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Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is a game of deduction and deception for 4-12 players that plays in about 20 minutes.
In the game, players take on the roles of investigators attempting to solve a murder case – but there’s a twist. The killer is one of the investigators! Each player’s role and team are randomly assigned at the start of play and include the unique roles of Forensic Scientist, Witness, Investigator, Murderer, and Accomplice. While the Investigators attempt to deduce the truth, the murderer’s team must deceive and mislead. This is a battle of wits!
The Forensic Scientist has the solution but can express the clues only using special scene tiles while the investigators (and the murderer) attempt to interpret the evidence. In order to succeed, the investigators must not only deduce the truth from the clues of the Forensic Scientist, they must also see through the misdirection being injected into the equation by the Murderer and Accomplice!
Find out who among you can cut through deception to find the truth and who is capable of getting away with murder!
Roles
Forensic Scientist x1
As the game master, the Forensic Scientist holds the solution to the crime. They are responsible for assisting the Investigators in identifying the “Key Evidence” and “Means of Murder.” When an Investigator does that successfully, the crime is solved and the Forensic Scientist and the Investigators win the game.
During the game, the Forensic Scientist is NOT allowed to hint to the solution with words, gestures, or eyes.
Murderer x1
When the crime takes place, the Murderer chooses 1 Clue card and 1 Means card as the solution to the crime. These will be the “Key Evidence” and “Means of Murder” respectively.
The Murderer tries to hide their role and look for a scapegoat. Even if they are identified, the Murderer still wins the game if no one correctly identifies both the “Key Evidence” and the “Means of Murder”.
Investigators x8
To solve the crime, the Investigators must analyze the hints given by the Forensic Scientist. As long as one of the Investigators correctly identifies both the “Key Evidence” and “Means of Murder,” the Murderer is arrested and the Investigators win the game (as does the Forensic Scientist).
Bear in mind that the Murderer (and sometimes Accomplice) is among the Investigators! The innocent Investigators must make a vigorous effort to defend themselves from false accusation.
Accomplice x1
The Accomplice is an optional role for games with six or more players. The Accomplice knows who the Murderer is, as well as the solution to the crime. The Accomplice and Murderer both win if the Murderer gets away with his crime.
Witness x1
The Witness is an optional role when playing with six or more players.* The Witness is an Investigator who has witnessed the culprits leaving the crime scene. They have no way of knowing which is the Murderer and which is the Accomplice and they do not know how the crime was committed.
If the Murderer is arrested but can identify the Witness, the Witness is considered to be killed, allowing the Murderer and the Accomplice to get away with murder and win the game.
Ages | 14+ |
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Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players, 6 Players |
Play Time | 20m |
Designer | Tobey Ho |
Mechanics | Hidden Roles, Team-Based Game, Traitor Game, Deduction, Storytelling |
Theme | Bluffing, Deduction, Murder/Mystery, Party Game |
Publisher | Across the Board, Angry Lion Games, Do it games, Gém Klub Kft., Grey Fox Games, Jolly Thinkers, Lifestyle Boardgames Ltd, Lucrum Games, Popcorn Games, sternenschimmermeer, IELLO |
alfonzos
Interesting but flawed approach to the deduction game genre. A neutral player provides clues to the murder done by a random player. The problem is the clues are useless and/or subject to interpretation. This game needs a second edition to be playable, IMHO.
143245
Different twist on the social deduction game; in this you receive clues and use those clues to find a killer while they (and their accomplice) try and throw you off. Less like ONUW outside of using (somewhat clueless) teams, I find it handles higher player counts much better than ONUW does in particular (and I think Deception needs at least 6, if not 8 or more to really work). It's much more solidly in the deduction category than any sort of bluffing. It's a game where I want a friend to own it more than I do (I can't justify buying it, but it's really enjoyable when it comes out). One concern I have is related to how well the murderer can plan for what item will be selected. Once a group gets a general understanding of the game, finding the killer ramps up in speed. There is some meta strategy related to being the killer and choosing your items that we don't have a handle on yet (likely because of how it's mechanically setup compared to Avalon/ONUW).
aaj94
[url=http://getonboard.games/2018/02/11/deception-its-murder-to-play/][b]Read my full review on Get on Board[/b][/url] (with Tim Hange) Deception, Murder in Hong Kong is an unusual social deduction game that uses word association cleverly as a core mechanic. It is accessible, the games are fast, and it has been a hit with my non-gamer friends. It creates some story and experiences that are memorable.