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Get ready to enter the poor and dreary Whitechapel district in London 1888 – the scene of the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders – with its crowded and smelly alleys, hawkers, shouting merchants, dirty children covered in rags who run through the crowd and beg for money, and prostitutes – called "the wretched" – on every street corner.
The board game Letters from Whitechapel, which plays in 90-150 minutes, takes the players right there. One player plays Jack the Ripper, and his goal is to take five victims before being caught. The other players are police detectives who must cooperate to catch Jack the Ripper before the end of the game. The game board represents the Whitechapel area at the time of Jack the Ripper and is marked with 199 numbered circles linked together by dotted lines. During play, Jack the Ripper, the Policemen, and the Wretched are moved along the dotted lines that represent Whitechapel’s streets. Jack the Ripper moves stealthily between numbered circles, while policemen move on their patrols between crossings, and the Wretched wander alone between the numbered circles.
Ages | 14+ |
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Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players, 6 Players |
Play Time | 60m – 60m |
Designer | Gabriele Mari, Gianluca Santopietro |
Mechanics | Hidden Movement, Team-Based Game, Memory, Point to Point Movement, Secret Unit Deployment |
Theme | Bluffing, Deduction, Murder/Mystery, Post-Napoleonic |
Publisher | 999 Games, Devir, Hobby Japan, Nexus Editrice, Planplay, Sir Chester Cobblepot, Stratelibri, Swan Panasia Co., Ltd., Zhiyanjia, Edge Entertainment, Fantasy Flight Games, Galakta, Giochi Uniti, Heidelberger Spieleverlag, Korea Boardgames co., Ltd. |
ahenrick
I prefer this game over Fury of Dracula as the prey. Jack can't fight back (or leave obstacles) but the coaches and alleyway shortcuts give Jack more ways to elude the detectives. That may change as the detective players gain experience, but supposedly Jack will get craftier too.
agilmor
My wife is not much a gamer but she enjoys (true) crimes shows. She loved to hunt me down with this game so much! Actually, although there are 5 cops hunting Jack and several rules for the "main inspector", I think that this should be played only as a 2-players game. I tried to introduce Sniper Elite to replace this one, but it seems that we'll keep this one.
adamw
I've realized I just don't like these hide-and-seek games. Dracula is just awful as a prime example, but mainly that was due to FFG's over design of combat and stupid filigree of Arkham Horror-like items and systems. Blah! But then Whitechapel comes along with a stream-lined version of the system: you're just trying to find Jack and he's just trying to get away. The set of nights are all a build up to the final night - where Jack will be extremely hard pressed to kill and escape. Love the tension and the wow production. I can't imagine a better version of hide-an-seek. But again, I just don't think I like these games, so this is probably as good as it gets for me.