesizer seemed to be the height of gaming, eventually a 286 AT computer running at 8/12 Hz and a CGA monitor would be his outlet for a while. Eventually he’d graduate to 386, 486, Pentium, and Athlon systems, building some of those systems while doing some hardware reviews and attending Comdex. With the release of the Dreamcast that started his conversion to the console world. Since then he has acquired an NES, SNES, PS2, PS3, PSP, GBA-SP, DS, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One S, Gamecube, Wii, Switch, and Oculus Quest 2. While not playing video games he enjoys bowling, reading, playing board games, listening to music, and watching movies and TV. He originally hails from Wisconsin but is now living in Michigan with his wife and sons.
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