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For more than four centuries scholars have argued over the identity of the mysterious Dark Lady of William Shakespeare’s sonnets. According to the sonnets, the Dark Lady seduced the poet and held him in an agonised thrall while also conducting an affair with the Fair Youth whom Shakespeare also loved.
In Black Sonata you will find yourself in Shakespeare’s London, circa 1600, in pursuit of the shadowy Lady. A specially ordered deck of cards determines her hidden movements from place to place. You must deduce her location and then intercept her to catch a glimpse and gain a clue to her identity. You will need several clues to deduce her identity, but with each clue gained the Lady becomes harder to track. Black Sonata combines hidden movement and logical deduction into a unique solitaire steeped in literary history.
Can you finally solve English literature’s greatest mystery? Or will the Dark Lady elude you, melting from your grasp like a curl of smoke and promises?
Ages | 12+ |
---|---|
Players | Solo |
Play Time | 30m |
Designer | John Kean |
Mechanics | Action Queue, Push Your Luck, Point to Point Movement |
Theme | Deduction, Print & Play, Renaissance |
Publisher | (Web published), GateOnGames, Melmac Games, Side Room Games, TGG Games, Treetato Studio |
BigBoater
This is an astounding game. I'm so excited to get back into it. I'm a big solo board game player and I've never seen a mechanic like this. A solo deduction game that is also very engaging. Plus I really like the theme. Easy to learn: Yes Time to play: 45 Re-playable: Yes Recommend: If you love solo and are looking for something new or like deduction games... yes
arhode
It's a really clever solo hidden movement game but the deduction part falls short for me. It's also a little onerous to set up due to having to sort the movement cards.
ACGalaga
Printed and Assembled If JK makes this available for print on demand I’ll certainly consider ordering one. A really interesting deduction game with a very clever mechanic for the “stealth deck”. I’ve played it a few times and incense with a friend and over all it’s a very enjoyable experience. There are only two main issues I have with it: first, there is a suplimental sheet to give more paths for the dark lady to walk, with varying difficulty, however I feel that the game even on normal can be a bit of a drag at the end when you have all the clues and your just chasing the dark lady around the board so you can “confront” her and see if you got the clues correct. Increased difficulty isn’t really needed imo. Second, I’m concerned that even with increased difficulty of the stealth deck, after you play the game enough you’ll start to remember which symbols are are which clue card. Since there are only two clue cards per color, once you reveal the other color card (which according to setup will be revealed first) you’ll know which card it’s not. Doesn’t matter how she walks around the board. However, I think there’s enough play in the game that this won’t be a problem until after quite a few plays. Definitely print it out and try it for yourself! Update: 2020-02-02 Just received a professionally printed version off a friend and I have to say, it’s very nice. I like the changes they made to game play since the original PnP (for example not looking at the suits, although you still know the opposite card of the same suit...). The mechanics were always clever but thought put into the theme and flavor are what really make it enjoyable. Think I’ll certainly play this more now. Also, the content being produced in the expansion looks to open this game up and add so much more, taking this game for me from good to great. Definitely looking forward to that expansion!