I've never been a big fan of Clue, finding that the game was too "easy" and that when played with players of equal skill, the game tended to favor the person whose die rolls were better. But when I heard the Days of Wonder was making a game slightly similar to Clue designed by Bruno Faidutti and Serge Laget, two fantastic designers, I was intrigued. I knew that the other two games I had played by Days of Wonder (Fist of Dragonstones and Queen's Necklace) had fun rules and fantastic components, and was expecting more of the same. So is Mystery of the Abbey a worthy addition to the Days of Wonder line? The answer is that it is one of the most fun games I have ever played, with fantastic theme and components. Let me delve a little deeper, now… First, an explanation of the game… A board is set up in the middle of the table, representing an Abbey with twenty-seven rules. Each player chooses a plastic monk figurine and places it in the "Ecclesia" room. Each player is given a suspect sheet, which is hidden in a deduction notebook. The suspect sheet shows pictures of the twenty-four suspect monks in the game. A deck of twenty-four suspect cards is shuffled, and one is slid under the board - the evil murderer. The rest of the cards are dealt out to the players according to the number of players playing, with a few of them placed on a separate deck on the board. Each player now knows some of the suspects who did not commit murder and can mark them off their sheets accordingly. Two dice (with 6 faces showing the colors of the players) are rolled, and put into the two Confessional rooms. Three decks are shuffled (event cards, scriptorium book cards, and library book cards) and are put in their respective places on the board. Crypt cards are also placed on the board (not shuffled, as they are all the same). One player places a stack of eight Mass cards in front of them. Each card has numbers one through four on it, and a small bell is placed on number "1". The first round then begins. In a round, the first player moves the mass bell to the next number. If the bell is on number "4", it is moved off the card, and Mass is called. Otherwise, the player moves his pawn up to two rooms on the board. If the player lands in the same room as another player, questioning occurs. Then the player may proceed with the action (if any) that the room they landed in entitles them to. When two players are in the same room, they must ask each other questions. Each monk in the game has several characteristics. They have an order (Templar, Franciscan, or Benedictine), a title (Father, Brother, or Novice), a hood (hooded, unhooded), facial hair (bearded, clean-shaven), and girth (fat or thin). Every monk is different, and so a player can ask any sort of question to the person they land on. Examples of questions are: "Do you have Brother Harold in your hand?", "How many fat monks have you crossed off?", "Where are you going?", " How many hooded monks do you have in your hand?", etc. The player has two options when asked a question. They can put a finger to their lips, indicating a vow of silence. This means they do not have to answer the question, but they also cannot ask a question in return. Or, the player can truthfully answer the question, and then ask a question in return, getting an honest answer. After asking questions (if any), a player may take the action of the room they landed in (if any). If they stop in a Confessional, they take one random suspect card from the person who last was in the Confessional (marked by the die). The die is then turned to show that player's color. Six spaces on the board represent the personal cells of each player, and are color-coded to match. If a player visits another players cell, they can randomly draw a suspect card from the cell's owner. However, if the owner enters the cell and "catches" the snooping player, the snooper must give back the card, immediately return to the Ecclesia, and do Penance (lose a turn). In the Scriptorium, a player draws a Scriptorium card, and plays it immediately or keeps it, depending on the card's text. In the Library, a player draws a powerful Bibliotheca card, and plays it immediately. However, a player may only enter the Library if they have the least suspect cards in their hand currently, and they may only do so once per game. In the Parlor, a player draws the top suspect card from the suspect's draw pile. If there are no suspects left, the player can ask a player for a card. (i.e. "Show me a Father", or "show me a bearded fat monk".) If the player asked has a card matching those characteristics, they must give it to the player asking. If they don't have the card, tough luck for the asking player! In the Crypt, a player receives a "crypt" card. These cards can be played on future turns to give the player one extra turn. Only one crypt card can be held at a time. In the Chapter Hall, a player may make a revelation or an accusation. All revelations made are written down, and checked at the end of the game. Revelations must specify one characteristic of the guilty monk. (i.e. "The culprit is fat"). An accusation specifies exactly who the murderer is (i.e. "The culprit is Brother Emmanuel"). If no other player holds the card of the accused monk, the game is over, and points are tallied. Otherwise, the player who holds the card shows it, and the accusing player must go to the Ecclesia and