Whitehall Mystery

Whitehall Mystery is one of my new favorite games. I was impressed with how much "game" Fantasy Flight was able to fit into this smaller box. Usually, these small box games felt like cheap offerings of larger ones, but that isn't the case here. In Whitehall Mystery one player takes on the role of "Jack" the serial killer. the other takes on the role of Scottland Yard trying to hunt him down. Jack makes all his moves around the Whitehall district secretly on a pad of paper. Scottland Yard tries to figure out where he's moving, where he is going, and ultimately where he is hiding so they can arrest him. The game play is very simple but feels deep and thought provoking. It's a joy to play both Jack and Scottland Yard. It is also fairly easy to play with newer gamers or people who don't play a lot of complicated board games. The pieces are very nice and well made. The handful of cards in the game are made out of punch board, which I like. The fold out board is beautiful with a very nice looking map of the Whitehall District in London. The plastic minis are also high quality. I really enjoy Jack with his top hat and overcoat. The icing on the cake is the rule book, which teaches the rules while also presenting the true facts of the case the game is based on. I love true crime and history, so this was a major bonus. Overall, I love this game. My wife and I play it more than any other game in our collection at this point. (and my wife isn't much of a board gamer, she prefers video games, but she likes this). If you like intriguing mystery games or you enjoy a bit of history, go ahead and give this one a try.

Good game mechanics produces tense fun. Highly recommended.

Hidden movement games are not everyone's cup of tea. But if they are YOUR cup of tea, then you might want to buy this game. The rules are few and intuitive and game play can become rather tense and exciting. Each games lasts about 1 hour. Dice rolls and luck are not part of this game. Compared to other games in the hidden-movement genre: Whitehall is a shorter and simpler game that Whitechapel. Whitehall works better as a two player game than Escape from the Aliens. Whitehall has more hidden movement than Mr. Jack. Whitehall is also less kid-friendly than Mr. Jack. Whitehall is a lot shorter and simpler than Fury of Dracula. Also, Fury has combat which is lacking in Whitehall.

This game will take the top of your head off. Players will feel unstoppable, trapped, and everything in between for the hour it takes to play. The sense of camaraderie between the detectives is palpable, and the analytical skills required to find the killer means that players who maybe aren't as socially confident as others often become the MVPs of the game. Playing as the killer is also a great experience, you have a limited amount of powers to escape the grasp of detectives at the beginning of the game, but as those run out, you realize you have more of a challenge than the cops who can't even see you. Play with a full 4 players and it will be one of the best board game experiences you'll have.

This is a very good game if you like cat and mouse games where one person has to escape being caught by the other players. It uses the same mechanics and map style as Letters From Whitechapel but is simpler and plays faster. The game action picks up within the first few moves as Jack has to get to three separate quadrants of the board. I've played as Jack several times and it takes careful planning to throw the detectives off the scent while still planning how you're going to get to your next objective within the limited numbers of moves. It can be a little stressful playing as Jack since the detectives search area narrows as the game progresses. The game quality is very good. Jack has his own copy of the map printed on a privacy screen so the detectives can't see his target spots and is supposed to help hide his eye movements so he doesn't have to look at the game board. This map is a little small but is very useful in plotting out potential paths. This is a typical cooperative game where 1-3 other players work together as detectives to find Mr. Jack. How this group works together will most likely determine if they catch Jack before he reaches his last objective. Gameplay can last about 1-1/2 hours if Jack doesn't get caught. This can be played as a 2-player game where one person is Jack and the other person controls the three detectives. Overall I like this game and recommend it if you like a a mix of cooperative and cat-mouse type games. It's very similar to Scotland Yard and a lighter, quicker version of Letters From Whitechapel. There is also a nice history of the real Whitehall Mystery provided in the user's manual that tells about the events this game is based on.

Great 2-4 player game. If you have less than 4 people, just have someone control multiple people.

So far only played with 2 players but it's already shown to be a fun game and I get the feeling it will only get more challenging as we continue to play it. The concept of the game is pretty easy to understand, the challenging part comes in to the players themselves. It's easy to see that your strategy can change drastically from game to game, or even round to round. This feels like the sort of game that would be just as fun/challenging the 20th time you play it as the first time you opened the box.

We had a blast playing this game, even though it took a while for us to figure out how to make "Jack" more effective (give him a chance in heck of escaping the rest of us.) It seems like the escape cards are really key for Jack to be successful. That said, it was a fun mix of a co-op game, with a good social side, and a puzzle element to keep our brains active. Highly recommend.