commit Penance. All other rooms are empty spaces. When the bell moves off the number "4", Mass occurs. All player pieces are moved to the Ecclesia, and the instructions on the Mass card are followed. (Pass a certain number of cards to the player on your left) An event card is also drawn, and the effects are followed. The next Mass card is revealed and passed to the player on the first player's right, becoming the new first player for the next round. At the end of the game, scores are tallied. Each correct revelation scores the player two points, while incorrect revelations cause them to lose a point. Discovery of the culprit gets them +4 points, while false accusations cause them to lose two points. Whoever has the most points is the winner! (In case of ties, the person who accused correctly is the winner.) Some comments on the game: 1). Components: The components for this game are amazing in their quality. The suspect sheets (50 of them) are full color, and are so nice that we felt bad writing on them. I think in future games, we'll use pencil, and erase, so that we don't waste them. The little plastic monks are funny looking and are of good quality. The board is a masterpiece, with beautiful artwork, but very distinguishable rooms. The dice are of good quality, and the little bell included is an unnecessary but very nice touch. All the cards are of superb quality, and have great artwork on them. The artwork for the suspect monks is especially striking with a strong cartoonish flair. The box is a good sturdy, square box, with a nice plastic inset that holds the components nicely. Days of Wonder makes some of the best components I've seen in their games, and Mystery of the Abbey is their best effort yet. You certainly will get your money's worth of components in this game! 2). Rules: The rules are very easy to understand. They are printed in an eight page, color booklet, with many color illustrations and examples. A list and picture of the components is very helpful, along with an illustration on how to set the game up. Everything is very clear, and despite the length of the rules - the game is very easy to teach and be taught. Novices to board games will learn the game as quickly as board game fanatics. At the end of the rules are included some variants for game play, which help speed the game up, or take out the randomness. 3). Theme: The game is dripping with theme. The idea that you are hunting down a rogue monk who murdered his comrade is a lot of fun. The little bell, the artwork, and the rules all help to contribute to this theme. Mystery of the Abbey is one of the best themed games I have played in a long time! 4). Strategy and Luck: The game is very tactical, in deciding where to go, and what questions to ask. I will admit, however, that the cards - especially the event cards, can cause a bit of randomness and chaos in the game. I personally like that a lot, but some people who want pure strategy may not. If so, however, they can remove the event cards. The library cards are also extremely powerful. I think that it's a good thing to give them to the player with fewest cards, but some may not like it. So if that's the case, they can remove those cards from the game easily. These modifications are extremely simple to make, and remove luck, adding strategy. I personally like the game the way it is, but others may like the additional strategy and less chaos. 5). Fun Factor: Any way you look at, however, the game is fun. Sometimes, it may get too fun for players, like when an event card insists that all players sing, "Are you sleeping" in a round. But we had a blast playing the game! It's a lot of fun to try to figure out who the culprit is, and deciding where to go. The atmosphere created by the game is one of lightness and fun. It's not easy to figure out who the culprit is, but at the same time it's not extremely hard either. Everyone has a good chance, and it doesn't hurt your brain while doing so. Mystery of the Abbey gets high marks in the fun department. 6). Lying and Cheating: However, all players must tell the truth and not cheat during the game. Any player who does so (even unintentionally) can ruin the game for all others. Careful attention must be paid to questions asked and answers given. We had no problems with this, but I have heard of other gaming groups who did, and I certainly see the potential for this. 7). Playing time: The game takes anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes. If players don't have that much time, however, some rules can be changed to speed the game up (like moving up to three spaces). We thought the game went quickly, as it was so much fun to play, anyway! Despite this, however, I highly recommend Mystery of the Abbey. Bruno has once again designed a game that is massively fun, yet has some strategy and tactics in it. A great theme, great components, and good rules certainly don't hurt at all. I know this game will be asked for many times in the future in my group, and I certainly will have no problem in bringing it out. I especially like the little detective notebooks, which not only provided a summary of the rules, but some strategy tips also. Days of Wonder has provided us with a fantastic game, and if you don't own it yet, it needs to be on your shelf! Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 7 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com